A/N: This was suppose to be the last chapter of the second test, but it ended up taking longer than expected, so one more after this.

Chapter 17: Second Test, Sound Attack

"Hey, Hinata, wake up." Hinata's eyes slowly opened to the view of Sakura in front of her. Off to the side, Kiba laid asleep next to Shino and Akamaru was stretching. Outside the sun was shining, so it was most likely morning.

"Huh? Oh, Sakura, hey." Hinata felt a weight on her lap and looked down. Naruto's head was still on her lap, her left hand still in his locks. Hinata blushed a bit before gently moving him off. It looked like Sasuke was a bit better. She wondered when Naruto would awaken from whatever Orochimaru did to him. Or if he'd wake up. 'No! Think positive Hinata. He'll wake up. I'm sure of it!' "My turn to take watch?"

"Yeah. I set a little trap earlier." The two kunoichi got up and walked into sun. Sakura explained the trap in a whisper.

"Nice," Hinata commented. "Kakashi-sensei teach you that?"

"Well, I read it in a book. I asked sensei for help and he taught me some basic trapping."

"Really?" Hinata was surprised. She figured Sakura spent all her time fawning over Sasuke.

"Yeah, but it doesn't really feel… me," Sakura explained. "And I'm not that good at it. Took me forever to set up."

"Hey, trapping is an excellent skill. It's like pranking, but deadlier."

"Maybe, but it doesn't help me pull my weight." Sakura told her.

"What do you mean?"

Sakura sighed. "Our first C-rank mission. We were delivering a gift through bandit territory. The in truth, the odds of running into any were small, but he didn't want to take the risk. So we headed to the village to deliver the package."

"Let me guess, you ran into trouble."

Sakura nodded. "A bunch of bandits, ten of them, set up a toll road. We ended up fighting them, with Kakashi-sensei taking on half them, including the leader. Shino and Sasuke each took two and I got the last one. But he was too strong for me. All I could do was block his sword with my kunai. But eventually he knocked my weapon out of my hand and was about to kill me when Shino made his insects form a barrier in between me and the bandit, blocking the attack. But because he was distracted helping me, one the bandits he was fighting punched his gut. I drew shurikens but before I could throw them, both the bandit attacking me and the one that hit Shino were covered with his bugs and were drained of chakra." Sakura looked down, depressed. "I was nothing but a burden then."

"Look, days like that happen. My first C-rank mission, I ended up a pincushion for senbon."

"Yeah, but you fought a jonin!"

"Actually it was his apprentice Haku."

"Wait, the new girl?" Sakura heard about the Haku shortly after he arrived.

"Actually, Haku's a boy. Don't worry, everyone makes that mistake. Kiba even asked him out before the truth was revealed." Sakura giggled, imagining Kiba's reaction. "I'll explain what happened and why he's here now some other time. Anyway, we all have our good days and bad days. Just keep training and you'll prove yourself to be a valuable part of your team."

Sakura smiled at her. "Thanks," she said. The bushes rustled and both girls got ready to fight. A squirrel popped out of the bushes. It moved toward them until the pink-haired girl threw a kunai in front of it, scaring it off.

"Wake Kiba," Hinata ordered. "They're here."

"How do you know?"

"That squirrel had a paper bomb," she explained with disgust at their method. They woke Kiba and saw that Shino was stirring. "Shino, you're up! You ok?"

"I believe so. What ha..." the Aburame stopped when he realized something. "Strange. My hive has been significantly reduced. It couldn't be the work of that jutsu that hit me."

"Well, all I know is you hit your head hard and landed on some plants," Kiba said, standing up.

"What plants?" Shino asked.

Kiba thought for a moment. "I don't know, but they were kinda strange. They looked like they had mouths."

Shino stiffened, then looked downcast. "My insects… My precious hive… Eaten by plants." The others just sweatdropped.

"Um, if you're done," Hinata started, "we've got some Sound shinobi to deal with. Remember the ones that attack Kabuto? They're coming after Sasuke. And the one who attacked you earlier did something to him and Naruto. We give you the whole story later but for now, we need to be ready to fight."

