Alright so here is Chapter 15. Sorry for how long it took to update. I got caught up with Christmas break and then school started back up and I had a bit of writers block. Karin's team is introduced in this chapter, and she is not as useless as she appears in the manga. Also I made up her two teammates as well as Kurotsuchi's third teammate. Well enjoy the chapter
(With Naruto)
Naruto slammed the ground and rolled into the base of a tree. "What the hell was that? Are you guys ok?" Naruto asked as he got up and began looking for his teammates. "Guys?" Naruto said. Naruto activated his seal and could feel both of his teammates, but they were not that close to him.
"Looks like I got thrown farther than they did. I better hurry up and get back". Just as Naruto was about to jump into the trees and head to where is fellow teammates were, a giant snaked came through the forest and began to lunge at him. Naruto saw it coming and luckily dodged out of the way just in time.
"Looks like I will need to take care of this guy first." Naruto said as he began throwing shuriken and kunai at the rampaging snake.
(With Shikamaru and Sasuke)
"I'm glad you asked Sasuke. I am Orochimaru, the Legendary Snake Sannin."
Shikamaru and Sasuke knew they were in over their heads now. If this man was telling the truth and he was in fact Orochimaru, they were outclassed. He was Jiraiya's teammate and they knew they were no match for him.
"Shika we need to think of something and fast if we want to survive."
"I know. Let's hope Naruto gets back here fast. We could really use his help"
"Kukuku.. your other teammate won't be back for a while, if it all. One of my summons should be taking care of him as we speak. I was hoping just to isolate you Sasuke so I could test your progress, but I lucked out and got both of you."
"What do you mean testing me?" Sasuke asked. He was trying to have Orochimaru focus solely on him so that Shikamaru could attack when he wasn't expecting.
"I know you crave power Sasuke, and I am willing to give it to you. All I ask in return is that you leave this village and join me. Together we can crush anyone who stands in our way that includes Itachi." Orochimaru said.
Upon hearing Itachi's name Sasuke's anger began to go through the roof. All Sasuke wanted to do right now was to attack Orochimaru with everything he had.
"Does my saying of Itachi's name make you mad Sasuke? If you stay here, you will never be strong enough to take him on. He was a genius and the pride of the Uchiha clan."
"Shut up!" Sasuke said as he let his anger get the best of him and he lunged at Orochimaru.
"Sasuke no!" Shikamaru yelled.
Sasuke was soon upon Orochimaru trying everything to land a hit on him. Whenever Sasuke would try to kick or punch him Orochimaru would dodge, even with Sasuke's sharingan active he was having trouble keeping up with him. Sasuke focused some chakra into one of his seals and his sword appeared. He slashed at Orochimaru's torso, but Orochimaru bent his body backwards and allowed the blade to pass over him. As Orochimaru was bent backwards he kicked out with his feet and hit Sasuke in his torso forcing him to go flying into a nearby tree.
Shikamaru jumped to intercept Sasuke before he crashed into the tree. "What are you doing?" Shikamaru said. "If we want to get out of here alive we need to keep our head on straight." As Shikmaru finished talking he and Sasuke were forced to jump away as a dozen snakes came at them ready to bite them.
(With Naruto)
"Fuuton: Wind Cutter Jutsu" Naruto yelled as he and another one of his clones each put their hands out and shot blades of wind from their hands at the advancing snake. The snake never saw the blades coming as he leapt for Naruto. Naruto aimed for the snakes head, and it paid off when the head fell of the advancing snake and landed on the ground. The snake's other half hit the ground and Naruto sighed.
"That was close. I need to get back to my team" Naruto said.
"Jesus Naruto what happened here?" Kiba said as he and his team appeared in the clearing.
"Kiba what are you guys doing here?" Naruto asked as he was surprised to see Team 8.
"We came to find you guys because a team from Suna is coming for you and they are pretty scary" Kiba said as Sakura and Hinata nodded.
"Well someone got the jumped on us and sent the three of us flying with a giant wind attack. Sasuke and Shikamaru are together, but I got sent all the way out here and had to deal with the snake first. I'm about to head to them now." Naruto explained to Team 8.
"Naruto we are coming with you. You guys are going to need our help if they attack" Sakura said.
"Let's go, hope you guys can keep up" Naruto said as he leapt into the trees. Team 8 followed after him as fast as they could.
(With Sasuke and Shikamaru)
Shikamaru and Sasuke were currently trying to avoid Orochimaru's attacks, and they were failing miserably. Both genin were covered in bumps and bruises and their cloths had cuts all over them. They knew he was just toying with them. They needed to escape, before Sasuke was "marked", but they had no idea how to escape and they didn't want to find out what being "marked" meant.
Orochimaru had just sent both genin into a tree with a wind jutsu. As they hit the tree, Shikamaru slammed his head and fell unconscious. Sasuke was luckily enough to stay conscious, but he was fading fast. "Kukuku who knew fighting against you two would be so much fun. As much fun as it has been though, I need to end this. I have some other matters to attend to. You will thank me when you come to me for power" Orochimaru said as he began to extend his neck and go to place his curse seal on Sasuke.
