Alright I'm back with another chapter already!? Its true folks. So enjoy the story progression and do not worry, while last chapter was sticking kinda close to Canon, this one will go a different route with it.

So enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Chapter 8

The Forest and The Tower

Kakashi stood outside the forest of death beside the Hokage, the moon shining over the two of them.

"Thank you Hokage-sama, for not sending anyone out after Naruto" he said softly.

The old man sucked on his tobacco pipe for a moment before answering.

"I'm surprised you didn't ask me not to search for him" he said, exhaling a large cloud of smoke.

Kakashi did not react to this. "You are Hokage for a reason. You have always made the right choices."

"Not always" the Hokage sighed, thinking of his one time student.

Kakashi glanced at him. "Why do you think he has returned?"

The Sandaime shrugged. "At this point, I cannot assume to know what that boy is thinking anymore… He has spiraled further than I had ever thought possible of him."

"Makes you wish the Yondaime was still here" Kakashi sighed.

The Sandaime chuckled. "Minato is still with us. He lives on through Naruto."

Kakashi smiled. "He is a lot like both him and Kushina."

Suddenly, an ANBU appeared, carrying Anko.

"Hokage-sama, I found her like this. She found Orochimaru, but he escaped" the ANBU informed them. Anko knelt on the ground, clutching at her neck.

The Hokage knelt beside her and spotted the curse mark on her neck.

"Hokage-sama… Orochimaru, he… he marked the Uchiha… with the curse mark." Anko gasped out in pain.

Kakashi's eye widened as did the Hokage's 'Orochimaru is after Sasuke?!' Kakashi thought in terror.

The Hokage stood up straight, exuding the power he once had in his prime.

"Gather the rest of the ANBU!"

"No wait!" Anko screamed out. "He… he told me that we can't interfere… Otherwise he'll begin killing people… He means to destroy Konohagakure if we cancel the Chunin Exams or interfere in any way."

The Hokage felt like swearing at this point. One of Konohagakure's most powerful rogue ninja was in the area, and the Hokage could not do anything for fear of unnecessary casualties.

"Very well… We will simply have to prepare for the worst and watch closely. Keep tabs on him if you can locate him" ordered the Hokage. The ANBU nodded before disappearing into the night.

The Hokage then turned to Kakashi. "First Naruto, now Sasuke… You will definitely have your hands full with this team. Come, we need to get to the tower, and then Anko and I must show you a seal to suppress Sasuke's curse mark."

Kakashi nodded. 'I must have the most complicated team out there.'

Gaara's head was throbbing. It had not felt this way since he had killed Yashamaru so many years ago.

The whispering of the Ichibi felt more like hollering at this point. All Gaara could make out amongst the ranting of Shukaku was "it's here!"

Gaara clutched his head again and sand swirled around him. He looked up to recognize that he was in a room located inside the tower. His team had easily gotten to the tower with little trouble, although they were not the first.

Some other team that had witnessed his earlier rampage was also there. He did not care for the lower beings and had not bothered with them.

Gaara turned to look out the window and stared at the moon hovering in the sky.

"Naruto Uzumaki… Was it you? You triggered something the other day. Was that you in the forest? Are you the one I must kill?" Gaara wondered to himself.

As he spoke, the Sand from his gourd flowed out behind him and molded itself into the blonde Genin's image.

"What are you?" Gaara wondered as the sand Naruto fell apart.

Sakura sat beside her two unconscious teammates. Neither had stirred since the sun, only the sound of the leaves shifting gave Sakura any company.

She continually glanced at the two of them, to see if their chests were still rising with their breath. If she couldn't see the rise, she would quickly rush to their side and check on them.

When not doing that she stared out at the darkness that surrounded them for any sign of movement.

She felt a lump in her throat suddenly her eyes began to water again. She shook her head.

'No… No more crying… I need to protect them, just like they've always protected me.'

Out in the darkness, the sound trio sat and watched team seven.

"So Uchiha and Uzumaki are out for the count" Zaku grinned.

"We should just attack now" Kin suggested.

Dosu shook his head. "No… We shall wait until dawn. I do not want any surprises. We can barely see as it is."

Zaku frowned. "Why the fuck are you in charge?" he asked.

Dosu ignored the jab. "Let us just keep watch, search for any traps that could be sprung."

Morning quickly came for Ino and the rest of her team. They had not been successful in finding a scroll that they needed but they weren't doing to badly in her opinion. Why? They still had their scroll.

"Come on wake up you lazy good for nothings!" Ino yelled, kicking at her teammate's feet.

Shikamaru groaned as awoke from his restless sleep.

"Morning already?" he groaned as he sat up.

Choji said nothing as he stood up and stared at an empty bag of chips in his hand.

"Let's go find some weak team to beat up and take their scroll!" Ino announced. Shikamaru groaned. "I think we're the weakest team here Ino."

Choji said nothing as he gave the chip bag a weak shake.

Suddenly they heard an explosion not far off. Choji quickly turned his head in that direction.

"That's just what we need!" Ino exclaimed. "Let some strong teams fight it out, then take out the winners when they're weak!"

Before Shikamaru could protest, Ino had taken off towards the explosion.

"Come on Choji… If we don't go with her, she might get herself killed…"

Choji nodded as he threw the bag to the ground, a determined look on his face.

Sakura screamed as Rock Lee was knocked across the field by Dosu.

'That lotus technique… If Zaku hadn't intervened, I'd be screwed.'

Lee struggled to his feet. "It's amazing that you would go to these lengths for some pink haired girl" Zaku yelled at Lee.

Lee struck his Taijutsu pose. "I… I promised… I would protect her with my life…"

Sakura's eyes watered. She had been cornered by the sound trio who were asking for Sasuke to fight. She had tried fighting them off but all it had ended with was an impromptu haircut.

That's when Lee had intervened and began fighting them.

Now here was Lee, bloody and beaten, barely on his own feet.

Then suddenly, Zaku couldn't move. He was screaming his head off, then the girl, Kin, began to act odd.

Then suddenly, what looked like a boulder charged towards Dosu. Dosu barely managed to dodge it when it suddenly changed direction, heading after Dosu again.

