"Hokage-sama! We have an emergency!"
Awful scenarios flitted through Sarutobi's mind, mostly focused on either of the participating Jinchuuriki losing control and unleashing a beast upon Konoha once more. "Was it Naruto-kun? Or one of the Kazekage's children?" The last thing Konoha needed was to go to war with another village.
The jounin that had burst into his office blinked. "No, sir. It's Orochimaru. His body's been found in Training Ground Forty-Four."
The Sandaime's pipe clattered on his desk, ashes spilling onto the floor. This was far worse.
Sarutobi had made many mistakes in his life. Orochimaru was one of them; his worst one. He couldn't order him killed, despite the atrocities they had discovered him committing. Sarutobi did not know what he had done wrong for the boy to go as wrong as he did.
His student's returned spelled bad news. Why now, during the chuunin exams? What did he stand to gain from attack gennin? Was he looking to create an international incident, incite war amongst the Great Nations? They would have to cancel the exams. What excuse would he give to the other villages?
"Alright, have Anko distract him. She's knows his techniques best. I'll have a team of my best ANBU out there. . ."
"Hokage-sama, are you alright?" the jounin asked when his leader turned white in a matter of seconds.
"Did you say his body was found?"
"Yes, sir. Killed by simultaneous attacks to his front and back that caved in and shredded his upper chest and a direct strike to the heart from behind that stopped it from beating but left no entry wound."
The Third Hokage sank into his chair. His student was dead. Orochimaru was dead. How could that be? He may have preferred to not acknowledge the atrocities his student had committed, for it reflected on his abilities as a teacher, but Sarutobi knew how far Orochimaru had perverted nature trying to find immortality.
What gennin was capable of throwing down with a Sannin and winning?
The Third Hokage dismissed the jounin, who hadn't needed the warning that this knowledge was S-class and did not leave his office, and ordered a team of ANBU to procure the body in the basement of the Torture and Interrogation tower where they would make sure that Orochimaru was truly dead.
His former student's appearance was a bad omen. There was more to this than he knew. Just what was Orochimaru doing in the Forest of Death?
Sakura had convinced Naruto that they couldn't remain in the forest. Although the others had already dealt with the team from Sound, she wanted to head for the tower.
There, they could get Sasuke's mark sealed, maybe with a stronger seal seeing as they would have more time before the second exam ended, a seal that didn't rely on Sasuke's will power. Naruto and Sakura were all too aware that Sasuke would accept its power if it meant he could kill his brother.
The Curse Seal stood out starkly against Sasuke's pale skin, taunting them. It was a symbol of their failure. Naruto had promised that it would be different this time; that he would save him. He shouldn't have let the Uchiha out of his sight.
"I won't lose you again." Naruto swore. Guilt weighed heavily on him, and with no way to lighten it, the blonde shouldered Sasuke and Team Seven ran through the night.
This time when they opened the scrolls it was Kakashi that was summoned.
"Kakashi-sensei, thank Kami. You have to seal Sasuke's mark."
"Mark?" Kakashi blinked. What the hell had happened in the forest? He sucked in a breath when he saw the pulsing black swirls on Sasuke's neck. "Right, I'll inform the Hokage and we'll take care of this."
His other two students sagged with relief and exhaustion as he took Sasuke into his own arms. "You two did a great job. You're the second team to finish. The team from Suna arrived a couple of hours ago. Sasuke will be just fine."
"Come on, let's go tell the others." Naruto said wearily as Kakashi vanished.
Shikamaru was worried when he learned that Sasuke had still been bitten. Not for the Uchiha, but for Naruto and Sakura. The two were so withdrawn.
He had argued that Sasuke could not be saved, but there was a small part of him that whispered Team Seven was capable of miracles. If anyone could have saved Sasuke from his own darkness it would have been Naruto and Sakura.
Shikamaru never imagined that their battle would be so hard.
He had returned to his own team, after Team Seven's fight with Orochimaru, with a face splitting grin on his face. The Sannin's death was a huge victory for them. He had played it off to Ino and Chouji as having obtained their scroll, but he was actually happy that Naruto and Sakura had accomplished what they set out to do, for with the snake dead Sasuke wouldn't leave and set the world on fire until the skies bled ashes.
He remembered a conversation between Naruto and Sasuke after the man had razed Konoha to the ground.
The smoke was thick, choking. It carried with it the scent of burning flesh. The scent was nauseating and sweet, putrid and steaky, or something like leather being tanned over a flame. The smell of burning flesh was so thick and rich that Shikamaru could imagine its taste.