As Orochimaru was about to sink his teeth into Sasuke's neck an orange blur appeared and sliced at his neck with two trench knives, cutting his head off from his neck. "Get away from my teammates" Naruto said. As soon as Orochimaru's head was cut from his neck, his body turned into mud.
"Damn mud clone. Where is the real one?" Naruto said as he began trying to find the real one. A moment later Team 8 landed next to him and began to surround the fallen Sasuke and Shikamaru.
"Sasuke what happened?" Naruto asked.
"Orochimaru… attacked… run" Sasuke said before he finally succumbed to unconsciousness.
"Orochimaru?" Naruto asked.
"Naruto that is one of Master Jiraiya's teammates. If he attacked we need to get out of here fast. We don't stand a chance" Sakura said. She was beginning to panic because she could see her what happened to her crush Sasuke.
"Looks like I will have to dispose of you before I can mark Sasuke it seems" Orochimaru said as he began appearing from the base of a tree a few yards in front of the gathered genin.
"You will not lay another hand on them" Naruto said as he began to let his anger get the better of him. He was beginning to let out killing intent, only to be matched by Orochimaru.
"You are no match me for me, even with that gift you have."
Team 8 wasn't sure what Orochimaru was talking about. "You guys need to take Shikamaru and Sasuke to safety. I will be right behind you." Naruto said.
"Naruto you can't take him on all alone. With us here, it will be five against one and we stand a better chance" Kiba began to argue.
"No! Go now! I can do this" Naruto said turning to Team 8. His eyes had gone from the usually bright blue to now have a tint of red around them and his eyes were beginning to look like the eyes of fox.
Team 8 was shocked. They had never seen this side of Naruto and it scared them somewhat. Akamaru was whining. "Let's go guys." Kiba said as he began to grab Sasuke and Shikamaru. "Naruto catch up fast"
Team 8 went to jump into the trees when Orochimaru yelled out, "You aren't taking them anywhere" and began to lunge at the genin.
Naruto quickly dropped one of his seals on the ground and activated it. "Seal Release: Great Breakthrough". Orochimaru was slammed in the chest with the wind attack and was flung backwards into a tree.
"Run now!" Naruto yelled to Team 8 who too their chance and began running away.
"Well that was a surprise. It seems as though your whole team is full of talent. I don't think you can be marked on a count of the seal you already have on you. I don't think the Kyuubi would allow another influence" Orochimaru said as he picked himself up. "It looks as though I will need to dispose of you and catch up to that other team. Your deaths will not be in vain though. Sasuke will seek me out for power."
"You are forgetting one thing" Naruto said. "I'm not going down without a fight" Naruto said as he made two clones who also showed the signs of using the Kyuubi chakra.
(With Team 8)
"Quick this way" Sakura said as he began leading the group to a clearing. Team 8 landed in the clearing with the unconscious Sasuke and Shikamaru in tow.
"What are we going to do?" Kiba asked.
"We shouldn't have left Naruto alone" Hinata said. She didn't want to leave Naruto alone to fight against someone of that level alone.
"Hinata, Naruto will be fine. I could see it in his eyes. He has something big planned to make sure he survives" Kiba said. Kiba was just trying to comfort Hinata, but he feared for Naruto's safety as well.
"We need to make sure Sasuke and Shikamaru are safe first. Orochimaru really did a number on them. Once we get them hidden safely, we can check for Naruto" Sakura said. Sakura began walking over to one of the trees, while going through hand signs.
"Kiba bring them both over here. I am going to mask this place in a few of my genjutsu's so that way we can stay hidden. Hinata I need you to start working on their injuries once Kiba brings them here" Sakura said.
Kiba and Hinata nodded and brought the two fallen members of Team 7 to the safety of the tree. Once there Hinata activated her Byuakugan and began to search for any immediate injuries. Hinata could see a few broken ribs in each of the boys, but not life threatening injuries.
"Sakura, t-they both have a few br-broken ribs and cuts and bruises. They will both be fine after a bit of medical attention." Hinata said.
Sakura finished with her genjutsu's and walked over the her team. "I wish we had covered more medical jutsu before the test. I will be able to help place the ribs back in place, but I will not be able to heal them fully" Hinata nodded in agreement. Before the test, Kurenai had taught the girls a few medical jutsu so that they would be able to heal any minor wounds they might encounter. They never imagined they would run into someone so strong.
"Hinata let's just do the best we can" Sakura said as her hands began to glow green. If they survived this forest, Sakura was going to learn more medical jutsu.
"Akamaru and I will keep a look out while you two heal Sasuke and Shikamaru" Kiba said.
(With Naruto)
Naruto was trying this best to dodge the attacks being thrown at him by Orochimaru, but he was beginning to fail. Naruto ducked underneath a left hook from Orochimaru, only to get a kick right to the face sending him flying.
His two clones had not held up much better. Both of the clones were destroyed shortly after being created by Orochimaru's snakes. Naruto knew he needed to think of something soon if he was going to make it out of here. As Naruto picked himself from the ground he suddenly got the instinct to jump back. As soon as Naruto jumped back the ground erupted and a sword was where Naruto would have been.
"You have good instincts brat. Too bad you are already marked with the Kyuubi, or else I would possibly consider marking you as well. You think you have saved your teammate from me, but I will get to him sooner or later." Orochimaru said.
