(Rocker1600 Note: In the original version of this chapter, Sasuke's anger issues were completely fixed; while I also intend to fix his anger problems, I intend to do it with more than one chapter. This means that this chapter will be the most heavily modified of the originals.)
Chapter 11- Forest of Death
Disclaimer: Still applies.
Team 7 passed the first part of the Chūnin Exams. The instructor, Ibiki, explained that it was a simple test and that any cheating would be met with immediate expulsion. Naruto answered the questions well since he had found tons of scrolls at the Namikaze estate; this would take Ibiki by surprise later on when he read the Uzumaki's test. After everyone was done with the first nine questions and ready for the final question, Ibiki explained that they could try to answer the final question, but if they got it wrong they immediately failed the test and, if that wasn't bad enough, they could never take the test again. If, however, they chose not to answer it, they could leave and try again next time. When no one stood up, Ibiki told them that they had all passed, shocking everyone in the room. Ibiki explained that a ninja has to take risks in order to complete a mission, further proving it by showing the scars on his head and by the fact that he had two Chūnin who knew the answers pose as participants which would have allowed the genin to cheat assuming they coudl avoid getting caught.
The moment Ibiki finished his explaination, one of the window broke as a figure broke in and dropped a banner down. It woman with purple hair that looked like a pineapple and brown pupil-less eyes who wore a tan trench coat with a fishnet shirt that went down to her thighs along with an orange short skirt.
"All right, you runts, my name is Anko Mitarashi and I'm the proctor for the second part of the Chūnin Exams," Anko said as she stuck a pose in front of the group of genin.
"Just when I thought that the people in this village couldn't get any weirder," Naruto thought to himself while the whole room kept quiet.
"You're early again Anko," Ibiki said, causing a sweat drop to emerge on Anko's face.
"Shut up, Ibiki! Anyways, everyone follow me to the second part of the exam," Anko said as she lead the group out of the building, while noting the unusually large number of remaining genin.
They walked until they got to a large forest with a fence going around the entire area. To most of the genin, the forest appeared very intimidating; Naruto, however, simply smirked at the ight of the immense forest. He knew nothing inside this place would be a challenge, not after being in the harsh terrain of the hellhole that was called Hueco Mundo. He did have teammates that he had to take care of that was only a minor setback that could be easily overcome in this part of the exam. He was brought out of thoughts when Anko began to speak to the large group.
"Alright kids, this the Forty-Fourth Training Ground, but most have come to know it as the Forest of Death. In this part of the exam you and your team will be given a heaven or earth scroll. Your job is to find another team with a different scroll and take it from them. Once you have both, you must make your way to the tower located in the center of the forest. Oh and until you reach the tower with both scrolls you cannot open the scrolls," Anko said as most genin looked at the forest that had a ominous feeling emanating about it.
"Sounds like fun," Naruto said which got him some looks from the most of the other participants.
"It's not as easy as it seems. You'll be going against your fellow ninja and there are also nasty creatures in the forest, all to keep you from succeeding," Anko said with a toothy grin on her face.
"Like I said, sounds like fun," Naruto said leaving most of the competitors with the impression that he was insane.
Anko smirked as she disappeared from sight only to reappear behind Naruto, kunai knife pressed against his neck; to the surprise of the other genin Naruto wasn't fazed in the least by this threatening move.
"Guys like you are usually the first to die. I don't care if you were the one to take down Zabuza Momochi; if you get cocky in here you'll meet your end," Anko said. Naruto simply smiled at her as if nothing had happened..
"I don't die so easily and this place is a picnic compared to the area I were I stayed for seven years. So bring on your so called 'Forest of Death'," Naruto said; this got some chuckling out of Anko.
"I like you, kid. You're not afraid to stand your ground in front of an authority figure and you've also got a strong feel about you. Hope you make it through this part," Anko said as she put her kunai away.