"I'm afraid I cannot assist. Why? Because as I said earlier, my hive has been significantly reduced, apparently due to insectivorous plants. And I cannot risk the rest of my hive. Because of this, my jutsu usage is reduced to academy basics, in addition to limited taijutsu ability I've acquired from Kakashi-sensei. And because my combat skills have been minimized in such a way, I will only be in the way. I will, however, stay here and guard Sasuke and Naruto, should any sneak past you and do my best to keep them safe."

"Um, insecti-what?" Kiba asked.

"Plants that eat insects like mine," Shino clarified.

Hinata sighed. "Alright then, I guess it's just the four of us." Sakura looked confused wondering who the fourth was until Hinata pointed at Akamaru. "No one's getting to them!"

"Are you so sure about that?" The three leaf genin looked outside and saw the three Sound shinobi. "Allow me to introduce us." the hunched one said. "I'm Dosu. This is Zaku and the girl here is Kin. Now be dears and wake Sasuke up so we can kill him."

Sakura exited the root shelter and yelled, "We know you guys are working for that Orochimaru guy! What did he do to Sasuke?" Shino's eyes widened when he heard the sannin's name. Hinata gave him a look that said she'd explain later.

He wasn't the only one surprised. 'Lord Orochimaru fought them himself? Why? What did she mean when she asked what happened to the Uchiha?' Dosu started wondering.

"Don't know what you're talking about and I don't care!" Zaku shouted. "Wake the bastard up so we can kill him!"

"How about this?" Kiba said, "You leave now, and we don't kick your asses!"

"Oh, I'm so scared!" Zaku said sarcastically. "Fine. I'll kill you, then the girls, then Sasuke."

"Wait, Zaku," Dosu said, holding his hand up.

"What is it?" Zaku complained.

Dosu walked a bit closer, then crouched down. "I knew it. This dirt's been dug up recently. And this type of grass doesn't grow here. You know, a trap is useless if you don't hide it well." Sakura looked at him in shock. "That's the reason you threw the kunai near the squirrel. Not because it was our trap, but because it was about to set off yours."

"So we'll just go above," Kin said as she and her teammates jumped into the air toward them. Sakura smirked and used a kunai to cut a wire near her.

"A log trap from above? Damn!" Dosu then put his right hand on the log. "Just kidding." The log broke apart. "A weak trap like that won't stop us." The Leaf genin got ready for combat.

"Leaf Hurricane!" Suddenly, Lee appeared in front of the Sound genin and kicked them away.

"L-Lee?" Sakura stammered, surprised to see him. "What are you doing here?"

"I will always be there for you when you are in trouble," Lee said. "Plus, I had a little help." He pointed at the squirrel on his shoulders. Sakura and Hinata guessed that must have been the squirrel that that the bomb earlier.

"Who are you?" Dosu asked.

"I am the handsome blue beast of the Hidden Leaf, Rock Lee."

'Blue? He looks more green to me.' Kiba thought.

"Sakura, do you remember what I said when we first met? I promised to protect you with my life, and I intend to keep that promise." He took the squirrel off his shoulder and let it run off. "Now, I will not let any of you harm a single hair on the fair Sakura's body!"

"What are we, chopped liver?" Kiba mumbled, with Hinata nodding.

"Thanks Lee. I'm glad you're here to help. I appreciate it," Sakura told him.

'Yes! I did it Guy-sensei! She appreciates me!' Lee thought with starry eyes.

Dosu sighed. "Great. I guess it can't be helped. I'll take care of him. Kin, take the boy and his dog. Zaku, deal with the Hyūga. Don't let her get close, or she'll close your chakra points." Dosu launched himself at Lee, who thrust his arm into the ground and pulled up a large tree root. The Sound nin's attack blew chunks of it off.

"There is a trick to your attack, isn't there? That is why I will not simply dodge it. You shouldn't have show us back before the first exam," Lee lectured. 'Although, I may have to use the Lotus.'

Hinata dashed at Zaku, who pointed his palms at her. "Slicing Sound Waves!" The young heiress found herself blasted back. "Ha! You think I'm gonna let you get close? With the modification made to my body, I can blast you back with my hands anytime you try to get close!"