"You will never lay a hand on my friends" Naruto said as he leapt towards Orochimaru and began flipping through hand seals. Two clones of Naruto appeared and the two clones yelled "Katon: Great Fireball" while the original yelled "Fuuton: Great Breakthrough Technique". The two fireballs nearly tripled in size when they were combined with the wind attack. The two fireballs slammed into each other as they hit the spot where Orochimaru was standing.
Naruto landed on the ground and began panting. Trying to keep up with one of the Sannin was draining enough, but trying to survive against them was a whole other matter. Naruto knew he needed to escape soon.
As the fire died down, Naruto could hear laughing come from the flames. "Kukukuku if this is what the leaf village has to offer now a days, then I am impressed. Who knew such talent lay hidden here all along? Well I shouldn't be surprised. I was facing a Nara, an Uchiha, and the Kyuubi brat." Orochimaru said as the fire and smoke cleared away.
Naruto looked at the figure standing on the branch and could barely recognize him. The burns from the attack had began to melt away his face, but instead of seeing burnt skin or bone, there was a woman's face there. "Just what are you?" Naruto asked.
"That is none of your business. I would love to finish this, but it seems as though I won't have the time. Let me leave you with a parting gift." Orochimaru said as he hand began to glow blue and he charged at Naruto.
Naruto didn't have time to dodge, and just as Orochimaru was about to hit Naruto in the stomach, a sheet of ice appeared stopping Orochimaru's hand from touching Naruto.
"What is this?" Orochimaru said as he looked at the ice slab in front of him.
"Hello sensei" Anko said from one of the tree branches. On her right was Haku with his hand in a seal, and on her left side was two ANBU, with their swords drawn.
"Why if it isn't my old student Anko. I see you are still causing me trouble. As much as I would like to stay and chat, I have a few other things to attend to. Feel free to stop me if you can." Orochimaru said as he began to disappear into the ground.
"Dove and Ant go after him. I will be right behind you with Haku" Anko said as the two ANBU disappeared into the trees.
"Naruto are you alright?" Haku asked as he and Anko dropped down on the ground in front of Naruto.
"Yea I'm good. He did a real number on Sasuke and Shika though. Luckily Sakura and her team showed up and helped them get away. Who was that?" Naruto asked.
"That was one of the Legendary Sannin, Orochimaru. He was my old sensei, and he is an S-class criminal wanted by the Leaf. Naruto once you get to the tower, I want you and your team to report directly to the Hokage and inform him of what has happened. I will be letting him know, but he will want to hear your side as well."
Naruto nodded.
"Good. Now we need to leave. We can't be seen talking with you as it could look like we are trying to help. Haku let's go. We need to try and catch up to Orochimaru!" Anko said as she and Haku took to the trees.
"Man that was close." Naruto said out loud as he began using his sensor seal to find his team. Once located he took off in that direction.
(With Team 8)
"Hinata how is Shikamaru?" Sakura asked. She had been healing Sasuke while Hinata healed Shikamaru.
"H-he is fine. I have set most of the bones. He will be sore, but h-he will be able to move" Hinata said.
"Naruto is on his way here. He is coming pretty fast." Kiba said. He had picked up Naruto's scent coming right towards them.
Naruto landed in the clearing and looked around. His team was nowhere to be found, but his seal said that they were here. 'Is there something wrong with my seal? Did fighting Orochimaru somehow mess with it?' Naruto wondered.
As Naruto looked around more closely he could sense that something was off. 'Sakura could have set up a genjutsu to hide them. I guess I will need to break it' As Naruto put his hands up to break the genjutsu, Sakura broke it first and appeared.
"Naruto hurry up over here!" She yelled to him as she appeared underneath one of the larger trees. Naruto could see Sasuke and Shikamaru on the ground. Naruto ran over and Sakura quickly activated the genjutsu again.
"Naruto how did you escape?" Kiba asked
"Luckily Anko-sensei and Haku showed up with two ANBU right before he was going to hit me with some sort of seal. I am not sure what would have happened if he had hit me."
"T-thank god you are safe Naruto" Hinata said to the group while becoming slightly red.
"How are Sasuke and Shikamaru?" Naruto asked.
"They are fine for now. They have some bruises and we tried our best to mend the broken bones, but they will need a doctor to look at them when we get to the center. Once they wake they will be a little sore, but they will be able to continue" Sakura said.
"That is good. I want to thank you guys for coming to our rescue. I'm not sure they would have survived if you guys hadn't showed up. We owe you guys one" Naruto said.
"Well you could give us your scroll as a thank you" Kiba said with a smile on his face.
"You wish dog breath" Naruto said.
"Kiba!" Sakura yelled. "We are not going to take their scroll. They are our friends"
"I know I was kidding" Kiba said, but he had secretly hoped that Naruto would hand over his teams scroll.
"Have you guys encountered any other teams?" Naruto asked
"Just the team from S-suna" Hinata said.
"You guys fought them and lived?"
"Well we didn't fight them, we saw them kill a team from Ame and take their scroll. The red headed one said something about coming for you so that's why we showed up to help" Sakura admitted.
