"Everyone, halt," said Neji, the first words spoken by anyone in a good hour, as they'd been searching for the other teams to take their scrolls. Everyone did as instructed, landing on a set of branches around the older Hyuga boy, who was staring off into the distance intently. Activating her own Byakugan, Hinata stared with him, and he turned to her, as she seemed to get a worried expression on her face to match Neji's.
"You see him as well, correct?" asked the elder, and the younger nodded, pointing towards the distance for the others benefit.
"There is a man, he appears to wear the hitai of a grass-nin, about a quarter of a kilometer ahead. He looks to be waiting for us," she explained, and everyone just looked at each other.
"Does he look like someone from the exams?" asked Ino, and Hinata shook her head.
"No, I don't recognize his face in the slightest, and what's more, his chakra network is...odd," she said, searching for the right word to describe what she saw.
"Odd how?" asked Sakura, wondering what it might be.
"It looks like he has several networks, lines of living energy moving through his body, but all tied together by a single, strong chakra, which coils around the rest like some kind of serpent," explained Neji, and that brought another round of staring.
"So, should we avoid him, try to go around?" asked Choji.
"I don't know if that would work. I think he's waiting for us," answered Neji.
"Well then, I say we go meet him. We're the Konoha Thirteen, after all. Why should we be scared of some lone guy?" bragged Kiba, and Akamaru on his head barked out a positive response to the boast.
"I don't know. A single shinobi, in the middle of the test held in the strongest village in the Nations? That says danger if I ever heard it," said Shikamaru.
"Oh, come off it, lazy bum. You just don't want to have to fight him because it would be a lot of extra work," chided Naruto, obviously on Kiba's side.
"If avoidance is impossible, it would be best to meet the threat on our own terms," added Shino, and everyone nodded at that assessment. A minute later, the Konoha Thirteen leapt into the clearing where the man was standing, all of them landing on a huge tree branch in a single line, each with their techniques ready and waiting to throw at this fool, in case he got any funny idea.
"Oh, my prey have come to me so willingly, kukuku," laughed the grass-nin, standing there, in the center of the clearing, exposed, and seemingly at ease.
"We would request to know who you are. You do not appear to be an entrant into the chunin exams, and no one save those who are should be in these woods," said Shino, projecting his voice with a genjutsu Kurenai had shown her team.
"Oh, the children wonder who I am? Kukuku. What a waste of thought that is, to wonder who your executioner is. Still let me count you," as he spoke, he staggered back, his body bending in an odd way, like his bones weren't there, and oddly, they got the impression of a snake from his movements, as he raised a finger, and began to count.
"One, two, three, ten, thirteen. Yes, you are the Konoha Thirteen," he said, more to himself than anyone else, and everyone was wound tightly like a spring, ready to attack the instant he made a move.
"We don't know what you're talking about," shouted Neji down at the man, who clicked his tongue and wagged his finger at him.
"Oh, no no no. You shouldn't lie to your elders, Hyuga Neji. Children who speak lies, must be punished," he said this, and then moved. To say it that simply is to underplay it, he was one moment standing in the center of the clearing, the next moment, he was on the branch, right in front of Neji, a crazed grin on his face. Before anyone could react to this almost teleportation like speed, he slammed a fist into Neji's chest, knocking him away into the woods. He then quickly slapped his hand onto the branch they were standing on, and leapt away as chakra visible moved through the wood.
"What in the?" said Sasuke, wondering aloud what had just happened. His Sharingan, the greats dojutsu ever, had been unable to follow the man's movements, and worse, he had no idea what technique that was he'd used. Well, he knew as soon as everyone else did, when the branch suddenly bamfed, chakra smoke pouring from the thing, which cleared as the branch beneath their feet writhed and squirmed, revealing glistening green scales, and a hissing head with soul piercing yellow eyes.