"Thanks for the info, stupid," Hinata mumbled quietly as she got back on her feet. Zaku blasted at her again, but she managed to dodge. However, he was doing a real good job at keeping her at a distance. 'Ok, fine. If that's how you want to play it…' She drew shurikens from her pouch and threw them.

"Nice gift, but I think I'll return them." Zaku used his jutsu to send the projectiles right back at her. Pulling out a kunai, she deflected the shurikens, but was knocked back by the air he launched. She dropped a smoke pellet that covered her in smoke. "You think that'll help you?" He blasted the smoke away. "Hmm, where are you hiding?" He saw Hinata come out from behind a tree out of the corner of his eye. "Got cha!" Zaku blasted her, but she puffed away. "What?" Suddenly, he received a palm strike from behind. 'She tricked me with a clone.' (Just to be clear, it was a normal clone. She doesn't know shadow clones.)

Kiba and Akamaru in Man-Beast clone form rushed at Kin, who jumped back throwing senbon with bells on them. They dodged and attacked. "Fang Over Fang!" Kin slid under them and threw more senbon with bells. Kiba dodged easily, but didn't notice the ones without bells until it was almost too late and barely moved to avoid a vital spot. "Damn, that was close, but you won't fool me aga…" He was interrupted by the sound of bells behind him. He soon found he started losing control of his body, same with Akamaru."

"Too easy. You see, these bells emit a special sound vibration. Loss of motor control comes first. Then the hallucinations." Kiba covered his ears. "Too late for that. Once you hear it, you can't block it out." Kin started splitting into multiple Kins. "It's hopeless. You've lost! You can't even move your body and if you could, how would you know which one was real?" The Kins pulled out senbon. "Lets see, how should I kill you? Quick and painless? Nah, I prefer nice and slow." They threw senbon. It seemed numerous, but only three hit him. "Oh, I just had a better I idea! Since you seem to be the real guy, I'm assuming that's your pup? Well, maybe I should take care of him first!"

"You've made… two mistakes." Kiba told her. "One, you threatened my partner!" Kiba suddenly used Tunneling Fang, hitting a shocked Kin. She was sent back into a tree, knocked out. "And two, you used genjutsu on a student of Kurenai-sensei. Give us time and we can escape it."

Dosu was struggling against Lee, who would pull up a root every time Dosu attacked to block. 'We've reached a stalemate. He won't risk getting close and I can't hit him. Only way to break the stalemate…' He looked at Sakura, who was watching the fights and rushed at her.

Lee say this. 'He hopes to use Sakura as a hostage! I won't let him! Guy-sensei, it seems the condition has been met to use the Lotus.' Lee remembered his sensei's warnings about how this jutsu would harm his body, which was why it was forbidden unless a condition was met. 'To protect someone precious!' Lee started untying his bandages and disappeared. Reappearing under Dosu, he kicked the Sound nin into the air and appeared behind him, wrapping bandages around him. Lee then grabbed him and flipped so that their heads were facing the ground. As they fell, Lee started spinning. "Primary Lotus!"

Zaku recovered from Hinata's attack and saw Dosu fall. 'Damn, he's done for unless I do something.' He blasted at Hinata to keep her at a distance, then used his jutsu to soften the ground where Dosu was about to land. Before turning his attention back to the Hyūga girl.

Dosu got out of the hole in the ground made when Lee finished piledriving him. He saw that Zaku was still fighting Hinata while Kin was out cold. 'She got careless.' He saw Lee and noticed he was looking a little worse for wear. 'That jutsu must put a strain on the user.' "That was a truly fearsome jutsu. Nearly took me out even though the dirt was softened. But now it's my turn!" He rushed at Lee and threw a punch. Lee moved back to dodge, but he once the attack passed in front of him, he fell to his knees and gagged, his ears bleeding.

"Fang Over Fang!" Kiba and Akamaru came to Lee's aid. Dish blocked with the device and soon both boy and dog dropped to the ground. Kiba was clutching his ears and Akamaru, back in puppy form, was howling in pain.

Sakura looked wide eyed. Dosu smirked and lifted up his right hand. "See this gauntlet of mine? It lets me manipulate sound. And when the human eardrum is exposed to sound levels over 150 Mhz, it breaks. And if the sound is strong enough to disrupt the fluid in the inner ear canals, your balance is impossible to maintain. So you see, I don't even have to hit any of you with my fist. All I need is sound."