"Shit, if the Suna team is trying to find us then we better hide ourselves a little better. None of us are in any shape to take them on at the moment. Something is off with that Gaara kid. I want to avoid him for as long as I can." Naruto said.
"How are we going to hide ourselves better?" Kiba asked.
"Don't worry about that I have us covered, just make sure that these genjutsu will hold up" Naruto said as he took out some sealing paper and his ink.
Naruto quickly put together a few seals and placed them around the base of the tree and activated them.
"N-naruto what did you do?" Hinata asked.
"I just placed some seal on the ground that will mask our chakra and presence from anyone that comes close to us. More advanced sensors would be able to see through it, but they should hold until Sasuke and Shikamaru are ready to move." Naruto said.
(With the Suna team)
Gaara was currently in front of his siblings jumping from branch to branch trying to pinpoint Naruto Uzumaki. Gaara wanted nothing more than to prove his existence by killing Naruto. He knew Naruto would be a worthy opponent for him. His mother had told him so. She wanted his blood badly.
Gaara suddenly stopped on a branch and his brother and sister stopped right behind him. "I cannot sense him any longer. His chakra seems to have disappeared" Gaara said to his siblings.
"Maybe he has already reached the tower" Kankuro said.
Gaara's killer intent began rising. "Let's head to the tower. I will get him in the next phase of the exam" Gaara said as he began heading toward the center of the forest. Kankuro and Temari quickly followed.
(With Kurotsuchi)
"Remember what the Tsuchikage said. We are not to draw too much attention to ourselves, and at least one of us needs to make it to the finals" Kurotsuchi said as she and her team were jumping through the woods.
"I don't think that will be a problem. You and I are already Chunin, and Kenbachi here is just as good as most chunin." Akatsuchi said.
"Akatsuchi be careful what you say in these woods. We don't know who is listening. We can't afford for anyone to know. As far as anyone is concerned we are genin from Iwa." Kurotsuchi said to her teammates.
"Let's take a break here for a second" Kenbachi said as they entered the clearing.
"Kenbachi send out a few bees to check for any other teams" Kurotsuchi said. Kenbachi nodded and let some of his bees go out into the surrounding woods.
"I wonder if we will run into that Aburame boy I saw earlier. I would really like to get a chance to fight him" Kenbachi said. Kenbachi was one of the last remaining members of Iwa's Kamizuru clan. They were well known back in the Second Shinobi war, but the Aburame nearly wiped them out. The Kamizuru clan were similar to the Aburame in that they used insects, but instead of beetles like the Aburame they used bees.
"My bees have detected a team. They seem to be coming right for us. What do you want to do?" Kenbachi asked Kurotsuchi. She was the unspoken leader of the team even though she and Akatsuchi held the same rank, she was the Tsuchikage's granddaughter and he had put her in charge of this mission.
"Let's go with plan A. How much time do we have?" Kurotsuchi asked.
"They will be here in less than a minute" Kenbachi said.
"Let's not waste any time" Kurotsuchi said as she and Akatsuchi began going through hand seals.
Less than a minute later a team from Kusa landed on one of the branches overlooking the clearing. When the team looked down they saw the team from Iwa panting on the ground and they looked as though they had just barely made it out of a fight.
"Man that was close. Good thing we have both scrolls now. We can head to the tower" Kenbachi said.
"Yea, we need to rest first though. After that last battle the three of us need to restore our chakra" Akatuschi said.
The Kusa team that was up in the trees sat and listened carefully. "Karin can you sense any other teams around here?" Hio asked.
Karin was known in Kusa as a prodigy among sensors. She was born with the ability to sense others that most worked years for. "No other teams are close, but something is off about this team. I can sense their chakra, but two of the chakra levels are more like chunin rather than genin. Also it seems as if there chakra is coming from underground."
"This is a set up. They must have known we were coming" Jin said. "What should we do?"
"Well they are obviously going to try to ambush us when we engage them, so let's turn the tables on them. Karin who are the ones with the chunin level chakra?" Hio asked.
"The girl and the bigger boy. You two will need to fight them, and I will fight the other one. His reserves are closer to my level." Karin said.
"Alright you guys know the drill. Let's take their scroll and then we will retreat and Karin will mask our presence. Let's go" Hio said. Karin and Jin nodded as all through jumped to the ground.
As the Kusa team was jumping to the ground they all threw kunai at the Iwa team. The real Iwa team was hiding underground thanks to one of Kurotsuchi's techniques so they could see the kunai coming at their clones. Akatsuchi commanded the clones to jump away and prepare for battle.
As Karin's team landed on the ground, they all began to engage their opponents. Jin ran right for Akatsuchi and began to fight him with taijutsu. Hio flipped through seals and fired off a water jutsu right at Kurotsuchi, while Karin's hands began to glow green as she engaged Kenbachi in a taijutsu match.
As the two teams were fighting, Kurotsuchi and her team were waiting for the perfect moment to strike. "It seems as though the girl is a medic. Let's take her out first, and then work on the other two. Akatsuchi I will wait for you signal before we engage" Kurotsuchi said as Akatsuchi nodded.