Sakura ran out at this point and grabbed Lee.

"Come on, this way…" she whispered. Lee put his arm around her and she helped him back to where Sasuke and Naruto were.

She looked back to see that Shikamaru and Choji stood in front of Dosu and Zaku, seemingly negotiating.

Kin had drawn a kunai and held it to her own neck. Sakura suddenly realized what was going on.

'Ino took her over and is holding her hostage!' She thought with admiration.

Then it took a turn for the worst. Zaku turned his hand towards Kin and let loose his sound based jutsu, knocking Kin back into a tree.

"Ino!" Choji and Shikamaru yelled. "Just let go quickly!" Shikamaru followed up.

Suddenly, Kin went limp and lay still.

Zaku and Dosu then charged after Shikamaru and Choji.

Suddenly, things happened in a flash. Zaku was suddenly on the ground across the field, and Dosu had been flung into the air.

Naruto and Sasuke stood back to back, evil chakra swirling around the Uchiha.

"Sakura… Did they do this to you?" Sasuke asked his Sharingan flashing.

She slowly nodded.

"You get the one with attitude… I get the one in bandages" Naruto said, his eyes flashing malevolently.

Ino slowly came out of the shrubbery to see the two male members of team seven standing in the center of the field.

"There they are…" she said to herself.

Suddenly, the two disappeared.

Zaku had no time to react as Sasuke appeared next to him and back handed him away.

Zaku was stunned at how strong the blow was as he flew through the air. He quickly recovered and landed smoothly, his arms extended before him, palms facing the Uchiha.

"Zankūkyokuha!"

Suddenly, the air was alight with his technique, tearing the ground apart.

Zaku grinned as his technique died out, leaving nothing left.

"Didn't stand a chance" Zaku grinned.

"You missed" a voice said behind him.

He quickly turned around only to be forced back to the ground by Sasuke, his arms held behind him.

Just as this happened Dosu crashed into the ground next to them. Sasuke glanced at him. "You weren't a match for the two of us" Sasuke grinned.

Naruto appeared in front of the two of them, panting excessively.

"Sasuke… That's enough…"

Sasuke looked back at Zaku. "I bet if I pulled hard enough, your arms would be ripped right off."

"Sasuke stop it" Naruto said louder.

Sasuke slowly began to pull as Zaku cried out in pain.

"Sasuke stop!" Naruto yelled.

Zaku's screaming increased, causing Sakura and Ino to flinch at the brutality of it all.

Then suddenly, Sasuke was blasted off of his feet by a torrent of water.

Naruto's hand had water spiraling in it.

"ENOUGH!" Naruto yelled. Shikamaru, check on the dumbass Sasuke nearly killed."

Shikamaru nodded and walked over to Zaku and knelt beside him.

Naruto and Sasuke locked eyes and stared each other down.

"He's unconscious. One of his arms is dislocated I think…" Shikamaru said, standing back up.

Naruto made no indication that he heard for a moment.

"You... Dosu or whatever your name is… Take him out of here before I change my mind." Naruto growled.

Dosu nodded as he picked himself off the ground and slowly limped towards Zaku.

"Don't forget the rest of the trash" Sasuke said.

Naruto narrowed his eyes. Blue eyes stared into Red.

"Take our scroll… You have defeated us…"

"Just fucking leave" Naruto yelled. Dosu didn't say anything else, but placed a heaven scroll on the ground before picking up his two teammates and leaving.

"What the hell happened to you?" Naruto asked Sasuke. He noticed the black markings that covered half of his face.

"I don't know…" A flash of the man's face that had bit him flashed before his eyes.

"I…it was Orochimaru…" Naruto turned to Sakura who said this.

He then glanced at the others nearby.

"We can talk later when we're alone…" Naruto said. "You two can come out now."

Suddenly Neji and Tenten were beside Rock Lee.

"Are you okay?" Tenten asked. Rock Lee nodded meekly.

Suddenly she hit him upside the head. "Don't worry us like that again!" she yelled.

Neji said nothing but glared at Sasuke.

'That chakra… it's absolutely putrid…' he thought to himself, narrowing his eyes. Sasuke ignored him and continued to stare at Naruto.

"You should take him away" Naruto suggested. "We have some things we need to work out."

Neji simply nodded and turned to his teammates. "Come now… We need to obtain an earth scroll soon."

With that said, Lee and Tenten said their goodbyes before taking off into the trees.

Suddenly, the marks on Sasuke's face receded and Sasuke's face took on a pain expression before he collapsed to the ground.

He was suddenly sweating profusely and panting.

'Whatever that was… It took an enormous toll on him.' Naruto observed.

He then turned to Shikamaru, Ino and Choji.

"Thank you guys… for helping us out…"

Shikamaru sighed. "It was a serious headache, but we couldn't let you guys just get killed."

Choji nodded. "They were jerks anyways!"

"Here, I'm going to help even Sakura's hair so it looks better." Ino said.

Naruto nodded as she walked past him.

He glanced over at Shikamaru and Choji. "Could you give me and Sasuke a minute?" he asked.

The two of them nodded and walked away, leaving the Uchiha and the Uzumaki alone.

"What was that just now?" Naruto asked.

Sasuke didn't say anything for a moment. "What did that Orochimaru guy do to you?"

Sasuke grit his teeth. "He bit me."

Naruto stared at him for a moment. "….what?"

Sasuke frowned as he turned his head, revealing two puncture marks next to what looked like a tattoo.

"Holy shit" Naruto exclaimed as he knelt beside Sasuke to look closely at the marks. "What kind of person bites someone?!"

"A freak…" Sasuke muttered.

"Yeah… I'll say." Naruto sighed. "I don't know much about them, but that looks like some kind of fuinjutsu."

Sasuke locked eyes with Naruto. "What do you mean?"

Naruto stood up and thought for a moment. "Fuinjutsu isn't just used for sealing things away… It can be used for different jutsu and summoning. Maybe this one provides you with some weird steroid or something. It would explain how crazy you were, and how strong as well. Plus that weird chakra as well."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes. "Speaking of weird chakra Naruto… What the hell was that when you fought that Orochimaru guy?"