"Let Sakura go!" Lee demanded, trying to stand but falling over.

"You might as well give up. You won't be getting up for awhile." He turned to Sakura. "And now it's your turn!"

Dosu rushed at Sakura. Lee used all his willpower to force his body to intercept. "Leaf Hurricane!" He kicked at Dosu, but the damage from using the Lotus as well as the effects of the Sound nin's jutsu rendered it ineffective as Dosu easily dodged.

"No good now, but I'm impressed that you can still stand. I'll have to fix that!" He punched and Lee blocked, but Dosu smirked. "Sound is vibration. And the vibrations made by the impact are being amplified and transformed into waves of sound! And with my chakra, I can direct it at any target I desire! Do you get it now? You can't beat me!" Lee collapsed, unable to take anymore. Dosu raised his arm. "Now to finish you."

"Get away from him!" Sakura shouted, throwing kunai.

Dosu blocked with his gauntlet. "Oh, I actually forgot about you. My bad. Little tip, don't shout before you attack."

Zaku was getting annoyed. "Alright, enough holding back!" Zaku sent another blast of air that Hinata barely managed to dodge. The tree that was behind her ended up with a large impact. "Ha, that's nothing! I can turn boulders into pebbles!" he boasted.

"You may have power, but your aim sucks!" Hinata taunted. Zaku growled as he shot at Hinata again. 'Doubt the same trick will work twice on him. Maybe I can get him to use up his chakra.' She dodged yet another devastating attack only to hear Sakura cry out in pain. Using her Byakugan to look without taking her eyes off of Zaku, she saw Dosu holding Sakura by her hair with his left hand while Kiba, Akamaru, and Lee were on the ground. 'Great, things just keep getting better,' she thought sarcastically.

"Too easy. Maybe if you spent more time on your ninja skills as you do on your hair, you might have put up a better fight. But that's a moot point. You're gonna die here and now." He raised his right arm.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Shino stand up. 'Not good. Shino doesn't have enough bugs to fight him. And Hinata's busy with the other one, while Lee, Kiba, and Akamaru are down for the count. I have to do something!' She grabbed a kunai from the ground and cut her long hair, escaping Dosu clutches. The Sound nin dashed at her, but right before he could hit her she substituted with a log, which shattered after impact.

"If you're the best your village can offer, the Sound must really be pathetic," Hinata yelled at Zaku, who growled in anger. 'Perfect.' Zaku launched his jutsu again, and once more, Hinata dodged. However, what he didn't notice was that Dosu was behind her before, so he was blown back.

"Idiot," Dosu mumbled.

'I think it might be time to use that technique.' He was distracted, however, when Sakura came out of the bushes and threw kunai. Zaku used his jutsu to send them back at her, but she substituted again. Sakura appeared from above, kunai in hand. Zaku just threw kunai at her, not caring about accuracy as he assumed she would just substitute again. As he looked for her, he felt blood drop on him and looked up. Sakura was still falling toward him, with cuts from the kunai he threw. "What, she didn't…" He was interrupted when Sakura landed on him her kunai about to stab him in the heart. Luckily for him, he managed to move his right arm, so she stabbed that instead. He moved his other arm to blast her off, but she bit his hand and pinned it to the ground. "Ah! Get off me!" He started punching her head.

Hinata moved to help, until she heard, "Forget about me?" She turned and saw Dosu Rush at her. He was about to strike when he stopped. "What? Can't… move."

"Shadow Possession, complete!" Shikamaru said in front of some bushes. His shadow was connected to Dosu's. The rest of Team 10 revealed themselves. "You guys look like you're in a predicament. It's a drag, but we'll help."

"You losers? Help?" Zaku started laughing, no longer punching Sakura, who in her shock, let go of him. "What's fatso gonna do? Sit on me?" he joked, pointing at Choji.

"What was that?" Choji asked, clutching his fists. "I don't think I quite heard you right."

'Oh shit.' Hinata, Shikamaru, and Ino thought. The word 'fat' was taboo around Choji, or any Akimichi. No one called them that unless they were looking for a world of hurt.