"I'll see on the other side, then," Naruto said as Anko went back to front of the group.
"Okay, come forward to get a scroll for your team; after that report to your assigned gate and wait for the starting signal," Anko said as the group of genin got in line for a scroll.
Naruto got an earth scroll, which meant that he needed a heaven scroll to pass this part of the with his team. Team 7 then took their positons at their appropriate gate. When the horn sounded to start the second part of the exam Team 7 ran into the forest to gain some ground. After running for a while they decided to stop and formulate a plan of how to get the other scroll needed.
"Okay, we need to locate a team with a scroll opposite of ours. The sooner we do that, the sooner we can get to the tower," Naruto said, having planned out a method of search and attack.
"Why don't you just leave the fighting to me and we'll be done in no time, loser," Sasuke said.
Naruto rubbed his temples at this comment; he had had enough of this nonsense from Sasuke, which had gotten worse since that little confrontation he had with the council a week earlier, and decided that he wouldn't stand for Sasuke's attitude anymore.
"That's it; were settling this now Sasuke. You stay here, Sakura, and try to keep yourself hidden," Naruto said as he seized Sasuke by the shirt and flash stepped away.
Naruto brought Sasuke to a empty and quiet part of the forest. He didn't want any interruptions during this talk.
"What was that for, loser?" Sasuke asked; Naruto simply looked at him with an unemotional expression before he said anything.
"Sasuke, I know you;re seeking revenge against your brother and do I believe he should face justice, but I want to ask you one simple question," Naruto said as Sasuke glared at him.
"And what might that be?" Sasuke asked while he reassured himself that nothing Naruto could say would deter him from his goal; he had no idea of just how wrong he was.
"What exactly do you plan to do with your life after you defeat Itachi?" Naruto asked; Sasuke opened his mouth to retort, but quickly made a quizzical face.
He hadn't thought about it at all, not in the slightest. Not once since the massacre of his clan did he consider what he would do after he killed Itachi. That was his motivation in life, his reason to get stronger, and yet he now that he thought about it more closely realized that it hadn't gotten much of anything. He didn't even have a Sharingan, the most prized jutsu of his clan, to show for his efforts. Naruto, on the other hand, who was a "dead last" who was supposed to be beneath him and who had no real desire for revenge, had probably become the most powerful ninja in the entire Leaf Village, and maybe even the in entire shinobi world from what Sasuke had witnessed. Naruto, who read Sasuke's thought to the letter, decided to clarify his point.
"My point exactly. You're so focused on revenge you don't stop to think about where you'll be when it's over. I'm not telling you to stop your search, but don't make it the center of your world, either. If you'll only end up living a lonely existence in the end… if your desire for revenge doesn't consume you first," said Naruto.
"What do you mean by 'consume'?" Sasuke asked; Naruto sighed at this.
"Do you remember about when I told you about those hollows that lived in Hueco Mundo?" Naruto asked.
Sasuke nodded in response. There was no way that either he or the rest of Team 7 could forget about the creatures that Naruto was referring to since, shortly before the mission to the Land of Waves Naruto, without revealing how he did it, had one of those so-called Hollows appear before them. Though Naruto had the creature, which was a run-of-the-mill hollow, restrained the entire time and eventually "killed" it after he finished his little story the incident had been the one of the most frightening experiences that the rest of Team 7 had been through.
"To put it in a way you might understand revenge is like a hollow. You see, Sasuke, a hollow gains power by consuming other beings and, in their quest for more power, they attack anyone they deem a threat even if those "threats" were people who were the one closest to them. And they'll keep consuming and consuming more beings until there is no one left to consume or, as is always the case, someone stronger, be it a hollow or something else, ends up killing them," Naruto said; after he made sure that Sasuke was still listening to him before he finished his little analogy.