Naruto bit his lip. 'I was worried about this coming up…'

"It's uh… I can't really tell you Sasuke…" he answered.

"Why the hell not?" Sasuke pushed.

Naruto clenched his fist. "It's really complicated… The Hokage ordered that others couldn't know about it…"

"So the Hokage knows about it?" Sasuke asked, slowly getting to his feet.

Naruto nodded. "A few others know about it as well… Iruka knew about it."

Sasuke grit his teeth. "Then tell me about it!" he yelled.

Naruto looked down at the ground, shamefully.

"I'll ask the Hokage… But I can't promise anything." Naruto said.

Sasuke nodded. "I guess that's all you can do right now…"

Naruto shrugged. "Sorry Sasuke… I wish I could tell you."

The truth was of course, that Naruto had dreaded this moment for a while. Since he had found out about the fox, he had been worried about others his age finding out about it. He had a chance to finally make friends; he finally knew why so many people hated him.

But he was certain he could change the village's opinion about him and the fox. He wanted to prove he was good for the village, not a curse.

But this was too soon. He hadn't done enough. He hadn't proved himself.

"Is it a seal like mine?" Sasuke asked suddenly.

Naruto laughed at this. "No it isn't. If only it was that."

'So it's worse than what I have?' Sasuke thought.

Ino sat behind Sakura, using a Kunai to fix the girls pink hair.

"…and that's what's happened." Sakura said in a low voice, recounting the events leading up to now.

"Holy shit… So the mystery deepens… But that name… Orochimaru. I've heard that name before." Ino whispered.

Sakura watched the four boys in the distance.

"Then of course there's that red chakra that Naruto used" Sakura reminded Ino.

Ino nodded. "Yeah… Something weird is definitely happening with him as well. I mean he was a show off back in the academy and if he'd had that power before, he'd have shown it to everyone just for attention" she whispered.

"When we out of this forest, I can ask my dad about it" Ino suggested. "If anyone were to know anything, he'd definitely know."

Sakura smiled. "That's right. He of all people would know what that red chakra is."

Ino finally finished Sakura's hair when Naruto's voice rang out. "Where the hell is my jacket?!"

Sakura shivered. 'Fuck… I forgot about that…'

Two days later

Naruto sat on the ground, cross legged and eyes closed. The sun was rising and they only had a day left before the exams were over and they had yet to find an earth scroll. They had given Team ten the extra heaven scroll they had received from Dosu since they had no need for it.

Ino took it with enthusiasm which Sakura was irritated about and still grumbled over it.

Every night since Sasuke and Naruto had woken up; they had taken turns to keep watch at night to ensure no one ambushed them.

As Naruto meditated, he sifted through his clones memories from when he sent them into the forest at the beginning of the exam.

It seems that whatever Orochimaru had done to him, had destroyed his clones.

Speaking of what the man did to him, he could not exactly recall how the fight had ended. He remembered how he had felt when the Kyubi's chakra flowed through him, but after that it had become spotty. At times, he seemed to remember the fight with perfect clarity, while the rest of the time, it was like sifting through mud.

Returning back to his clones memories he recalled a great deal of information. A few teams had decided to team up and headed straight for the tower. He recalled them talking about staying out there for a few days, to pick off some of the competition and thin the ranks.

A clever plan that Naruto had wished he'd thought of.

He recalled some grass shinobi with a missing team member.

At one point he had even run into the proctor Anko, who had not bothered even looking at him.

Lions, giant bugs, snakes, toads. The forest was filled with so much. Then he recalled running into Kabuto's team but his clone was quickly killed off by a surprise attack. He didn't know who it was though.

Naruto frowned. He didn't like Kabuto, even if he was nice enough to provide the rookies with much needed information.

Naruto shook his head as it began to ache from the flow of so much information.

He looked over at the river they had camped next to and frowned. The other day, he had tried to walk out on the river and had quickly fallen in. Whatever had happened to him had screwed up his chakra control.

It was worse than it had been when he first graduated the academy.

'At least I can still make Bunshin…' he thought glumly.

He heard movement behind him and sprung to his feet, kunai in hand.

"Relax it's just me" Sasuke yawned.

Naruto sighed. "Sorry… Just jumpy since… you know."

Sasuke nodded. "Nothing happened I take it?" Naruto shook his head. "All quiet out there."

"How is your sensory ability?" Sasuke asked.

"Still shot… I don't know what Orochimaru did, but the only thing I can really rely on is my Taijutsu. My chakra control is shot."

Sasuke nodded and looked around. "You find your weights at all?"

Naruto shook his head. He had sent out clones looking for the weights he usually wore, but he had lost them during the fight with Orochimaru.

"Really pissing me off… My clones have looked everywhere."

"Too bad" Sasuke muttered.

"We should head towards the tower… It's getting to the end there and there has to be at least one team that has an earth scroll."

Sasuke nodded. "As soon as Sakura is up, let's get headed over there."

"Just wake her up now… We need to move now so we have time to spare."

A few hours later, they were in sight of the tower. They had forgone tree jumping at this point to ensure they were not ambushed.

'This would be a lot easier if I could sense them…' Naruto thought with annoyance.

None of them spoke, trying to keep as silent as possible to listen for any movement.

Suddenly, they heard a twig snap. Naruto signaled for them to stop. He pressed his back against a tree and waited as whatever made the noise came closer to his position. His fist tightened as he prepared to attack.

"Whoever is there, I can hear you…"

'What the fuck? How?! Even ANBU have a hard time tracking me' Naruto thought. He didn't move and simply waited.

"Whoever you are I mean you no harm" the voice came again. Suddenly, Kabuto came into view; however he was walking past Naruto. He hadn't taken notice of him and was heading for Sasuke's position.

'So it wasn't me he found…' Naruto grinned. He hadn't liked the silver haired Genin when they met them.

Moving silently, Naruto stalked after him. "Please, just come out and I promise not to…" Kabuto's sentence was cut short as wrapped on arm around Kabuto's throat and dragged him back.