"Aw, what's wrong fatty? The truth hurt?" Zaku mocked as he got up and walked to him. Hinata quickly recovered Sakura, so she wouldn't end up collateral damage.

"I'M NOT FAT! I'M BIG-BONED!" Choji shouted with flames in his eyes. "Alright guys let's take them down!"

'Troublesome. He brought this on himself. I almost pity him.'

'Yep, Choji's all fired up now,' Ino thought. Alright, let's go Team Ino!" Shikamaru wondered when that happened, but knew better than to bring it up, even if they weren't about to fight. "Formation: Ino..."

"Shika…"

"Cho!" Choji finished. "Human Boulder!" Choji expanded his gut, giving him a round shaped, then retracted his head and limbs. Finally, he propelled himself using chakra at Zaku.

"Slicing Sound Waves!" Zaku countered, sending a continuous blast of air pressure at the incoming Akimichi. The blast stopped Choji from advancing, but that's all. Choji's jutsu was still active and he was still trying to propel himself forward. Zaku struggled to keep him from advancing any further. Then, Choji bounced up into the air and Zaku barely moved in time to avoid being crushed. He looked at Dosu, who struggled to free himself from Shikamaru's shadow possession, but to no avail. He then saw his other teammate open her eyes and stand. "It's about time! Hurry up and help me Kin!" he yelled as he avoided Choji again.

But Kin just grabbed a kunai and placed it against her throat. "Here's what's gonna happen," she said. "You two surrender and hand over your scroll, then leave. If you don't, Kin here dies."

Zaku and Dosu looked confused until they notice Ino unconscious next to Shikamaru. 'She must have used some jutsu to take over Kin's body,' Dosu concluded. He and Zaku smirked, confusing everyone. Zaku aimed his hand at 'Kin' and shot at her. 'Kin's' eyes widened and Choji moved to intercept. He succeeded, partially. While he took the brunt of the jutsu, 'Kin' was knocked back into a tree, blood trickling out of the corner of her mouth. Over at Ino's body, blood came out of her mouth too. Choji's jutsu ended and he was left dizzy.

"What the hell?" Ino shouted, still in Kin's body. "What kind of people attack their comrade?"

Dosu just chuckled. "We don't care about the exams. We're here for one reason only, to kill Sasuke Uchiha. If one of us has to die to achieve our goal, so be it. Kin knew the risks." The Leaf genin looked at him in shock. Dosu looked down and saw Shikamaru's shadow detach from his. "So, your jutsu is only good for about five minutes. And from the blood pouring out of the girl's mouth, if I kill Kin, she dies." He looked at Zaku, who nodded pointed his hand at Kin.

"You wouldn't!" Hinata said, holding Sakura up.

"Hmph, you Leaf shinobi are too soft," Zaku commented as he got ready to kill his possessed teammate. "Nothing but hacks."

"Pathetic." Everyone turned to see Neji and Tenten standing on a tree branch. "You Sound shinobi act all tough when all you've done is beat a bunch of rookies fresh out of the academy. How sad."

"Lee!" Tenten looked at her teammate on the ground with concern, wondering how they beat him.

Neji, however, just sigh. "You screwed up, didn't you Lee." He shook his head. "Still, he's our teammate and we won't tolerate this." He activated his Byakugan. "We'll show you how real Leaf shinobi fight. Tenten, we'll go at full power." She nodded and pulled out some scrolls. However, Neji stiffened and deactivated his eyes. Tenten asked what was wrong, but he ignored her. 'This chakra… What is it?' "On second though, it seems the matter has been taken out of my hands."

Dosu and Zaku looked at him confused, until they felt it. They and the others turned to see Sasuke exerting sinister, purple chakra. He rose, Sharingan activated, a glowing flame pattern covering the left half of his skin, and the chakra forming an aura similar to Naruto's when he used the Nine-Tails's power. All the rookies and Tenten shuddered, feeling the intense chakra. Even Dosu looked nervous. Truth was, he was the most afraid. 'That's…'

"What's going on?" Sasuke asked.

"S-Sasuke?" Sakura said, shocked as she pulled away from Hinata. "Are you… ok?"

