Naruto of the Homunculus

Chapter 10

I'm back! I finally worked out how I want the Chunin exam preliminaries to work, thanks to fanfictions, and now I'm ready to write. Just a heads up: Kumo won't be in the Chunin exams in this fic. Mostly because I've not seen enough of the Chunin and Jonin in shippuden that would be genin in part 1 to adequately recreate their personalities and quirks.

Disclaimer: Trace Carter does not own Naruto or Fullmetal Alchemist.

The Genin following Anko, soon arrived at a large fenced off area with numerous gates with sturdy locks. Behind the tall fence, was a large, dark, forest, and growls of numerous creatures could be heard from behind the gates.

"Alright maggots," said Anko, "welcome to training ground 44, better known as the Forest of Death. The next phase of the exam will be held here."

"It doesn't look that scary," commented Naruto.

Suddenly, a kunai flew past his cheek, leaving a cut that healed in a burst of red energy. The next thing he knew, Anko was in his face with a playful look that quickly morphed into confusion at the lack of injury.

"Oh? Is it really alright for the proctor to be this forward with her testers?" teased Naruto with a smirk, "Not that I dislike having a sexy woman this close, but my girlfriends might complain."

Anko frowned and backed off, feeling the icy stares of Hinata and Haku, not that they bothered her, but the fact that Naruto didn't even have a scratch and had the balls to flirt perplexed her.

'What is this kid?' thought Anko, "Anyway, before we begin, I need the lot of you to sign these wavers."

Anko began to hand out papers from a stack on a table.

"What are they for?" asked Ino.

"Nothing complicated," said Anko casually, "they simply state that the Hidden Leaf won't be held responsible for any injuries or deaths that occur during this phase of the exams."

The Genin paled at this, but signed the wavers. After Naruto's speech during Ibiki's test, they wouldn't let these wavers scare them off. Once they had finished, Anko split the Genin teams into two groups and handed out scrolls to each team.

"You've all been given one of two scrolls," said Anko, once every team had a scroll, "half of you have a heaven scroll and the other half have an earth scroll. You will have five days to survive in this forest. Your goal is to acquire the type of scroll you were not given, heaven for earth and earth for heaven, and travel to the tower in the center of the forest. If you open your scroll before reaching the tower, you will be immediately disqualified from the exams."

The Genin took positions at the numerous gates that served as entrances to the forest.

"BEGIN!" yelled Anko and all the gates sprang open and the Genin rushed inside.

xXsceneXx

Team 7 rushed through the thick forest and came to a stop at a small clearing. After making sure there was nobody around, they decided to strategize.

"Alright," said Sasuke as the team squatted down, "we know what scroll we need. We also don't know who has it, but we do know that the others don't know either. Any ideas?"

"We could scope out other teams and find out what kind of scrolls they have," said Naruto, "any scroll we don't need we could keep, eliminating the competition."

"That sounds like a good plan," said Sakura, "but we should make sure we can identify each other if an opponent transforms into us."

"Simple," said Naruto, "just have me cut myself and you'll know."

"True," said Sasuke, "but we'll need something that is more universal."

"How about a security question?" asked Sakura.

"Our likes and dislikes from what we told Kakashi-sensei," said Naruto.

"Perfect," said Sasuke, "let's get going."

The three Genin ran through the forest until Naruto came to an abrupt halt.

"What is it?" asked Sakura.

"Sorry," said Naruto as he ran into the bushes, "nature calls."

"That guy," sighed Sakura as she and Sasuke waited for Naruto to return.

Soon Naruto came out of the bushes, "That's better. Let's go guys."

"Wait," said Sasuke, "answer the question first."

"Alright," said Naruto, "my likes are Ramen, Hinata and pranks. My dislikes are the three minutes it takes to make ramen and those who can't tell the difference between a kunai and the scroll it's sealed in."

"Alright," said Sasuke, before suddenly throwing a kunai at Naruto, forcing him to dodge.

"What was that for?" exclaimed Naruto, "You could have killed me!"