"Shut the fuck up or I will kill you" Naruto hissed in Kabuto's ear.

Sasuke looked around the corner from where he hid and sighed in relief.

He turned back and signaled for Sakura to come out of hiding.

"What scroll do you have?" Naruto asked immediately.

Kabuto smiled as he gasped for air. "Honestly, I have both heaven and earth scrolls."

Naruto glanced at Sasuke.

"I'll check the perimeter" Sasuke stated without Naruto even needing to ask.

"Thanks" Naruto mumbled.

Sasuke leapt into the trees and took off to scout the area.

"So while he's off, where's the rest of your team?"

Kabuto continued to gasp for air, so Naruto lessened the pressure.

Kabuto coughed lightly.

"I was to meet them at the tower when I acquired my scrolls."

Naruto glanced at Sakura. "So you're telling me that you got these scrolls on your own?"

"Yes" Kabuto replied. A clone of Naruto pooped into existence next to the two of them.

"Search him" the original Naruto ordered. The clone began rifling through Kabuto's pack and pulled out the two scrolls. The clone then took his kunai holster and any remaining shuriken in the pack.

Naruto eyed them for a moment. "Sakura, you should go check on Sasuke…" Naruto said slowly, thinking of what he was to do next.

"Are you sure Naruto?" Sakura asked, eyeing him and Kabuto.

"I'm sure… Don't worry. I'm not about to kill him Sakura, you don't need to worry about that." Naruto smiled at her.

"I wasn't thinking that you were going to." Sakura defended.

"It's fine Sakura. Just go check on him" Naruto said softly, meeting her eyes.

She smiled lightly and walked past the two of them.

Naruto waited until she was out of earshot.

"Where the fuck did you get those files on me?" Naruto asked.

Kabuto was surprised by the question. "It's like I said, my father is chief medical officer and…"

"Don't give me that shit! There's no way my file could be accessed by someone that low on the totem pole! You know don't you…" Naruto growled.

Kabuto stayed silent for a moment.

"Why else would you mention my file…? You wanted to warn me not to cross you or something… May have backfired on you though."

Kabuto smiled slyly.

"I have no idea what you're talking about Uzumaki." He replied.

The Naruto clone by then had made a campfire and tossed the spare heaven scroll in the fire.

"Well, I guess I should just send a clone to the Hokage and ask him about it."

Then it was like a flash, Kabuto had withdrawn a hidden kunai and stabbed Naruto.

Naruto's grip lessened, allowing Kabuto to break free. Blood splattered the ground and Naruto grit his teeth.

'Damn… That was stupid of me… Should have made sure all of his weapons were accounted for.'

Kabuto looked at Naruto for a moment as he shifted his position, ready to attack with his kunai.

Naruto withdrew his hand from the wound he had received. His hand had been dyed red from his wound.

'I hope it'll heal quickly…' Naruto thought to himself.

"That was a mistake" Naruto spat. "If you come at me like that again, I may have to kill you…"

Kabuto narrowed his eyes. 'Orochimaru-sama wants this team to get through, but the boy backed me into a corner… To think this Jinchuriki could back me into a corner like this.'

"If you let me go, you may keep the earth scroll. We can go our separate ways and pretend like this didn't happen" Kabuto said as he took a step back.

Naruto chuckled. "You stab me and expect us to let bygones be bygones… Too bad fucker…"

In a swift movement, he withdrew a kunai and threw it at Kabuto. Kabuto deflected it with ease and spun around to block a strike from Naruto's clone.

The original Naruto caught the earth scroll that his clone had tossed to him.

He withdrew another Kunai and slapped an explosive tag on it. 'It's stupid, but I can't take this guy on alone…' he threw it into the air to signal his teammates.

'I just hope that they get here first.' Naruto thought as he pocketed the earth scroll.

He ran through hand seals as quickly as he could, wincing in pain.

"Katon: Gōkakyu no Jutsu" Naruto's fireball was significantly weaker than it had been before.

'Dammit… Can't even use my jutsu right' Naruto thought angrily as Kabuto easily jumped over the blast.

'He's much weaker…' Kabuto realized.

Naruto flinched as his wound throbbed.

He charged forward, employing his Goken Taijutsu as best as he could. Kabuto easily outmaneuvered Naruto, dodging every strike Naruto used. That's when Naruto began to improvise. As Kabuto took a step back, Naruto ran jumped forward and lashed out with a kick. It was a reckless move that left Naruto open, but it succeeded in landing. Kabuto staggered back. 'This guy… Even in his weakened state he managed to hit me.'

Naruto followed up with a handful of shuriken, which Kabuto ducked under.

Then as Kabuto charged at Naruto, a kunai flew at him from his left. He deflected it, but failed to notice the explosive tag tied to it. The explosion threw Kabuto into a tree, cracking the boy's glasses slightly.

'So the rest of his team is here…' Kabuto thought in annoyance.

A fireball burned through the foliage and headed for Kabuto.

It seemed to hit him full force but when the jutsu ended, all that was left was a log.

Sasuke appeared next to Naruto, Sharingan activated.

"You alright?" he asked as he spotted the blood dripping off of his teammate.

"I'll live" Naruto coughed out.

"I think he got away" Sakura said as she appeared next to them. "I tried chasing after him but he was really fast.

Naruto nodded. "Well… we still have the earth scroll, let's get going to the tower so we can be out of this forest. Do we have any rags left? I need to get this taken care of…" Naruto grunted as he lifted his shirt to show a stab wound right below his ribs.

"Oh my god what happened?" Sakura asked, quickly running to him and inspecting the wound.

"Just was stupid. Thought I had gotten all of Kabuto's weapons, but I was pretty wrong." Naruto winced as she quickly poured water on the wound from a flask they had.

"Well next time you take a hostage, please try to be more careful" Sakura said softly. Naruto stared at her for a moment. "I'm sorry Sakura… I've kind of been a dick a lot lately…"

Sakura looked up at Naruto in surprise. "I…it's fine Naruto… I haven't been the best person either."

She pulled out strips of cloth from her pack. "Take off your shirt."