"I'm fine Sakura," Sasuke answered and the flames stopped glowing and turned black. 'In fact, I've never felt this good! This power… It's immense! I can feel it! Overwhelming power!' "So this is Orochimaru's gift," he whispered.

Dosu heard him. 'So it is the Curse Mark! Given to him to him by Lord Orochimaru himself. But why send us after him, unless…'

"I'm only gonna ask one more time," Sasuke said to the Sound genin. "What's going on?"

"We were just having fun with your friends here," Zaku answered with a smirk.

"Zaku, no!" Dosu pleaded, but his teammate ignored him.

"We were after you, but you decided to take a nap, so had to play with your friends here and things got, well, rough."

"I see," Sasuke said, giving him a glare.

"Ino!" 'Kin' looked at Shikamaru, who was hiding in the bushes with Choji and her body. "Get back in your body. Something tells me things are about to get very troublesome!" She nodded and released the jutsu.

"What's going on?" Choji asked.

"I have no idea," Shikamaru answered. "But it ain't good, that's for sure."

The flame marks on Sasuke's skin glowed again and started to spread to the rest of his body.

Dosu was panicking internally. 'His chakra, it's huge! Powerful! We can't fight him!' He looked at his teammate, who clearly had no intention of leaving. 'Damn it Zaku! Don't do anything stupid! I know you can feel his chakra too!'

"What's wrong Dosu? Our target finally wakes up and you turn chicken?"

"Wait, Zaku! He…"

"He's dead! And so are his friends! I'll kill them all with a single attack!" He put his hands together. "Super Sonic Slicing Wave!" A large, visible blast of air pressure shot out of Zaku's palms and engulfed the area where Hinata, Sakura, and Sasuke were. And when the dust cleared, they were gone. "Ha! Blew them all away!"

"Thinks so." Before Zaku could turn his head, Sasuke backhanded him from behind, Hinata and Sakura with him.

"Guess this makes us even," Hinata told him.

'Such speed! He managed to get them and himself out of the way in the blink of an eye!' Dosu thought.

Sasuke wasn't done. "Fire Style: Phoenix Flower Jutsu!" He shot a few small fireballs at Zaku. He extinguished the flames with his jutsu, only to reveal shurikens hidden in them. While they cut Zaku, Sasuke got behind him, grabbing his arms and planting his foot on the Sound nin's back. "These arms, you seem awfully proud of them." He started pulling. "In fact, I'd say you're 'attached' to them."

"Ah! St-stop!" Zaku pleaded.

"Hmm, but not for long." He pulled harder, and kept pulling until he dislocated them from Zaku's shoulders. He then turned to Dosu. "Now it's your turn. Try to make it more interesting than your friend did." He started walking toward him.

"W-wait!" Dosu dug into his pouch and turned up an Earth Scroll. "Here! Take it! Just let us leave!" 'Damn you Orochimaru! You didn't want us to kill him! You want to test him! Well, he passes!'

"And why would I do that, when I could just kill you and take it anyway?" Sasuke argued.

'That's… That's not Sasuke! It can be!' "Sasuke stop! Please!" Sakura cried as she hugged Sasuke from behind. Sasuke stopped for a second, before he continued forward, dragging a pleading Sakura with him.

Hinata got in front of him and firmly gripped the Uchiha's shoulder, before giving him a hard look, Byakugan active. "Enough! It's over. Let it go Sasuke." Without breaking eye contact, she spoke to Dosu. "We accept your surrender. Leave the scroll, gather your teammates, and get out of here!" Dosu nodded and did just that. As he left, he promised next time, they would not run. Sasuke was not happy to see his prey leave, but relented, though he wasn't sure why. The curse mark receded and Sasuke fell back, feeling the aftereffects of the curse mark. Hinata released him and Sakura caught him.

"Well, we'll just pick up Lee and be on our way," Neji said, dropping down with Tenten. 'That chakra wasn't normal. And it was quite powerful. You may be an interesting opponent after all, Sasuke Uchiha.' He picked up Lee and slung him over his shoulders before leaving, Tenten behind him.