Jin began going through hand seals to release an earth technique when suddenly the group of Iwa ninjas they were fighting shattered into thousands of pieces of rocks. The Kusa team all had to put their hands up to block the oncoming assault of debris. As the pieces of rock began hitting the Kusa team, they felt the ground start shaking beneath them.
"Jump" Karin said as she and her teammates leapt away from their spots as the ground exploded.
"Kenbachi take care of the girl. Akatsuchi and I will handle the other two."
As Karin landed on the ground she rolled to the side as Kenbachi's kunai hit the ground where she just was. Karin took out her own kunai and ran at Kenbachi.
Kenbachi was forced to duck as Karin slashed at him with the kunai in her right hand. As Kenbachi ducked he let loose some of his bees that began to fly around Karin.
"I thought the Kamizuru clan had died out" Karin said as she leapt back trying to avoid the bees.
"Apparently not" Kenbachi said as he released more bees and directed them to attack Karin.
'As long as he can see me those bees will be able to find me. If I can hide I can suppress my chakra enough so his bees won't be able to sense me and then I can strike' Karin thought as she took out a little black pellet and threw it to the ground.
As the pellet hit the ground it exploded and smoked filled the area where Kenbachi and Karin were fighting. Kenbachi waited for the smoke to clear only to see that Karin was gone. "Hiding won't help you. My bees will find you regardless. They can sense your chakra." Kenbachi said.
Kenbachi instructed his bees to spread out and find Karin, but was shocked when they could not find her. 'What? This is impossible. She shouldn't be able to suppress her chakra so much that my bees can't find her' Kenbachi's thoughts were interrupted when he suddenly felt a kunai being pressed into his back and heard Karin's voice.
"Give up now and I won't be forced to kill you"
Kenbachi started to laugh. "What's so funny?"
"The fact that you think you actually could kill me" Kenbachi said as he slightly turned his head and showed Karin the smirk he had on his face.
Enraged Karin went to press the kunai deeper into Kenbachi when he burst into bees. Karin didn't have time to jump away and was soon overtaken with bees. All Karin could do was scream as she fell to the ground as the bees began draining her chakra.
"She should have expected a bee clone after that smoke bomb" Kenbachi said as he jumped down from one of the branches above.
(With Akatsuchi)
Akatsuchi had decided to take on Hio and immediately chased after him as he jumped away from the explosion As soon as Hio landed he was forced to duck under one of Akatsuchi's punches. Hio tried to punch Akatsuchi in the gut as he was dodging, but soon learned that would be a mistake. As Hio's hand connected with Akatsuchi's gut, it felt as though he had hit a boulder.
Hio grabbed his hand in pain and rolled away as Akatsuchi tried to slam his elbow into Hio's back. 'How is his body so hard. Is that some type of jutsu?' Hio thought.
"Doton: Earth Spear" Akatsuchi said as he finished hand seals. Hio was forced to jump away as the ground in front of him suddenly erupted and a stone spear came right for him.
As Hio jumped away he ran through seals and yelled "Suiton: Water Bullet Barrage" and began shooting balls of water from his mouth at Akatsuchi. Akatsuchi saw the water coming for him and began molding chakra in his mouth and began to spit out mud from his mouth. As the mud hit the ground it began to form a golem in front of Akatsuchi.
Hio watched the water hit the golem and cursed. Hio began flipping through more seals, but was interrupted when the head of the golem suddenly shot at him. Hio went to jump, but found his legs stuck in mud that had appeared below him. Knowing he could not dodge Hio placed his hands in front of him and sent as much chakra as he could to them.
As the head of the golem hit Hio, his legs became unlodged from the mud and his body was sent flying backwards into a tree. The impact knocked him unconscious. Akatsuchi had a smirk on his face as he watched the Grass genin fly into the tree. 'I was hoping for a bit more of a challenge, but at least I took my opponent out.'
(With Jin)
As Jin jumped away he saw two of the Iwa ninja began to target his teammates and knew that they were all fighting one on one. His knew his opponent was going to be the only female member of the Iwa team and he knew she was the strongest. If he had any hopes of winning he was going to need to go all out.
Jin landed on the ground and immediately began flipping through seals. As soon as Kurotsuchi landed in front of him she was forced to duck as a vine shot out from her opponent's hand and came right for her head.
"I'm not going down without a fight" Jin said as he flipped through a few more seals and yelled "Kusa Style: Grass Prison" as he placed his hands on the ground. As soon as his hands touched the ground, the grass around Kurotsuchi began to grow and become sharper and thicker. Pieces began to grow longer and began to entrap her. Soon Kurotsuchi was trapped in a grass prison that was shaped like a box.
"Good luck breaking out of that" Jin said as he was panting a little. That move took a lot out of him. Jin began to flip through seals again and said "Prison Confinement". The grass box around Kurotsuchi began to shrink as if it were going to kill Kurotsuchi.
Jin smiled to himself as he watched the prison shrinking. Without her out of the way, he could go help his two teammates and then they could take their scroll and leave. Jin's smile faded away as he heard Kurotsuchi yell from the inside "Yoton: Lava Pillar". Jin watched his grass prison go up in flames as a pillar of lava suddenly shot out of the top of the prison with Kurotsuchi standing on top of the pillar.