Naruto nodded and quickly stripped off the black shirt.

As she began to wrap the cloth around the wound, she saw something on Naruto's stomach.

"Naruto?" she asked. "What are you doing?"

"Just trying to mold chakra… It's still really difficult to do."

"Then what's this?" she pointed at his stomach. He looked down to see something he had been dreading. It was the seal that held the Kyubi at bay. 'Dammit… I forgot that it appears when I use chakra…' But then he noticed something different. There was a new part to the seal now, on top of his original seal.

'This… this is what Orochimaru must have done to me!' He realized. 'Maybe because it's on top of the seal for the nine tails, it's fucking up my chakra control. I gotta find someone that can take it off!'

"I think it's what's messing with my chakra control… It would explain a lot." Naruto stated.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes. "So Orochimaru put that on you?" he asked.

"I think so" Naruto lied.

"Looks pretty complicated. How'd he put that on you so quickly?" Sasuke asked.

"No idea. But he was extremely powerful from what I can tell. He was toying with us that entire battle. He definitely isn't a Genin." Naruto said. Although they had all realized that long ago.

"Once we get back to the village, I need to ask Kakashi-sensei about getting the seal off. I can't get far this way…" Naruto said.

Sasuke nodded. "We should get going then."

Naruto nodded as Sakura finished wrapping his wound.

He put his shirt back on and turned to see the tower in the distance. "We have to be careful… Who knows how many people saw those explosions from earlier."

It wasn't long until the sun had set, but by then they had reached the tower's base. They had been careful to avoid other teams, with Naruto sending what few Kage Bunshin he could muster to scout ahead and use as distractions.

As they entered the tower, Naruto was feeling the effects of how much blood he had lost.

'That seal Orochimaru used is keeping the nine tails from healing me… This could end badly' Naruto thought as Sasuke had to help him through the tower's entrance.

As they entered a room, they found it to be completely empty save for a plaque on a wall.

Naruto collapsed on the ground as Sakura read what was on the wall.

Naruto wasn't listening until Sasuke shook him lightly.

"We need the scrolls" he said.

Naruto groaned as he reached into his pouch and withdrew them, handing them to Sasuke.

Naruto watched as they opened the scrolls to find them beginning to smoke.

Sasuke's eyes widened and he tossed them away just as suddenly, Iruka was summoned from the scrolls.

"Iruka-sensei?" Naruto stared at the scarred Chunin.

Iruka smiled at them. "You three look like you went through hell to get here."

Naruto began to chuckle, then it evolved into full blown laughter. "You have no idea" Naruto laughed.

Orochimaru was very unhappy at the moment. He had been waiting for Kabuto and his team to enter the tower, however there was no sign of them. So he decided to force open the door of the tower to find Kabuto's teammates waiting.

When Orochimaru learned that Kabuto had gone after team seven and had not returned, he had lost his temper quickly. The two boys of Kabuto's unit lay on the ground before him, dead.

Orochimaru was getting more impatient with every minute that passed when he caught a scent on the wind. He smiled as his right hand man came into view.

"There you are Kabuto" Orochimaru said grinning maliciously.

Kabuto frowned when he saw his two teammates on the ground.

"That wasn't part of the plan" he said.

"Neither was you failing this exam" Orochimaru said angrily.

Kabuto sighed. "You can thank Naruto Uzumaki for that."

Orochimaru stood straight at the name. "The Jinchuriki? How was he a match for you? I interfered with his seal; he should have been much weaker than you, even without my tampering."

"He caught me by surprise. He's very stealthy and before I could react, he had me in a choke hold. He convinced his team to not trust me."

Orochimaru took a step towards his underling.

"Did you not get the information I require?" he sounded threatening at this point. The boy was useful, but he was not so forgiving with failure.

Kabuto smiled. "Don't worry Orochimaru. I encountered Dosu before him and his team entered the tower. It seems that Sasuke has adapted well to the curse seal of heaven. In fact, he was stronger than either of us estimated. He was able to use some Ninjutsu without the seal being triggered."

Orochimaru nodded stoically as Kabuto pulled out a ninja info card and handed it to him.

"All of it's recorded there. I know we want him being subjected to the seal more, but this could turn out to be a good thing. If he's stronger, than the seal will have a stronger reaction."

Orochimaru smiled at Kabuto's observation. "You are still very useful. I shall go for now, and we will meet again in the village." With that said, Orochimaru turned and walked into the tower.

Kabuto watched him as he walked into the tower.

'Naruto Uzumaki… I will make you pay' Kabuto thought angrily.

As Iruka finished his explanation of the exams and the Chunin motto, he quickly escorted them through a chamber. "You still have some time to rest. A few hours until the sun comes up and the second exam is over. Naruto, you seem to need some medical attention so just go down this hallway to the infirmary and they'll take care of you." Naruto nodded silently and headed down the hallway, not caring about anything else for the moment.

When he entered the infirmary, a nurse with long black hair spotted the situation he was in and rushed to his side.

"What happened?" she asked quickly, her green eyes meeting his blue eyes.

"Stabbed… Earlier today." Naruto grunted. 'She's cute' he thought randomly through the pain.

"Come lay down" the nurse said quickly. Naruto nodded and followed her to a medical bed. As he lay down, she ran through a few hand seals and then her hands began to glow green over his wound. Naruto grimaced for a moment when relief seemed to wash over him.

"I can speed up the process a bit, but I can't completely heal it."

Naruto nodded. "That's fine. I'm sure you'll need to conserve your chakra for worse wounds."

The nurse said nothing as she slowly worked.

"Seems your suffering from slight chakra exhaustion as well" she pointed out.

Naruto nodded. "Yeah… been a long day."

"Well, just rest for a while" the nurse said.

Naruto smiled for a moment. "You're a foreigner aren't you?" It was more of a statement that a question.

"Yes. I come from a small village within the fire country. But, how did you know?"

'You don't know about the Kyubi… I can tell just by how you treat me.' Naruto thought to himself.

"I just have a knack for that kind of thing" he said.

The nurse smiled at him. "So is this your first exam?" she asked.

