"Alright maggots, let me explain this in a way you can understand." Anko started. "Basically, this forest is a death trap, hence the nickname, 'The Forest of Death'. You will be in here for 5 days straight. Your goal is to obtain these two scrolls, marked with kanji for Earth and Heaven. Once you have them, you will make your way, 5 miles in, to the tower. If in 5 days, you don't have two scrolls, haven't made your way to the tower, or have lost any of your teammates, you fail. That's right, you fail the exam. Have I made myself clear?"
"Wait, Proctor, how are we supposed to live in there for 5 days when we weren't told to bring enough supplies?" A kid asked.
"Good Question. In here, there are enough animals and plants to sustain everyone for months, maybe even years, On the other side of that, you better know your stuff, since there are plenty of poisonous things in here, and also, plenty of things that will eat you." Anko said with a scary smile. She then noticed that one certain blonde-haired shinobi wasn't paying proper attention.
Naruto noticed a kunai coming straight towards his face. He barely evaded, and it cut his cheek, right next to one of his whisker marks. Anko suddenly appeared right next to him, her face right next to his, as well as one of her hands on his shoulder.
"Listen kid, you should pay more attention. If you wanna stay alive out there that is." She said, then she licked the blood off his cheek, causing Naruto to shudder.
Then, a large tongue went right next to them, with the kunai in it.
"You shouldn't sneak up on me like that, unless you wanna die." Anko said.
"I just thought you would want your kunai back." He-or was it a she?-said.
"Thank you." Anko said, picking up her kunai and smiling.
The man-or woman- backed up to his or her place and Anko went back up on the stage.
"Now than, since everyone is paying attention, you all need to sign these release forms. After all, I don't want to have to deal with all of that shit from your parents if you die." Anko said.
Chuunin started walking around and handing out release forms to all of the genin, Shion, Naruko, and Naruto all filled theirs out immediately. They walked over to the tent where scrolls were being handed out.
They were given a Heaven scroll, they decided that Naruko would be the one to hold, since, if need be, she could encase herself with wood, allowing no one to get it.
They picked a random gate to wait outside of, for it would be awhile until the test started. They all started talking strategy, and quickly realized this test would be a lot easier for them than for others. They could get water out of thin air, as well as fruits from trees thanks to Naruko. They could see when a team was going to approach them, thanks to Shion. And should they get into trouble, Naruto could let them escape by casting a genjutsu with his Sharingan. They finished their game plan and got ready for when the test started.
A few minutes later, the gates flew open, signifying the start of the test. Team seven ran in and were trying to get a feel for where the nearest team was. They ran around, putting out their chakra, but couldn't sense anyone. They stopped for a bit, trying to regain the energy they had lost from running around, and ate some apples from a tree Naruko grew as well as making some quick tea over a fire they built to be refreshed.
"Why do you think we can't find any teams?" Naruto asked.
"Well, this place is pretty big, maybe we just haven't gone far enough." Shion said, taking a bite out of her apple.
Naruko looked west ward. Why was she feeling like something bad was happening? She couldn't shake the feeling. She usually had good luck, but every once in awhile, her mom's horrible luck would affect her and she would get the worst experience she had had in awhile. Why oh why did this seem to be one of those days?
She shook her head, she was probably just nervous and it was effecting how she felt. She picked up her small cup and saw it suddenly crack down the side. Her eyes widened. Something was definitely going on now.
"SASUKE!" They heard come from a distance.
They all looked at each other and stood up, quickly stomping out their fire and gathering their stuff. They ran towards the direction of the yell at their top speed. When they arrived, they saw Sakura bent over Haku, desperately trying to wake him up, while Sasuke was bitten by some man with an extremely long neck. Sasuke passed out and fell off the branch, plummeting to the ground.
"Sasuke!" Naruto yelled, and jumped off their branch and caught Sasuke. He landed on another branch, holding Sasuke and looked up to the man.
"Ku ku ku." The man said. "Well if it isn't Tsunade and Jiraiya's kid. This is more of a surprise than I thought. I would take you too, but I don't want my old teammates wrath."
"Orochimaru." I spit out like it was a nasty word.
"Who?" Shion and Naruto asked. Sakura was looking at me too.
"He's a traitor of Konoha who is a freak!" I yell.
"Ku ku ku, mean words Naruko-chan." He said.
"Well, let's kill him then!" Shion yelled, whipping out a kunai and jumping towards Orochimaru.
"Shion! Wait!" I yelled.
It was too late though. She landed in front of Orochimaru and engaged him in combat. She took a few stabs at him, and since he underestimated her, she even cut his arm.
"Hmm, certainly not genin material. Not bad, but you are of no use to me. I already have my vessel." Orochimaru said. He then knocked her out with a chop to the neck and pushed her off the branch, sending her towards the ground.
"Shion!" Naruto and Naruko screamed. Naruko quickly jumped down and caught her friend and landed on a branch much farther down.
She looked up and saw Naruto start gaining a red shield of bubbles around him, the marks on his cheeks became thicker, his fingernails grew longer and so did his canines. He dropped Sasuke on the branch and rushed towards Orochimaru.
"Naruto, stop!" I yelled, trying to set down Shion.
'Crap! The fox is affecting him! I need to stop this now!' Naruko thought, starting up the hand seals as she jumped up the branches of the trees.