"That was a neat trick, too bad it won't be enough to beat me. I have the advantage here" Kurotsuchi said as she finished hand seals and said "Yoton: Lava Spikes" and directed her hands toward Jin.
Jin was forced to dodge as spikes of lava were suddenly shot at him from the pillar. Jin tried his best to dodge all the spikes, but he misread one of the spikes and paid for that mistake. The spike had grazed his thigh and caused severe burns on his leg. 'Shit. How could I have misread that? I need to finish this fast or else I am dead' Jin pretended to reach down to check on his leg, but he was secretly going through hand seals for a genjutsu to use of Kurotsuchi.
Kurotsuchi saw Jin reach for his leg and then fall over writhing in pain. Kurotsuchi took advantage of her opponent's misfortune and jumped at him with a kunai drawn. As she landed in front on Jin she said "Give up and we will let your team live."
"Bite me" Jin said as he spit at Kurotsuchi.
"Suit yourself. I gave you the option of giving up" Kurotsuchi said as she raised her hand getting ready to stab Jin. As her hands reached above her head, she went to stab downward, but found her movements restricted. "What the hell?"
"You should be more aware of your surroundings" Jin said as the genjutsu faded and Kurotsuchi saw that she was being held by massive vines and Jin was leaning on his right leg with a kunai held to her throat.
"You failed to notice my genjutsu" Jin said. "Now give up and I will forgive you for going for the killing blow just now"
"You were good, but I did notice the genjutsu. Maybe you should be more aware of your surroundings" Kurotuschi said with a grin as she began to change into mud.
'Shit. Where the he-' Jin's thoughts were interrupted as two hands suddenly grabbed his legs and pulled him under ground, leaving only his head showing.
Kurotsuchi soon appeared from the ground with the Heaven scroll in her hand. "Like I said you can't beat me, but that was an enjoyable fight. Thanks for the scroll by the way." Kurotsuchi said as she left Jin there yelling at her to let him out.
Kurotsuchi approached her team and saw that they two were successful in defeating their opponents. "Good now that we have both scrolls how about we head to the tower?"
Akatsuchi and Kenbachi nodded and the Iwa team took off in the direction of the tower.
Jin watched as the Iwa team left and he looked around at his team. Hio was knocked out cold and Karin was barely moving.
"Karin are you alright?"
Karin stirred a little bit and raised her head. "I'm fine, just in a lot of pain. Those bees nearly drained me of all my chakra. He barely left me with any. I need a bit before I can heal any of us" Karin said as she struggled to sit up.
(With Team 7 and 8)
A few hours had passed since Naruto had joined them and Team 8 was back at full strength. Sakura had gone to heal Naruto, but found that all of his injuries had already healed, and it looked like he had never been hurt at all. 'This is weird. How has he healed so fast. I know Hinata didn't heal him and Naruto's chakra control is horrible'
"Naruto can I ask you something?" Sakura asked.
"You just did Sakura-chan" Naruto said with a grin on his face.
"Naruto-baka you know what I meant"
"I know I was just kidding with you. Ask away."
"How did you heal so fast?" Sakura asked.
Naruto was not expecting her to ask that. He knew he healed faster because of the Kyuubi inside of him, and his injuries must have healed even faster after his fight with Orochimaru because he had tapped into a bit of the Kyuubi's chakra.
"I have always healed fast Sakrua-chan. I must be lucky" Naruto said as he gave her a goofy grin and rubbed the back of his head.
Sakura nodded and turned to check on Sasuke and Shikamaru. 'He is definitely hiding something'
"How are those two?" Kiba asked as he walked up to the two unconscious members of Team 7.
"They are going to be fine, but they will require more medical attention than I am able to give them."
"We should talk about what we are going to do once Sasuke and Shika wake up. There is nothing in the rules that says we cannot travel together. Having both teams travel together will make it harder for other teams to ambush us." Naruto said.
"I agree. If we are all together there are no teams we cannot defeat." Kiba said.
Both of the girls on Team 8 nodded. They knew that their team alone could handle most of the other teams in this exam, but if they ran into another team like the one from Suna they would want back up.
"I think if both teams agree to it, then we should team up. We have different scrolls so it won't be like we will be competing for the same scroll." Sakura said.
"Well once Sasuke and Shika wake up we can all talk and decide what to do." Naruto said.
(Hokage's office)
"Hokage-sama" Dove said as he and Ant appeared in the Hokage's office.
"What is it Dove?" A look of concern suddenly gracing Hiruzen's face.
"Anko sent us. Orochimaru has appeared in the Forest and attacked Team 7."
"WHAT! Is Nar- are they okay?" Hiruzen yelled out as he found himself standing after hearing this news.
"Yes we managed to stop some sort of attack from hitting Uzumaki-san at the last moment."
Sarutobi let out the breath he didn't realize he was holding.
"That is good. What of the other two genin, Sasuke Uchiha and Shikamaru Nara?"
"They were not present when we had arrived. We believe young Uzumaki-san gave them time to escape while he stayed to fight" Ant said.
Sarutobi nodded, his head suddenly filling with all different scenarios of how this news was going to affect the Exam.