Naruto nodded. "Yeah. Hopefully it will be the only one."

The nurse chuckled. "I'm not surprised you think that with this wound."

"I've had much worse" Naruto said, thinking back to wave, and even the fight with the snake. "So how long have you been in Konohagakure?" he asked.

"Just over a year now. It's a huge place" she said as she finished healing Naruto.

He sat up, grunting slightly. The pain was still there, but it wasn't as bad as it had been.

"So other than this what do you do?" Naruto asked.

"You have an awfully large amount of questions" the nurse teased.

Naruto blushed. "Just making conversation is all…"

She laughed. "It's fine. I'm an intern at the hospital."

Naruto nodded. "I guess you might see more of me in the future then."

Naruto hopped off the bed.

"Here, give me a second and I can give you a new shirt. That one is soaked in blood and torn apart."

Naruto blushed yet again. Here was a cute young nurse helping him out more than she had to.

"You don't have to…" Naruto mumbled, slightly embarrassed.

The nurse waived him off, "It's no problem, just give me a second." She then walked into another room and returned with a white shirt for him.

"Go ahead and change and ill get rid of that shirt for you." She said.

Naruto said nothing as he accepted the clean white shirt from her. He took his own shirt off, avoiding eye contact with the nurse and then put the new one on. It was a bit of a tight fit but it wasn't terrible.

"There, that wasn't so bad now was it" the nurse smiled at Naruto.

"No… I guess I should go then…" Naruto said, still blushing.

"Wait, before you go, what was your name?" The nurse asked.

"Oh… It's Naruto Uzumaki. What's your name?" he asked.

"Kagome" she said with a soft smile. "I'll be rooting for you during the exams" she said, winking. Once again, Naruto felt his face heat up. 'I think this is my first crush since Sakura…' he realized as he awkwardly waived and walked away.

Kagome watched as he left the infirmary and giggled. 'Naruto Uzumaki eh? He's a cutie.' She thought to herself as she disposed of the damaged black shirt.

A few hours passed, and everyone that had passed were lined up before the Hokage and the various Jonin that led the teams in attendance. Among them were also, Ibiki, Anko, and another shinobi that looked like he may fall over dead at any given moment from illness.

"Congratulations on those that passed the second exams." The Hokage began.

From there, Naruto and the others listened to him drone on about why the Chunin exams had various villages participating. Something about it being war or avoiding war, honestly, Naruto wasn't listening. No his attention was on a Genin among them. Gaara was staring him down and had not looked away once. In fact, Naruto was fairly certain that he had not blinked.

Naruto's jaw tightened. 'He doesn't have a scratch on him while everyone else here does.'

Everyone had dealt with one thing or another in the forest of death and showed some kind of mark or even smudge of dirt from it all, but not Gaara.

Naruto returned his attention to the Hokage.

"…third exams will be held in front of an audience to showcase the various villages strength to different lords and such, therefore increasing the chances of the participating villages requests for missions. However… there are too many of you to advance to the third exam, which is why right now, we are going to have a preliminary round to determine who will advance."

"Excuse me Hokage-sama, but if I may." The sickly man interrupted.

The Hokage nodded.

"Hello everyone my name is Hayate and I will be the proctor for the preliminaries. Now before we get started, if there is anyone who does not feel up to the task of fighting, you have a chance to withdraw, so please say so now."

Naruto gulped. 'Shit… I'm still really weakened… I hope I'm paired with someone either weak or injured…' Nobody raised their hands at this point.

He looked down the line of participants. There was Lee and his team, which Naruto definitely did not want to end up fighting. Gaara's team of course, which Naruto had a bad feeling about. Shikamaru's team, that he could deal with he was sure. The sound team, they would be a cake walk as all of them had been thoroughly trounced by Sasuke and him. Kiba's team he was uneasy about. Sasuke was one he may be able to take on as he wasn't looking to good either. Sakura seemed uninjured enough, but honestly… Sakura a threat?

"Everyone if you will please go up to the balcony, we will begin shortly. The screen behind me, will show the match ups, one by one." Hayate stated.

The various teams walked up the stairs to the balcony overlooking the large room.

The Jonin's of each team joined with them as well.

The Hokage, Anko and Ibiki all stayed down near Hayate, behind them a statue of two hands making a hand seal.

Hayate gave out a slight cough. "Well then, we shall begin."

On one of the walls, a giant screen began cycling through names.

Naruto gripped the rails tightly as he watched for his name.

Then the names stopped.

Zaku Abumi Vs Sasuke Uchiha.

Naruto glanced at Sasuke. 'This should be interesting…' he thought to himself.

Sasuke smirked. 'This guy again?'

Zaku also smirked. His arm was currently in a sling, thanks to what had happened with the Uchiha a few days prior.

They both walked down to the lower level and walked towards Hayate, their eyes never leaving each other.

"GO SASUKE-KUN!" Ino's voice rang out.

Naruto smirked. 'Nearly everyone here knows that Sasuke will win, even if he is tired out.'

"Naruto…" Sakura whispered. Naruto looked over at his pink haired teammate.

"It'll be fine Sakura, Sasuke will win" he said with absolute confidence.

"It's not that… What if he losses control again?" she asked.

This caught Kakashi's attention who was directly behind them.

Naruto frowned. He had not thought about it since it happened, and it was Zaku that he had nearly maimed. "I'm sure they'll step in if it goes too far."

Kakashi narrowed his eyes. 'I was still hoping that he didn't have the curse mark, but that was foolish of me. This just confirms it.'

Hayate looked between the two of them. "Remember, if need be I will step in and call the match."

Neither of the Genin made any indication that they had heard the proctor.

"Begin" Hayate said as he leapt away.

Zaku charged the Uchiha who jumped back to avoid a strike from Zaku's good arm.

"I feel bad fighting a cripple" Sasuke said smirking.

Zaku only howled in anger as he threw a kunai at the raven haired Genin.

Sasuke easily side stepped the knife. "Come on." He goaded.

Zaku pointed his palm at Sasuke.

"Zankūha!"