"Snake summoner?!" said Ino incredilously, leaping away as the snake's head came down towards them, mouth open, ready to devour all twelve of the remaining young people at once. The strike, despite its swiftness, missed entirely, as the children leapt into the branches. Of course, now that there was a battle on, they unloaded onto their opponent, Sasuke breathing a stream of fire at the serpent, hot enough to melt steel, while the others all turned to look outward, staring into the foliage for the summoner.
"Scatter!" ordered Shikamaru, his eyes darting everywhere. The same moment they heard the bamf again as the snake's scales proved little protection against the Uchiha's flame techniques, reducing it to ash as the first tongue of fire touched it. Around them, everyone tried to divide up, Naruto began to summon clones, not hundreds, not yet, just a few true clones, ones that were as solid as he was. In the meantime, Heero was converting chakra, trying to get as much of the red as possible.
Sadly, neither of them were the first targets. Instead, Choji, who had increased his mass, became the first object of the snake summoner's attention. Even as Choji tried to swell his body upward, growing larger, the snake man came from behind him, and struck with the same blinding speed as before. However, there was obviously far more power this time, as he drove Choji off the ground, his body flying through the air, and then slamming hard enough into the nearby trees to completely blast through two, before finally stopping when he hit a boulder outcropping.
"Nobody hit's lardass like that but me!" shouted Ino, drawing the eyes of the snake man to her. This was what she wanted of course, as she locked eyes with him, and then used her mind swap jutsu to try and get inside his body. Of course, the other recognized the technique from their training, but none of them recognized Ino as her eyes suddenly turned blood shot, and a single drop of blood began to drip from her nose. An instant later, the normally confident girl was screaming on the ground, holding the sides of her head, as she complained about snakes.
"Kukuku, such a frail mind you have, young lady," said the snake man, and then he twisted around a kunai thrown by Shino. Of course, this was only really impressive because the throw had come from straight behind him, and he'd somehow seen it coming. He then turned towards the kikai-nin, who said nothing, as swarms of insects came out of his body, pouring over the woods in a great writing mass towards the snake man. For his part, the snake barely seemed to notice the attack, still grinning madly.
The insects touched the snake man, whose body suddenly exploded outward, turning into a rich, black smoke. Sensing the death of the vanguard of his allies, Shino pulled his swarms back into his body quickly, barely losing a hundred of the thousands of bugs at his command. Of course, as he pulled them back, he only just noticed a movement out of the corner of his eye, and could only put up a paltry block when the snake man seemed to fold out of a nearby tree trunk, smashing him hard and fast, sending him flying into a nearby tree with a grunt.
Standing there, seemingly reveling in his victory of the kikai-nin, the snake man was assaulted by two sets of fists and feet, as Hinata and Sasuke struck together. Using their dojutsu to silently coordinate their strikes, they threw a flurry of blows at the snake man, but found him blocking and dodging every one like it was nothing. Worse, he someone switch positions with Hinata in the middle of one of her katas, causing Sasuke to strike her in the middle of her chest, before he and she were grabbed by the neck, and slammed hard into the tree branch they'd been standing on.
Rock Lee quickly came to their rescue, his fists actually connecting with the snake man's face, and knocking him away from his friends. Not that he did any real damage, as the snake man leaned into the blow, allowing the impact to propel him only a few yards, before he landed lightly on another branch. Growling at the mocking face he saw, Rock reached down and pushed the latches on his weights, the ankle and wrist contraptions snapping off easily, and falling to the ground. Even without being flung, these things hit with enough impact to make craters, and when the bowl haired genin moved, he did so with almost the same speed as the snake man.
"You want to see real speed!" shouted Kiba, as he and Akamaru joined the taijutsu master in his charge. Somehow, the two seemed to vanish as the nin-dog bamfed into a clone of his master, and they began to spin. A tornado of claws, fangs, and fists which bore holes in the woods around them, before they struck towards the snake man, who also had to deal with Rock's assault. The two together were at least able to force him back, the swirl of force just barely missing him a few times, even as he redirected every punch or kick rock threw, somehow turning every blow aside with practiced ease.