"Alright, let's all take a rest," Hinata suggested, the others nodding. Sasuke said nothing but moved away from Sakura and sat against a tree root. Hinata returned to Naruto side. Apparently, recent events still haven't stirred him. Hinata grew worried and contemplated what to do when it hit her.
-

"Excuse me Anko," a Leaf chunin started, "but…"

"What is it? We dealing with something important here!" Anko snapped. With her were two ANBU. She was explaining her encounter with Orochimaru and telling them they couldn't cancel the test.

"I'm sorry, but I need you to take a look at this." He held up a tape. Anko motioned him to play it, wondering what was so important. "Once it starts, look at the time," he told them as he put the tape in the video player. The video showed Gaara and his team just as they entered the tower. The special jonin and two ANBU were shocked when the looked at the time table.

"No way," Anko said in disbelief. "They beat the second test in only an hour and thirty-seven minutes?"

"Yeah, these guys definitely aren't genin level. They beat the previous record set by the Fourth Hokage and his team by four hours!"

"That's not all," one of the ANBU said.

"Yeah, I see it too," Anko said.

"What? What else in there?" the chunin asked.

"Look at the red-head with the gourd," Anko told him.

The chunin examined him. "What am I looking at? He looks fine to me."

"Exactly. It's 10 kilometers from the gate to the tower," Anko explained. "The journey is filled with ferocious beasts, dangerous foliage, and there's the other contestants you have to fight for their scroll. And yet, this guy doesn't even have a scratch on him."

The chunin's eyes widened. "Your right. I see no signs of injuries. His clothes aren't even torn. You'd never guess he just spent time in our most dangerous training grounds."

Anko nodded. "It should be impossible to get through the second part of the exams without some sort of injury. No one has done so before, ever! This guy… He's not normal. And it gives me a bad feeling." The ANBU couldn't help but agree.
-

'Mmm, what's that heavenly smell? Is that… miso ramen?' Naruto's eyes slowly opened to see Hinata holding a cup of instant ramen near his face. Naruto blushed at how close she was.

"Hey, it work! Maybe Kiba wasn't kidding when he said ramen could wake you from a coma," Hinata said with a smile as she helped him sit up then handed him the ramen cup, "I was getting worried. You were out of it for awhile."

"S-sorry," Naruto apologised.

"Ah, forget it. It's not your fault. I worry because I care. Now eat up."

"N-not just that," he said softly. "I u-used it again. I c-can r-remember, s-sort of. I r-remember t-that y-you l-looked at m-me s-shocked."

Hinata knew what he was talking about. "Yeah, I was shocked. Your features change a little when you go like that. It was weird, seeing you with red eyes. Personally, I prefer your blue ones. They're a lot cuter." Naruto blushed as she complemented his eyes. "Really, you have nothing to worry about. You saved me and Kiba from being snake food, or worse."

"B-but she beat me. I w-wasn't any real h-help," he said dejectedly.

"Ok, you lost, true. But in all fairness, he was a sannin,"

"Sannin? He?" 'Do I really suck at telling boys from girls?' Naruto wondered.

"Well, the sannin are legendary shinobi, trained by the Third Hokage himself and veterans of the last two great wars. There are three of them. The one we fought, Orochimaru, went rogue and disguised himself as the woman we fought. Honestly, I think the fact that we survived is quite the accomplishment!" Hinata put a hand on his shoulder. "Really, quite worrying."

"I, I w-worry because I c-care," Naruto threw back, making Hinata laugh.

"Well, let me tell you what happened while you were out." While Naruto ate, Hinata explained how Orochimaru fought Sasuke then bit his neck before almost doing same to her, quickly adding that he failed thanks to Akamaru when she saw his concern. Then went on to the fight with the Sound genin and Sasuke's strange chakra. "Must be what Orochimaru did to him. It actually reminded me of you when use you-know-what, though I trust you way more than I do Sasuke."

"I-if it's a-anything l-like what I've g-got, I'm g-glad you don't h-have."

"Yeah," Hinata said, looking downward. "I guess," she mumbled. Truthfully, she was a little envious of the power. 'If I had it, maybe I'd be able to protect everyone better. Especially since we attract some really strong opponents.'

"S-so everyone's a-alright?" Naruto asked.

Hinata left her thoughts gave him a reassuring look. "Everyone's in one piece. No one's dead or dying."