A blast of supersonic air raced towards Sasuke who took off running to the side to avoid the blast.

Sasuke jumped into the air, weaving hand seals quickly.

"Katon: Hōsenka no Jutsu!"

A volley of fireballs raced after Zaku. Zaku repeated his jutsu which blasted Sasuke's technique away. Sasuke smirked as he activated his Sharingan, when suddenly; it felt as if he was being stabbed in the neck, where the curse mark lay.

Sasuke screamed out in agony as he fell to his knees.

Zaku grinned.

"THERE!" He removed his injured arm from his sling and pointed both arms towards Sasuke.

"You dodged this technique once, but not this time! "Zankūkyokuha!"

Light seemed to flash as Zaku's powerful technique was unleashed.

Sakura and Naruto watched in horror as it seemed that their teammate was consumed by the technique.

The light died down to show a large gash in the ground where Zaku's technique had hit.

No Sasuke in sight.

Zaku began to laugh triumphantly. "I beat him! Take that you trash!"

"Why do you think you've won?"

Zaku turned around to find Sasuke smiling at him, marks across his face.

Kakashi noted the curse mark on his body. 'Dammit… We're going to need to step in' remembering a conversation with the Hokage that if he used the seal that he would need to disqualify Sasuke.

Zaku swiped at Sasuke who seemed to disappear.

Sasuke had jumped into the air and was smiling like a maniac when he realized what was happening.

'The mark! Dammit! Not this again.' He glanced over at Naruto. 'You wouldn't use this power… Neither will I. I can win without it!' Suddenly, he felt the power recede.

Smiling, he activated his Sharingan once more.

He landed in front of Zaku and charged him.

Zaku struck out at him with his injured arm. 'Wrong move' Sasuke thought as he lunged forward and twisted in the air, flying below Zaku's strike. Using speed that surprised himself, he delivered a palm strike to Zaku's elbow, bending his arm the wrong way and effectively breaking it.

Zaku cried out in pain and took a step back.

Sasuke whirled around, using his hands on the ground to steady himself, and delivered two kicks to Zaku's chest.

Suddenly, Zaku was gasping for breath, making an odd noise.

'Oh shit!' Sasuke thought panic freezing him in place. He had kicked Zaku hard enough to rupture one of his lungs.

"Winner, Sasuke Uchiha" Hayate's voice rang out suddenly.

A team of medic ninja ran out with a gurney and quickly loaded Zaku onto it, who was clutching at his chest.

Sasuke stood there dumbfounded. He had not meant to hurt the boy so badly.

Suddenly he was being guided away from the room by someone familiar. He quickly realized it was Kakashi-sensei.

"I…I didn't mean to do that..." Sasuke mumbled.

"It's fine Sasuke. I know it was an accident. You just underestimated your strength. With that curse mark messing with your body, it's not surprising."

Sasuke grit his teeth. "I think I just killed him."

Kakashi shrugged. "I don't think so. The medic's didn't seem too worried when they loaded him up. I'm sure he'll live. Now we're just going to take care of that seal so that it doesn't continue interfering with you."

"Well at least he didn't lose control" Naruto comforted Sakura.

"It nearly took over" she said, biting her lip.

"But he fought it back. That's a good thing." Naruto replied. Hayate walked to the center of the arena.

"Now for the next match!" he announced. The large screen came to life again and started cycling through names again.

"Please not Lee's team… please not lee's team" Naruto began chanting to himself in a low voice, causing Sakura to give him a strange look.

He glanced at her. "Still pretty messed up from earlier" he answered.

The screen suddenly stopped.

Kiba Inuzuka VS Rock Lee.

Naruto grinned. "Oh this will be fun. Let's watch Kiba get put in his place."

Kiba's Jonin glanced over at the blonde Genin. 'Kind of a brat that Uzumaki kid…' she thought to herself.

Naruto noticed her looking at him. "Oh sorry… It's just Lee is really strong… Like freakishly strong. Gai-sensei has taught him a lot."

Kurenai was surprised that Naruto had caught her glance.

"I see" was her reply. Naruto frowned. 'She's kind of snooty that lady…'

He looked back to the arena to see Lee was already down there waiting.

Kiba walked past Naruto, glaring at him for what he had said earlier.

Naruto smiled. "Kiba, a word of advice, don't stand in place for long, Lee will take advantage of it." Kiba stopped in his tracks, surprised that Naruto was offering advice.

"What? Figured you're at enough of a disadvantage going against Rock Lee, figured I'd help you out."

Kiba glared at him. "Shut Uzumaki! It's not like a dunce like you could help anyone."

Naruto grinned. "Well okay then, just figured I'd try to help you out but it's your funeral."

He turned away from the Inuzuka, which seemed to just infuriate the boy more. Grumbling to himself, he walked down to the arena to meet with his opponent.

Hayate looked between the two of them. "Begin!"

Rock Lee struck his Goken pose.

"I wish you luck Kiba-san!" Lee announced.

Kiba stared at the weirdo in front of him. '…Ok what the hell? This guys a freak...'

"Come on Akamaru, let's beat this guy quick so that we can kick Naruto's ass next!"

'Wow… Seems like I hit a nerve by ignoring him' Naruto thought with a grin.

Akamaru barked out from Kiba's jacket before leaping down to the ground. Kiba quickly flicked a pill to the dog. Akamaru snapped it out of the air, and quickly, his hair stood on end and turned red.

"Whoa, what the hell?" Naruto said aloud. He was not aware of this technique.

"So he's using soldier pills on Akamaru" Sakura observed.

Naruto had heard of soldier pills before, but couldn't remember much about them. He briefly imagined that his hair would turn red if he took one. 'That'd be a good look for me I think…

Shikyaku no Jutsu" Kiba was suddenly on all fours, chakra radiating from his body slightly.

Lee smiled. "Let us begin."

Kiba shot forward with surprising speed.

Naruto's eyes widened. 'I had no idea he was this fast.'

Lee also seemed surprised as he was hit by Kiba's fist. Lee staggered back before lashing out with a kick. Kiba dodged the kick and seemed to disappear before reappearing behind Lee.