"Kukuku, your skills with the more mundane arts are quite good. Still, they are the least of my abilities," laughed the snake man, who then lived up to that moniker as he leapt away, and then threw out his arms. Those limbs somehow transformed into serpents, and the two who were attacking him were far too close to avoid their strikes, the twin snakes each taking one of the boys. The first wrapped itself around Rock Lee, pinning his limbs to his side in a flash, and then squeezing him hard enough to make his breath come out in a hard wheeze. The second entered the tornado of Kiba and Akamaru's power, which instantly fell away to reveal two Kibas bound together in much the same position.
"Guys!" shouted Tenten, throwing two perfectly arcing kunai, which buried themselves in the heads of the snakes, causing the two summoned serpents to vanish. She followed up with whipping out two large scrolls, as thick as her torso. With a flap of their parchment, she caused a rain of weapons, swords, axes, kunai, and a dozen other types, to rain down on the snake man. This only seemed to amuse him as he dodged his way easily through the rain, even bouncing from one weapon to the next, before he got to the branch where Tenten was and smacking her with the back of his hand, sending her flying.
"Gotcha!" came a sudden shout, and the snakeman looked down to find his shadow was odd looking. Below, on the ground, Shikamaru was making an strange handsign, and his shadow was stretching out onto the tree that the snake man was standing on. His body frozen, the snake man couldn't do anything for the moment, as a pink haired girl appeared behind him, and with a quick set of hand seals, slammed her palms into his back. Recognizing the feeling of a medical jutsu, one designed to stun him for a while, the snake man just laughed again.
"Huh?" was Sakura's response. The jutsu was one she'd been practicing with Iruka as part of her medic-nin training for her team, and she had seen it work on the genin at the border. This time, however, the strike seemed to have no effect at all, as the snake man just twisted his body. She didn't wait for whatever counterattack he had planned, and used kawarimi to leave before he could make good on it. Shikamaru was then treated to the sight of the snake man somehow causing his own shadow to explode into fire, a line of it moving down the truck towards the shadow-nin.
"Dammit!" he shouted, tossing a kunai with an explosive tag into the truck nearby, while leaping away. The blast scattered the shadows, saving him from whatever effect the burning shadow would have had on him. Of course, it didn't stop the snake man from coming after him himself, which he did. Luckily for the lazy bum, he was saved as a rain of orange clad ninja suddenly fell from the sky right onto the snake man, a pile of them coming down kunai first trying to impale him with their weapons.
"Oh my, such large chakra reserve you must have," commented the snake man, as he began to fight back. The first clones to reach him found their kunai stolen and thrown at their fellows, before they were bodily hurled at others. Of course, these were second level clones, not first, and the impact only made the ones struck mad, even as those dealt fatal blows popped like firecrackers. The rain continued unabated, even as the snake man danced through the mob, doing seemingly no damage against the endless horde.
"Still, all you know is one trick. Quite boring when you get down to it," added the snake man, who suddenly stood stock still, even as the clone rain continued. Before the next set could reach him, however, his body glowed bright green, chakra pouring from him in waves.
"Chakra disruption wave!" shouted the snake man, and a pulse of green chakra poured from him. It looked, somewhat, like Naruto's own chakra pulse in all but color. However, this one felt weird, as it passed by you. Where Naruto's was a breeze, strong and stiff, but just kind of there, this felt like the biting chill of a winter wind, tearing through you. It also had the effect of popping every clone it touched, the bamfing noise of them filling the clearing, even as the original Naruto cried out in agony, holding his head.
"Such one trick ponies are easily done in by someone who knows all the tricks of the ninja trade," said the snake man as he walked over to where Naruto had fallen to the ground. Smiling that crazed smile, he looked like he was going to stab Naruto with his hand, right in the blonde boy's stomach, when a red tinted blur shot from the brush, and slammed into him hard enough to force the man back.