"Good," he said, relieved. He looked around. Kiba was nearby nursing his ears, as well as Akamaru's. Ino was with her team. She glanced over at his direction with a look of discomfort. Sasuke was with his team. He caught Naruto's gaze and gave him a strange look, like he had won something. 'He must be referring to the power Hinata mentioned, thinking it could rival the power in me.' He expected to hear the Nine-Tails shout in outrage, but he heard nothing. 'Must be napping.' Naruto stood up. "Um, I'm g-gonna t-take a l-look around. S-see if anyone's c-coming."

"You sure?" Hinata asked. Naruto nodded as he got up. "Then I'm coming too."

Naruto shook his head. "Y-you should r-rest. You w-were in a f-fight not t-too long ago. I-I'll be alright."

Hinata thought for a moment. "Ten minutes. Then I'll join you." Naruto nodded, then got up and jumped into the trees.

"Where's Naruto going?" Sakura asked, curious why the blond had gone off.

"He's keeping an eye out for anyone who decides to attack us now. I'll join him soon."

Sakura nodded. "Hey um, we've been talking about it and, well, here." She tossed her a Heaven scroll.

Hinata was about to protest when Shino spoke. "It's our way of thanking you for your assistance. And do not worry. Why? Because even with the time it'll take for my hive to repopulate and our injuries to heal, there will still be time for us to gather another in order to pass."

Hinata tried to argue, but they wouldn't have it. Sasuke seemed indifferent to the whole thing. "Since you guys insist so much, we'll take it. Thanks."
-

Naruto jumped from tree to tree, looking around. 'No one coming so far.' Then he heard a scream. 'What was that?' He ran in the direction of the noise. There, he saw a girl being chased by a huge, brown bear. The girl had red hair that ended level with her chin in the back and crimson eyes behind brown, round glasses. She wore an unzipped light brown jacket with short sleeves and a dark orange stripe across the center, a mesh shirt and stockings, a purple skirt and black sandals. She had the Grass protector on her forehead and in her hands was an Earth Scroll. The look of terror was plastered on her face as the bear started to catch up. Naruto jumped into the air. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Naruto made seven clones with drawn kunai that stabbed the bear in the back. It roared and quicky rolled. The real Naruto jumped off, but the clones weren't so lucky as they were crushed. Once on it's paws again, the bear slashed at Naruto, who dodged but got cut on his left arm. The bear slammed it's two front paws where Naruto was, but he jumped into the air and kicked it's head hard, knocking it out. Naruto walked over to the shocked Grass genin. "Y-you alright?"

The girl was surprised that her rescuer sounded so shy. "Yeah, thanks, um…"

"N-Naruto. M-my name's Naruto."

"Oh, well, thank you Naruto. Wait a sec, you're that genin! The one who said said all that stuff in the first test?" Naruto nodded, embarrassed. Those words were more for himself than anyone else. "Anyway, thanks again. I guess I should give you this." She held out her scroll.

Naruto shook his head and reached into his pouch. "I-I already h-have that one," he said, pulling his out. "B-beside, wouldn't your t-teammates be mad?"

The girl looked down. "Yeah, they would if…" She trailed off and Naruto could see lone tear drop from her eye.

"Oh, I'm sorry," he said softly.

"It's fine." The redhead wiped the tear. "We weren't friends. Not really. But still, they were my teammates."

"H-hey, you can c-come with me a-and my team," Naruto offered. "I'm s-sure they won't mind."

"Really?" The girl perked up. "Sure. Oh, wait, I never told you my name. I'm Karin."
-

Alpha: Yep. Karin is here. How will Naruto react when he learns she's an Uzumaki? Stay tuned for another glorious chapter of "Naruto Uzumaki, the Shy Jinchūriki"!

Karin: I wonder if I'll get to be with Sasuke. (Has hearts in her eyes imagining it)

Alpha: You realise Sasuke's chakra will be darker than it was at this time in canon?

Sakura: Besides, Sasuke's mine!

Karin: Mine!

Sakura: Mine!

Karin: Mine!

Sakura: MINE!

Karin: MINE! ( Ino soon joins them)

Alpha: sighs Did they forget Sasuke's a jerk in this fic.