"You made two errors," said Sasuke, "first, that wasn't what Naruto said his likes and dislikes were. Second, that kunai wouldn't have killed him and he'd know it."

"My my," said 'Naruto' in a different voice, "you really are the observant one."

'Naruto' exploded in a poof of smoke to reveal a young woman wearing a Grass-nin outfit.

"I believe you have a heaven scroll," said the ninja, holding up a scroll, "it would go so well with my earth scroll, wouldn't it?"

Suddenly the Grass-nin opened her mouth and swallowed the scroll.

"There we go," she said evilly, "now we can fight to the fullest!"

Sasuke and Sakura were then hit with an overwhelming pressure that forced them to their knees. The scary part was that they could practically see themselves being killed by this ninja.

'What is this feeling?' thought Sasuke, 'Is this pure Killing Intent? I don't know if I can take much more.'

"Ku ku ku," laughed the woman, "this will be all over soon."

Her neck began to stretch and she opened her mouth to reveal sharp fangs and prepared to bite into Sasuke's neck. Before she could do so, an orange blur slammed into her, sending her flying through several trees. Naruto pulled himself out of the giant skid mark he made from stopping and looked around.

"Looks like I got here just in time," said Naruto, "sorry for the wait. I got swallowed by a giant snake and had to claw my way out."

"That was interesting, boy," spat the woman as she got to her feet, except something was different. Her face was peeling off to reveal pale gray skin and yellow snake eyes and her voice was slightly more masculine.

"Who are you?" asked Naruto, "You reek of snakes and death."

"I guess I could tell you," said the 'woman' as she peeled the rest of 'her' face to reveal the face of a man, "I am Orochimaru."

"What do you want with us?" asked Sakura.

"I want nothing from you, girl," said Orochimaru, "however, the blond and the Uchiha have captured my interest."

"Sorry," said Naruto, "I don't swing that way, bastard."

Naruto rushed forward with his hand transformed into a claw by his ultimate shield and impaled Orochimaru through the chest. The man didn't even flinch and his body turned to mud.

"A mud clone," said Sakura, "Naruto! Behind you!"

Naruto pulled his arm out of the mud, but wasn't quick enough as Orochimaru bit down on his neck.

*crick*

Or tried to, that is.

"GAH!" yelled Orochimaru as his neck retracted and he grabbed his mouth in pain.

"I guess I'm too tough," joked Naruto as he retracted his ultimate shield from his neck.

"Insolent brat," growled Orochimaru as he spat out pieces of his broken fangs, "I'll kill you for that!"

Orochimaru's hands raised and dozens of snakes shot out at Naruto. The blond Genin didn't even flinch and drew his swords and cut through the barrage of snakes. Naruto then extended one of his ultimate spears and sliced through Orochimaru's stomach, causing the scroll to fall to the ground.

"I recommend you leave," said Naruto.

Suddenly Orochimaru's mouth opened wide and a new body, identical to the first except without any injuries, emerged, "You think you've won?"

Suddenly there were poofs of smoke around them that cleared to reveal numerous ANBU and Anko standing around them with weapons raised.

"I'd listen to the brat, sensei," spat Anko.

"Perhaps I should go," growled Orochimaru, "but you'll see me again."

The snake Sannin then vanished with a swirl of leaves. Once the ANBU left, Sasuke walked forward and grabbed the Earth scroll from where it fell.

"We have what we need, let's get going," he said, getting nods from his teammates.

xXsceneXx

After an hour of non-stop running, Team 7 arrived at the central tower and walked inside.

"So what now?" asked Naruto, "Do we open the scrolls?"

"I don't know," said Sakura, "is that what we're supposed to do?"

"After all that we went through, I want to know what they say," said Sasuke.

Sasuke opened the heaven scroll and his eyes widened, "The earth scroll, quickly!"

Sakura tossed him the scroll and Sasuke opened it and laid them across each other, causing a poof of smoke. When the smoke cleared, Team 7 saw Iruka standing over them with a smile.

"Congrats guys," said Iruka, "you've passed the second stage of the Chunin Exams."