"Ant I want you to go fetch Jiraiya, Tsunade, and Kakashi. Dove I need you to go to bring Anko here."
"Hai Hokage-sama" both ANBU said as they disappeared in a swirl of leaves.
Hiruzen reached into his desk and took out his pipe and packed a bowl of tobacco while he waited for the four to arrive. As Hiruzen was looking out over the village he sensed three presences coming and knew that he just need to wait on Anko to arrive.
Sarutobi felt the three appear in his room. "Sensei what is the meaning of this? I was in the middle of valuable research." Jiraiya said. Kakashi's eye perked up at hearing that Jiraiya was gathering new material for another book, while Tsunade clenched her fists and said, "What were you in the middle of?"
Jiraiya had forgotten Tsunade was in the room and suddenly began backing up "Uh I meant I was starting to plan for Naruto's training"
"That's enough you two. Tsunade you can beat him later. Right now we have more important things to deal with."
"Sarutobi-sama, what is going on?" Kakashi asked.
"Orochimaru has appeared in the Forest during the second round of the exam" Sarutobi said.
"WHAT!" Jiraiya and Tsunade both screamed.
"Where is that snake? When I get my hands on him I am going to make him pay for trying to kill me" Tsunade said.
"Why was he in the Forest? What was he after?"
"It appears as though he attacked Team 7"
Kakashi's killing intent suddenly shot through the roof and the others all turned to him.
"Did he harm any of my students?"
"Calm down cyclops, he didn't mark any of your students" Anko said as she suddenly appeared in the room.
Kakashi began to calm down, but tension was high in the room. Everyone in the room, besides Anko, had a soft spot for Team 7 and wanted to make sure they were alright.
"Kakashi I don't know what you were teaching those kids, but that Naruto is more insane than I am. When we arrived on the scene he was trying to take on Orochimaru one-on-one. Luckily for him we arrived when we did because it looked like that old bastard of a sensei of mine was going to hit him with some sort of sealing technique. His hands were glowing blue, but luckily Haku was able to put a mirror up to stop him."
"What about the rest of my team? Where was Sasuke and Shikamaru?"
"The brat said that Team 8 had shown up and took them away to safety while Naruto stayed behind to give them time to retreat."
"Anko what happened after you showed up?" The Hokages asked.
"After we stopped Orochimaru's attack he fled and we followed suit. We followed him until the edge of the forest and then his trail went cold. We searched the forest and didn't find any other trace of him. I think it is safe to say that he has left the Forest."
"Sensei I would like to make a sweep of the Forest myself when we are done. I may be able to pick up on something they may have missed" Jiraiya said. Sarutobi nodded. He knew Jiraiya would go with or without his permission.
"Hokage-sama he also left behind this scroll. When I opened it, it is a hidden message that needs to be deciphered."
"Let me see that Anko" Sarutobi said. As he looked at the scroll, he saw the old code that he and his team would use on missions when passing information along to each other. After deciphering the code the scroll just said,
'Sensei,
Do not cancel these exams. If you do the Leaf will burn and there will be nothing you can do to stop it.'
Sarutobi passed the scroll to Jiraiya and Tsunade and let them read it. "Sensei we cannot allow Orochi-teme to get away with this. We cannot go forward with these exams if he is targeting teams. They won't stand a chance." Tsunade said.
"I understand Tsunade, but what would you have me do? You know Orochimaru well enough to know he will follow through with this threat, and if we cancel the Exams, we will look weak in front of the other countries. We have to allow the exams to finish. I will up the amount of ANBU in the forest"
Tsunade nodded. She knew that cancelling the exams was out of the question, but she did not want Orochimaru laying his hands on Naruto or any member of the Leaf.
"Anko you are dismissed you can go back to the Forest to proctor the exam. If he appears again call for ANBU immediately."
"I understand Hokage-sama" Anko said as she disappeared in a puff of smoke.
"Sarutobi-sama do you think Orochimaru will actually attack the Leaf?" Kakashi asked.
Sarutobi got up and walked over the window and looked out over the village. "You know it's a little funny if you think about it. At one point Orochimaru wanted nothing more than to be Hokage, but after I gave the title to Minato, Orochimaru turned traitor on us. Now all he wants is our destruction."
Kakashi understood. "What is our plan? He might not attack now, but we still need to prepare for some sort of invasion by his forces"
"That is a good question. Kakashi I want you to get me Shikaku Nara. Jiraiya and Tsunade if you want to go search the forest do it now. I am going to be having a council meeting tonight and I want all of you present."
"Understood sensei./ Hai Sarutobi-sama" all three of them said as they disappeared to go get their jobs done.
"I am getting too old for this. I need to pick a replacement soon" Sarutobi said to himself as he took a puff from his pipe.
(With Team 7 & 8)
Night had fallen and Sasuke and Shikamaru still had not woken up yet. Naruto was beginning to get worried. They had been knocked out for almost half a day. Sakura had said they should wake soon and that was hours ago. Naruto felt one of his seals go off and looked up to see Kiba and Akamaru coming back to camp with some rabbits in their hands. It looked like they were going to eat well tonight.
"How are they?" Kiba asked as he approached the group.
"They are still out" Naruto said.