Lee flipped over Kiba who had lunged at the Genin.

Lee tried to kick him while flipping over him but hadn't estimated Kiba's speed to be on par with his own.

Lee landed and took of running as well.

It was like watching to blurs run around each other, occasionally striking out.

Lee slid to a halt as he withdrew a kunai and began to fend off blows from Kiba.

'I guess Kiba grew claws or something' Naruto thought to himself.

"Kiba is strong" Sakura observed. Plenty of the rookie nine seemed surprised by Kiba's speed and ferocity.

Then Kiba seemed to stop and landed next to Akamaru.

"Not bad, even though you look weird you're pretty strong" Kiba said with a smirk.

Lee stowed his kunai. "I would have to say the same about you as well Kiba-san. You are nearly as fast as Naruto-kun. It has been a while since I have had to try this hard."

Naruto frowned. 'Did he have to mention my name?'

Kiba glanced at the blonde. "Naruto? You mean that Naruto?" Kiba motioned towards the Uzumaki.

"Yes" Lee confirmed.

"Well he must have busted his ass training since we graduated because he used to be a weakling!" Lee frowned at the jab to his friend.

"Well then, let's make this a little more fun" Kiba said as he glanced at his dog.

"Akamaru!"

The dog barked as he leapt onto Kiba's back.

"Jūjin Bunshin" Suddenly, there were two Kiba's in front of Lee.

"Wait is that fair?!" Naruto yelled out.

"You are encouraged to use everything at your disposal" Hayate answered from across the room.

Naruto frowned. 'Lee… You may have to remove your weights… But will Gai-sensei allow you?' He looked over at Lee's sensei.

The two Kiba's sprang into action and bore down on Lee.

Suddenly, Lee was performing maneuvers Naruto had not seen him use before.

'I should watch closely… This is good…'

He would dodge one Kiba and use that one's body as a spring board to jump over the next one, or he would move behind one to use as a temporary shield, always keeping one of them in sight at all times.

However, Lee was at a disadvantage as he was only able to block at the moment, and was unable to strike back.

Kiba and Akamaru gave him a brief break and jumped back.

"Damn… You are something else…" Kiba growled. "Let's use that technique Akamaru!" The dog barked in agreement.

They leapt forward and suddenly began to spin.

"Gatsūga!"

Lee had no time to react as two cyclones seemed to hit him full force.

The two cyclones stopped and the two Kiba's reappeared.

"Where'd he go?!" Kiba growled.

"Gai-sensei!" Lee's voice rang out. Lee was located on top of the statue of the hand seal.

"Permission to remove the weights?" he inquired.

Gai-sensei gave him a thumbs up. "Show him what youth is all about!"

Lee smiled as he sat down for a moment and pulled down his leg warmers.

Kiba smirked. "Like some taking off some weights will work."

"YOSH!" Lee stood up, proudly displaying his weights to them all.

Then, he dropped them.

Naruto smirked, knowing full well what was about to happen.

Everyone's jaws dropped when two explosions appeared as the weights impacted the ground.

Kiba took a step back. "What the hell!?"

Suddenly Lee was behind him. "Now, let us begin again!" Kiba didn't know what to do as Lee disappeared again and dust blew up around him.

'What the hell is going on!? Wait… it's him! It's his speed!' Kiba realized.

"Now do you see? This is my real speed" Rock Lee's voice rang out. Kiba spun around just as Lee's foot appeared. Kiba flew through the air and impacted against the wall and everything went black for him.

"Winner, Rock Lee!" Hayate announced.

Rock Lee cheered as Akamaru turned back into a dog and ran to his master.

"Poor Kiba, he didn't stand a chance" Naruto grinned.

"I had no idea Lee was that strong!" Sakura said in shock.

"It's like I told Sasuke, I would lose if I had to go against Lee" Naruto said smirking.

"Could anyone here fight him and win?" Sakura wondered.

"Normally I'd say no, but there are some interesting characters… That and Lee has one huge disadvantage."

Sakura turned to Naruto. "What disadvantage?"

"Don't tell anyone else, but… Lee cannot use ninjutsu or Genjutsu…" Naruto whispered.

"Why doesn't he?" Sakura asked. Naruto shrugged. "He just can't, it's not a matter of will."

"Now for the next match!" Hayate's voice announced.

Sasuke lay on the ground unconscious, Kakashi stood over him, and Orochimaru stood across from Kakashi.

"Sealing away the curse mark is futile Kakashi-san" Orochimaru stated, a smile on his face.

Kakashi cursed his luck. 'So he's come for him already.'

Kakashi ran through three hand seals, and suddenly his hand was alight with chakra and lightning.

Orochimaru laughed. "Oh please, as if it would be a fair fight."

Suddenly, Orochimaru's pupils contracted and a wave of fear washed over Kakashi.

'So this… is Orochimaru's strength… I really don't stand a chance.'

Without meaning to, Kakashi's jutsu faded away.

"Why are you after him?!" Kakashi questioned the Sannin.

"It's simply really and you possess it as well… The Sharingan!"

Kakashi narrowed his eyes.

"Keep him safe, train him for what is to come, and in time, he will seek me out for power." Orochimaru grinned as he suddenly melted into the darkness, leaving Kakashi alone with the unconscious Uchiha.

'Damn…' was Kakashi's only thought.

The screen stopped and Naruto looked to see who was fighting next. He saw the two names on the board and his head whipped around to his teammate. She looked nervous which was to be expected, but he had a feeling in the pit of his stomach, and it got worse when he looked at the board again.

Gaara VS Sakura.

So there it is folks. A lot of people complained that I was simply sticking with Canon and I can see how you thought that with the last chapter, but I wrote that simply as a bridge to get to this point. I'm sure you're surprised with my selection and honestly I was when I thought of it, but hey, why not throw a curve ball into the mix.

So as I promised, I'm updating more frequently, although this doesn't mean you'll get a couple chapters every week, it'll be when I can do it.

After all, I've got a job, a wife and other things that I need to take care of.

So please, leave a review, as it does help, whether it's critiquing it, or praising it or flaming me.