Naruto rushed towards Orochimaru, faster than Naruko was, trying to kill him for hurting Shion. Naruto ran after Orochimaru who was jumping around. He caught up to him and threw kunai at the man, who easily deflected them.
Naruto created clones and they all ran up to Orochimaru. The snake punched them all, causing them to disperse, and stabbed Naruto in the stomach, cutting the boy. Naruto flew back as he was struck, but his demon cloak quickly started healing him. He got up and ran towards Orochimaru.
Taking out a kunai, he stabbed through the man's heart. But the body quickly turned into mud and fell around Naruto's feet. Orochimaru flew out of nowhere, his fingers burning with bright blue chakra. He lifted Naruto's shirt, and slammed his hand into the seal on Naruto's stomach.
The shield of demon fox chakra disappeared from Naruto's form, and Naruto fell unconscious down towards the Earth.
Naruko took out a kunai and threw it at Naruto. It snagged on his clothing and nailed him to a tree as she finally reached where Orochimaru and Naruto had ended up.
"Ku ku ku, well I wouldn't want to keep my teammates kid waiting. But I think I'll kill you, just for them." he said.
He rushed forward so fast that Naruko couldn't even register when he moved. Orochimaru slammed her back into a tree, sending immense pain up her back. She gasped, but felt his hands squeeze her wind pipe shut. Naruko scrambled for his hands, trying to rip them off her throat, while she squirmed around, trying to break free of his grip. She heard him laugh maniacally, and squeeze harder.
Naruko saw black spots start to appear in her vision. She tried to take in breath, but couldn't. Her attempts at getting his hands off her slowed, as her body start to shut down. Tears escaped her eyes as she tried to fight back, but felt her vision leave her, everything started going black and she slumped in his hands, the strength leaving her body, the last thing she registered was his laughter.
'I'm so sorry everyone.' She thought. 'I'm sorry Naruto, Shion, Sasuke, Sakura, Haku, kaa-chan, tou-chan, great grandad, grand uncle, great grandma, uncle Nawaki, Kakashi-sensei, old man sensei, auntie and uncle. I wish I could have held on, but I think my time has come. Please, take care of yourselves. And Gaara, I wish I could have told you just how much I liked you. How much you mean to me, even though I have known you for only a short while, I felt a real connection. I could never get you out of my mind, even now, you are the one I'm thinking about. Is this what love is like? Yeah, that sounds right. I love you. I love Gaara. That fits well together. If I only could have told you. I love you all, please don't forget about me, but be happy. At least while I'm up there I can meet tou-chan. Are you proud of me tou-chan? I hope you will love me when I meet you soon, god, please love who I've become!' I thought.
Orochimaru laughed as he felt the body of his teammates child go slack in his hands. He wouldn't be able to kill his sensei due to Jiraiya, well, here was Jiraiya's payback. He froze as sand wrapped around him faster than imaginable.
"What is this?" He yelled, as sand filled his mouth, nose, ears, and eyes, and he was completely crushed inside and out.
Orochimaru was dead.
Gaara stood a few branches down, a crazy look on his face. He had heard screaming and told his teammates to continue the fight they were in and he would check it out. When he arrived, he watched as this man laughed maniacally as the girl who meant the most to him fell slack in his hands. The only person who had ever shown him care while his demon remained controlling over his body. The one who fixed him. The one who he felt feeling for the first time he saw her. The girl he loved. He had to kill the man, for killing the one he loved.
Naruko's limp body, now released, falling off the branch and down towards the ground.
Gaara jumped off his branch and caught Naruko bridal style. He landed on a branch across from the one he was originally on, holding Naruko. His eyes widened as she took a breath in and started coughing harshly from lack of oxygen.
She was alive. She was alive!
"Naruko. Naruko. Please, open your eyes!" Gaara begged, shaking her slightly.
Naruko slowly opened her eyes, taking time to adjust them as the black filtered out of her vision.
"Gaara? Why are you in the afterlife with me?" She asked.
"Wha-?" He started to ask.
"Eh, doesn't matter, all that matters is that you're here." Naruko said as she knotted her fingers in his hair and pulled his face down to hers. Their lips met and Naruko started kissing him passionately.
Gaara's eyes were wide as she kissed him, but he quickly responded and his eyes fluttered shut as he kissed her just as passionately. They separated after a minute, and Gaara leaned his forehead against hers.
"Oh Gaara, if only I could have told you I loved you when I was still alive." Naruko said.
Gaara held back a laugh and smiled. "Uh, Naruko-chan?"
"Yeah?" She said.
"You're still alive, I saved you at the last second." Gaara said.
"WHAT!?" She yelled.
"Yeah, I saw him strangle you and I... I just kind of lost it, and crushed him with my sand." Gaara said.
"Oh my god! You killed Orochimaru! Gaara, do you know what this means!? You're a hero!" She yelled and then started to explain everything Gaara had just solved.
Gaara kissed her, to stop her from exhausting her lungs even more and causing her damage. He pulled back and smiled.
"Naruko, I love you too." He said.
"What?" she said in astonishment.
"You said you wished you could have told me that you loved me. Well, I love you too." He said.
"Oh Gaara!" Naruko said as she kissed him again.
When they separated, Gaara got a serious look on his face.
"Since I love you, I don't want you to get hurt. I need to tell you something." Gaara said.
"What?" Naruko asked.
"The Sand and Sound are planning an attack on the Leaf." He said.