"Man that Orochimaru character really did a number on them. Everytime we faced the Jonin senseis and got knocked out we were up within an hour, but they have been out for hours."
"Kiba when we faced the Jonin they were not going all out and they were also doing it as a training exercise; Orochimaru was trying to hurt them. This is a different situation" Sakura said.
"I knew that. I was just making an observation" Kiba said.
"Will you guys keep it down, I have a massive headache" a new voice said. The group looked over and saw that Sasuke had finally woken up and was sitting up.
"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura said as she ran over to him quickly followed by the rest of the group.
"How are you feeling?" Naruto asked
"I am sore and my head hurts, but I will live. What happened? Last thing I remember was telling you guys to run."
"Well Team 8 here took you and Shika away and I stayed behind to buy you guys some time. Luckily Anko-sensei and Haku showed up with some ANBU and Orochimaru decided to leave before more showed up. We have been here waiting for you guys to wake up for hours. Shika is still knocked out" Naruto said as he got up to go over and check on Shikamaru.
"Oh hell no." Naruto said.
"W-what is it Naruto?" Hinata asked.
"Shikamaru is sleeping, I can see the drool pooling around his mouth. That bastard. This will teach him" Naruto said as he placed a seal on Shikamaru and then activated it.
Shikamaru shot up "What the hell was that?" he yelled. "Oh hey guys. How long was I out?"
"Cut the crap Shikamaru. Naruto knew you were sleeping." Kiba said and got a woof response from Akamaru.
"How long were you sleeping for? And why didn't you tell us you were awake?" Naruto said as he took out more seals in case he didn't like the answer.
"Well I woke up a few hours ago, but you guys were all by the opening of the cave and I figured I could get some shut eye in know because Sasuke was still sleeping. "
"Shika-" Naruto started.
"Naruto drop it. We can discuss things later. Let's just be thankful that we survived the attack. Neither of us were 'marked' were we?" Sasuke asked.
"No I check and there are no other seals other than what I placed on you before." Naruto said.
"You guys have seals on you?" Sakura asked. She had been healing them all day and hadn't even noticed them.
"Yea don't worry about them, just a few things I created for the exams. Nothing you need to worry about." Naruto said.
'Just how strong are you Naruto?' All of Team 8 thought.
"Well now that you guys are up how about we prepare dinner and then we can discuss our next moves." Sakura said. "Kiba, Hinata will you guys help me. I am sure Naruto wants to talk with his team". Team 8 left Naruto with his teammates as they left to prepare dinner.
"What was Sakura talking about saying 'our' next moves? Are we all travelling together now?" Sasuke asked.
"Well it would make sense. If our two teams work together we have a better chance of surviving and not having another fight like that happen." Shikamaru said.
"Exactly, and they have an Earth scroll so we won't be competing for the same scroll as them so it shouldn't be a problem. And we are friends with them so we know they won't try and take our scroll." Naruto said.
"That could also be because they aren't sure who has the scroll." Shikmaru said.
"What do you mean?" Sasuke asked.
"Well Naruto has the scroll in one of his containment seals and we all have a fake Heaven scroll that you made on us, but if Hinata used her Byagukan she would be able to see right through the genjutsu, Kiba can sniff it out, and Sakura is one of the best in our year with genjutsu. So even if they wanted to take our scroll they don't know who was it, just that we have three fake ones ready."
"Well I trust them. They risked their lives to saves us and I know they won't betray us." Naruto said. Sasuke nodded.
"Well in any case once daylight comes I think we should head out. Staying with Team 8 will be good for both of us. We will be able to keep each other safe." Shikamaru said.
"Good, and besides I already told them we would all travel together" Naruto said with one of his trademark grins.
"Who put you in charge dobe?" Sasuke asked.
"Well seeing as how I was the only one who didn't get my ass handed to me, I was the only one available to make a decision teme" Naruto said as he stuck his tongue out at Sasuke.
"You're lucky I'm too sore to move that well right now or else I would kick you dobe"
"Naruto tell us your fight. How did you get away?" Shikamaru said.
(After the council meeting)
Sarutobi was sitting in his office leaning back in his chair puffing on his pipe when there was a knock on his door. "Come in"
"Hiruzen, you wished to see me?" Danzo said as he entered into the office.
"Thank you for meeting with me Danzo" Sarutobi said. "I know we have not seen eye to eye in the past, but I would like your help with something"
"What do you need my help with? It must be something important for the Hokage to ask for help" Danzo said with a hint of malice in his voice.
"Can we get through one meeting without trying to undermine each other at every turn. We both want what is best for this village"
Danzo stared at the Hokage. "I apologize Hiruzen. What do you require of me?"
"Danzo I want your help to get rid of Orochimaru once and for all"
What is Hiruzen thinking? Is Danzo going to accept? What will Danzo want in return? Find out next chapter
Alright well that is the chapter. Again sorry it took so long to get it out. I will hopefully have a new chapter out shortly. The next chapter will be the end of the second exam and we will get through the prelim fights at least. Also the prelim matches will be somewhat different and that will change the round 3 match ups as well. As always please read and review and let me know. I know this chapter probably wasn't one of my best but I will try to make it up next chapter. Until then.