"I've got four tricks myself, but I only need one to beat you," said Heero as the blur resolved into him, the bright red chakra of the Phoenix pouring from his body. This, for whatever reason, did seem to catch the snake man off guard, and he only had time to block as Heero charged again, the force of the blow carrying them both into the woods. The sound of their battle soon resolved into blasts of sound, as Heero broke the sound barrier with his speed, and the snake man apparently did likewise.
As the two fought as blurry after images of shinobi, the others of the Konoha Thirteen gathered in the clearing. Each of them save Shikamaru and Sakura was injured. Nothing severe, luckily, but enough that none of them was feeling at one hundred percent, as they rubbed bruises, and in a few cases broken bones that they had gained from their attempts to fight the strange snake man. Rushing between everyone, Sakura was quick to place her hands on the affected areas of their body, soft blue chakra glowing from her hands.
"That feels great Sakura. Since when were you a medic-nin though?" asked Choji as felt his cracked skull mend at least a little at her touch.
"Iruka's been teaching me on the side. He noticed I have great control of my chakra, even if it's not quite as much as everyone else. It makes me a good canidate for a healer, and I'm hoping to be the best in the village. If we get out of this," she told the large boy, before moving on, healing as much as she could of everyone's wounds. Ino's and Naruto's proved the most difficult, but after a liberal application of a general healing technique on their heads, they at least stopped squirming in pain on the ground.
"So, anyone got any idea who this snake guy is?" asked Kiba, rolling his newly healed shoulders, trying to get feeling back in them.
"Simple. Only one Snake Summoner in Konoha's history would interrupt a chunin exam. Orochimaru," said Sasuke, and everyone, even those who had been thinking the same thing, just sort of stared into space blankly. The second greatest traitor in the history of Konoha, and for some reason he had come looking for them. That boded ill for their future.
"We can still beat him, right? I mean, we're the Konoha Thirteen! No way one guy is gonna beat us," declared the dog ninja, trying to look brave, but when he attempted to fall into a fighting stance, he nearly fell over due to his still bruised ribs.
"He was a Sannin. One of the Legendary Three Ninja. Even if we're good for our age, he's one of the great figures of history," said Neji simply, his stance showing that his back was still out, despite Sakura's healing.
"Heero's fighting on his level, and we've all been able to beat him at one time or another," declared Choji, and Shino shook his head in answer.
"Heero is buying time. His speed is his only weapon now, and no doubt Orochimaru is simply testing him. Tales speak of the snake summoner's countless techniques, and yet, against us, only his taijutsu was used. He said so himself, this is the least of his powers," answered the kikai-nin.
"Did someone say my name?" came the snake man's voice, and suddenly all noise in the clearing stopped for a heartbeat, before a blast of sound and force nearly knocked everyone down, while also kicking loads of dust and debris into the air. When the currents of wind died down, they all stared at Orochimaru, standing there, a few bruises on his face from where Heero had at least been able to touch him, but still, the silver haired boy was currently being held a foot off the ground, his neck tightly gripped by the snake summoner's left hand.
"I must admit, you have impressed me. I know of few who could push me as far as you children have, and most of them are Kage. It would be a shame to slay you now, at this level, but I must find the one I'm looking for, and if he hasn't revealed himself yet, then I will have to push harder," as he spoke, Heero, grunting, his body covered in cuts, bruisers, and at least one leg being broken, slowly raised his hands so his fingers pointed towards Orochimaru.
"Claws of the Ti-!" he began to shout, obviously hoping to skewer the snake man when he wasn't looking. His shout was cut off by a gurgling noise, as blood slowly began to pour out of his mouth, and everyone stared at him. Orochimaru, without seeming to move at all, had stabbed Heero through the heart, his hand sticking clear out of the back of his chest, fingers dripping with blood.
"Kukuku, you are an impertinent boy, interrupting your elder like that," said Orochimaru, dropping Heero like a load of beef onto the ground, where the boy slumped into a pile of limbs and red liquid. The instant he hit ground, everyone moved all at once, those who could throwing everything they had at Orochimaru while Shikamaru grabbed the body of the fallen boy, and brought him back to where Ino and Naruto lay.