It stung his eyes, readily bringing forth tears, and filled his lungs, making him gag.
Sasuke stood atop the Hokage Mountain, the only part of the village still intact, watching as Konoha burned.
"I never meant to start a war. I only wanted to see Konoha pay for what it has done to my clan."
Shikamaru snorted derisively. He didn't fancy seeing the Uchiha's idea of war if setting a whole village on fire was Konoha getting its due.
"Why did Konoha have to pay? You already killed Danzou and the Elders. They're the ones that gave him the orders. You didn't have to destroy the village. What about all the innocent people? Children born after your clan was massacred? Did they deserve to die? And the rest of the world? You've taken your revenge too far, Sasuke. Why do billions of people have to die for a lost cause?"
Sasuke had laughed at Naruto, claiming the village was never innocent and all those that grew up within its walls would turn out like Danzou and the Elders.
Naruto shook his head mournfully. "The fire in your eyes is dead. Something's made your eyes go cold. You don't believe that."
Sasuke's answer was to flee. Naruto turned to him then, a passion burning in his eyes that Shikamaru hadn't seen since the Fourth Shinobi War.
"I can save him."
Shikamaru had thought his Hokage had reverted to his idealistic attitude from when Team Seven still existed. The whole world was burning around them and there was only a handful of shinobi left to fight Sasuke.
Truthfully, there wasn't even a point to saving Sasuke. None of the survivors would accept him among them. Shikamaru thought it would be better to end Sasuke and give him peace and then rebuild the world without any Uchihas.
But Naruto refused to renege on the promise he made to himself, to Sakura, and to Sasuke. Several months tracking down the Uchiha had culminated in the final battle between Naruto and Sasuke and Shikamaru's change in heart.
He rested a hand on Naruto's shoulder. "You're not alone this time. We'll help you save Sasuke." Gaara and Temari nodded agreement.
"I know. Thank you."
Four more days brought about the end of the second exam with unexpected results.
Hinata's team had not made it through.
A grand total of four teams had passed; three from Konoha—teams Kakashi, Asuma, and Gai, and the sand siblings. The Hokage, Hayate—proctor for the third exam, Ibiki, Anko, and the senseis discussed whether to have a preliminary or let a slightly larger crop take part in the final exam.
The finals of the chuunin exam were seen by everybody, from civilians up to the Daimyos and Kages. It was both a chance to jockey for attention and future missions and a war deterrent at the same time. Gennin fought to represent the strength of their countries. The dignitaries only wanted to see the cream of the crop; the gennin with outstanding skills and unique abilities and kekkei genkai.
The final decision was to forgo the preliminaries. Twelve was not a very large number six would be too small. The finals would be held in a month.
The numbers were drawn.
Ino versus Sakura
Neji versus Chouji
Sasuke versus Lee
Naruto versus Temari
Tenten versus Kankuro
Gaara versus Shikamaru
"The finals are going to be a drag. The invasion shouldn't happen, not without Orochimaru to head it. I wouldn't be surprised if Suna pulls you two out once the Kazekage's body is discovered."
"We can't take that chance." Gaara said. "They decided to continue with the invasion last time because the Kazekage already had it all set up."
The three shinobi from Konoha blinked. They had thought that Orochimaru had posed as the Kazekage to orchestrate the invasion.
"It changes nothing. We'll put on a show like the Hokage asked us."
Grins were shared. With four of them being paired off, the audience would be privy to the fight of a lifetime.
Team Seven, a sullen Sasuke including, waited for their sensei at their training grounds. Sealing Sasuke's Curse Mark permanently had been a long and complicated process, but seeing him that morning with a complex seal layered on top had brightened Naruto and Sakura.
In a moment of rarity, their sensei was only an hour late. Naruto had joked once that the world would end if Kakashi ever came early.
For Naruto and Sakura, it nearly did.
The Sandaime was summoning every team that partook in the second stage of the exams individually to learn about their experience in the forest. He was looking for the ones responsible for the death of a Sannin.
Sakura knew they were in trouble the second they stepped into the Hokage's office.
On either of his sides stood Jiraiya, who, while his body remained relaxed, had a near imperceptible tightening of the skin around his eyes, and Inoichi Yamanaka.
One at a time they were subjected to the Yamanaka clan's mind techniques. Luckily, Sasuke went first and was excused before they turned to Naruto.