"Sakura, heal him!" shouted the pineapple headed boy, before leaping into the fray with his friends. Quickly, Sakura rushed to Heero's side, placing her hands over his still bleeding wound, pushing enough chakra into her palms that they glowed like little blue stars.
"No, no, he's losing too much blood. I can't heal him," she started to say, and kept her technique going, trying to force his body to stay alive.
"Heero, don't die," she said in a whisper, and with those simple words, Naruto's eyes shot open. Looking around, he saw Sakura, sitting over the fallen body of Heero, the grass around him stained red with the growing puddle beneath him. In that instant, Naruto had a vision, a vision of his life without his brother there by his side, testing him, pushing him to be better than himself. He saw himself alone, facing the village, never one of two, just a singular boy, left to himself. Somewhere inside him, Naruto felt his heart break, and then the world turned red in his vision.
"What in the world?" questioned Shikamaru as the battle around him stopped. Orochimaru, who had been in the middle of dodging a swipe of Kiba's claws, turned towards the source of a roar that sounded like something straight out of the underworld. Oddly, the sound, which frightened all the genin to their cores, making them unable to move, only seemed to make the snake man giddy, and he pushed Kiba down, not even bothering to punch him anymore, as the brush below their battle parted, and figure slowly walked out of it.
Covered in red, the genin thought for a moment that it was Heero, using his speed to heal himself or the like. Then they felt the bloodlust in that red chakra. Where Heero's red was like a warm fire, pale and light, this was a blazing inferno, threatening to burn down the world in its fury. Inside that cloak of chakra, they soon saw the face of Naruto, which was warped into a feral version of itself, the whiskers on his face seemingly glowing with the chakra, while his teeth all seemed to be sharp fangs in his mouth.
"You're dead," he said simply, and then shot forward. His speed wasn't quite what Heero or Rock Lee's had been, but it had a power behind it that neither of them could match, the trees bending away from him as he struck outward. Orochimaru just continued to smile, letting the boy come, and catching his fist with his hand. The snake man's face finally faltered then, going from that mad, mocking grin, to a grimace of pain, as the sound of breaking bones echoed over the woods.
"Gah!" he exclaimed, and instinctively struck out with his other hand, trying to push Naruto back, but the genin caught his wrist in his other hand.
"YOU DIE NOW!" he shouted, and a wave of the red chakra came off his body, the force of it knocking everyone backwards, and nearly pulling Orochimaru's arms off with the blast. Sadly, the snake summoner seemed to have anticipated this, and somehow made a single handsign with his caught hand, bamfing away, and forcing Naruto to look around for him. When the blonde genin finally caught sight of him, he was standing upside down on one of the upper branches of the tree they were in, staring at his hand.
"I believe you broke my hand, how interesting. I would have expected nothing less of the Container. Still, I know who you are now, so I shall take my leave," he told him in a rather pleasant tone, and Naruto roared at him like some kind of beast, leaping upwards and plowing through Orochimaru, who exploded into more of the black poison smoke he'd used on Shino's insects. Naruto barely seemed to notice the smoke, but as he landed, his stance leaned to one side, and he seemed to be close to blacking out.
"Naruto!" shouted Rock Lee, leaping to catch the boy, who tried to weakly push him away, but he could barely put any strength into the push. His eyes then slowly closed, the red chakra dispersing into nothing, even as tears streamed from his eyes.
Below the battle, Sakura could only hear the sounds of it, but even she felt the wave of red chakra as it passed over her, knocking her away Heero. Strangely, when the stuff touched the fallen genin, she got the briefest glimmer of gold in her vision, and watched as the hole in his chest somehow started to fill itself it, his wounds and bruises seemingly healing like magic as the wash of red power went over his body, while his eyes shot open, their silver sheen turning just as gold for that instant.
"Kurama," she thought she heard him whisper. But not in his own voice. No, this sounded like a woman speaking through him, before he passed out again, leaving her to gather him up in her arms, and carry him to the others so they could regroup, and compare notes.