The blonde held his breath as Ino's father rifled through his memories and tried to not look surprised when Sarutobi said he could step out and didn't arrest him on the spot and have him dragged to T and I.
"Now that that's over we can get to training!" Kakashi gleefully rubbed his hands together as a pale Sakura joined them in the hallway. Not falling in line with their memories, as many things were now that the chuunin exams had begun, Kakashi did not run off with Sasuke to the desert and leave his other two students to their own devices.
He had them run through an obstacle course, tied together with chakra strings of course, so they couldn't advance without their teammates. What looked to be a rather plain course was riddled with traps so the three gennin were dirt covered, scratched, and crispy when they finally completed it.
Kakashi then dumped them at the beginning and told them to do it faster.
"What's your opinion, Inoichi?"
Inochi Yamanka straightened. "I sensed no falsehoods, Hokage-sama. None of our gennin encounter Orochimaru in the Forest of Death."
Sarutobi exhaled smoke. "I see. Thank you, Inoichi." The blonde man bowed to the Hokage and left. "And you, Jiraiya?"
"There's something wrong with this situation. Naruto's chakra levels are off the charts, and the Nara's and his teammate aren't far behind. Physically, they shouldn't be able to hold so much chakra. It's more than I had at their age." the Toad Sage reported.
"Do you think Orochimaru got to them as well?"
Jiraiya immediately said no. "Sasuke doesn't have this much chakra. Whatever it's from, it's not his."
"Are there any other explanations?"
"I don't know, sensei."
"Then we shall watch and wait. Whatever they are hiding will come to light."
"I went through the same thing. I figured they must have just been looking at our time in the forest; otherwise we would all be in custody right now," said Shikamaru.
"That doesn't explain how they did see them fight Orochimaru. The Yamanaka had complete access to their memories. Even if they were only looking for those involving the exam there's no way they'd miss that Naruto and Sakura killed Orochimaru." Gaara pointed out.
Sakura theorized that Inoichi could not actually look into her memories because of Inner Sakura. When she had fought Ino in the preliminaries, Inner Sakura had been able to break the Yamanaka's mind body switch technique, so she could probably prevent Inoichi from seeing anything suspicious in her mind.
"I briefly took all your memories of the future and the fight with the snake into my mindscape. There were safely out of reach behind my barriers."
Naruto nearly jumped out of his skin at Kurama's voice. Not once had the fox spoken since they returned. He had felt him stir, his emotions blended with his own sometimes, but Kurama had remained silent. Naruto feared that the Kyuubi had used too much of his chakra to power the time travel jutsu and had not been sent back with them.
"I've been merging with my past self, much like you were."
"Does that mean there are two of you in the seal?"
"Yes. You now have all my chakra at your disposal."
Naruto nearly burst out laughing. Compared to his twelve year old self, he was ridiculously overpowered. His own reserves were the size of Tsunade and Jiraiya combined. Add on top of that the full might of the Kyuubi, even if it was two yang halves and not both halves, he had more chakra than anyone in the five great shinobi villages.
Naruto watched enviously as Temari and Shikamaru and Sakura and Gaara walked away from that night's meeting hand in hand. Despite being in back in a Konoha bursting with life and surrounded by the Konoha twelve and his fellow time travelers, he felt so alone.
'I wish Hinata were here," he thought. He was the only one whose partner didn't come back with him. And Naruto had no idea how to approach her so he could get her back. Before he had won enough recognition from beating Neji that the Hyuuga clan didn't rush their heiress away whenever he approached.
This time around, he wouldn't have that chance because he was facing Temari in the finals and not Neji. He supposed it was true, that you didn't know what you had until it's gone. Naruto could remember the night he proposed.
Naruto had stolen her from the Hyuuga compound, spiriting her away to their spot atop the Yondaime's stone head. The couple simply cuddled under the stars well into the night and watch the night turn light blue as the sun rose again.
Naruto had proudly told her how Tsunade was finally giving the hat to him and she said, "I love the way you smile."
The blonde had been struck silent by her simple words.
Was love that easy? Was it all about wanting the other person to be happy? To want to see them smile?
"Will you marry me, Hinata? Cause the spaces between my fingers are right where yours fit perfectly."
She had thrown herself at him exuberantly, shouting yes so loudly that they woke some of the villagers.
The Third Hokage summoned the finalists two weeks before the third exam to notify them of a change in procedure.
Given the nature of missions, rarely ever done solo, the Kazekage insisted that the finals would be team matches instead of individual matches.