"It's the same thing with revenge. You think that it'll all end once you kill your 'prey' but it doesn't; what happens instead is that you then find out who that person might've been been close with. You will then probably decide to go after them only to then go after those who are associated with the people you've just killed; this cycle, which is almost impossible for the avenger to break out of, will just keep repeating itself until you're left with no one else to gain any venegance against or, more than likely, someone or something manages to stop you somewhere along the way. That's what revenge is and that is what the path you're taking in life right now will leave you with," Naruto said.
Naruto, having finished his explanation, then grabbed Sasuke's shoulder before he flashed stepped back to where he had left Sakura; when the two genin got there, however, they found Sakura lying completely motionless with her eyes wide and full of terror. Naruto and Sasuke carefully made their way to her.
"What's wrong with her?" Sasuke asked as waved his hand in her face which was ineffective since she didn't blink once.
"She's in a state of total shock. I bet you had something to do with it didn't you?" Naruto said as he turned to face a woman wearing a grean outfit with black pants and a Kusagakure headband.
"The poor thing was overpowered by my killing intent. But now that you two have arrived things might be a little bit more interesting," the woman said as she licked her lips at the challenge awaiting her.
"Go take care of Sakura. I'll take care of this freak myself, Sasuke," Naruto ordered; Sasuke was about protest this until Naruto forced him to comply by releasing his reiatsu. Naruto turned to face his opponent as soon as his teammates were a safe distance away.
"You sure are confident, aren't you?" the woman said while she was still smiling at Naruto.
"You're no ordinary shinobi. I can feel the evil chakra just pouring out of you. So why don't you drop the charade and reveal your true self," Naruto said as he could sense this person's chakra was immense compared to that of the opponent he has faced since becoming a shinobi.
"You're a clever boy; not many can see through my disguises," the "woman" said as she pulled off her skin to reveal a pale face with snake eyes.
"My name is Orochimaru," the assailant said in a sickly male voice.
"Orochimaru, one of the Three Legendary Sannin. It's gonna be a real honor to kill you," Naruto said; the Uzumaki revealed a small grin to the sannin while he unsheathed his zanpakuto.
"Kukuku… so sure of ourselves, are we? Very well then, but know that I am far more skilled than anyone you have faced before, Naruto Uzumaki," Orochimare said before he pulled Kusangi out of his throat.
"I sure hope so, traitor, since finding a good opponent to fight against has been impossible since I came back to Konoha," Naruto replied.
Naruto rushed Orochimaru, causing their swords to lock up as they tried to overpower each other. In a flash, they were moved to a large tree branch as multiple sword strikes were being made every second. Naruto and Orochimaru's arms were a blur of swift movements and sparks. Naruto, after a few minutes, then managed to outmaneuver Orochimaru and impale him in the stomach, only for to see that the Sannin had turned into mud. Naruto narrowed his eyes as he sensed a presence from behind and instinctively threw a head kick to the approaching Sannin. Orochimaru barely ducked under the head kick, and then proceeded to impale Naruto's head. The blonde moved his head out of the way of the blade and grabbed Orochimaru's arm which he then used to fling him through some trees. Naruto then flash stepped toward his foe only for Orochimaru to meet him with his fingertips glowing with purple flames.
"Five elements seal!" Orochimaru said as he rammed his fingers into Naruto's gut.
"There, now you won't be getting anymore help from the Kyuubi."
Naruto remained still on the tree branch as Orochimaru kept his fingers on Naruto's gut. Then, to Orochimaru's confusion, he heard slight chuckling coming from Naruto, which then turned into a full-blown laugh.
"What the hell is so funny?" Orochimaru asked as he was irritated that this little kid was laughing at him.
"Sorry to disappoint you, you snake, but the Kyubi isn't exactly sealed in me anymore, though he's kept close," Naruto said before he took a moment to enjoy the look of terror that appeared on the Snake Sannin's face; that terror only grew when he saw the seal dissipate before his very eyes.
"What!?" Orochimaru said as he did not understand how this "brat" had so much power without the Kyubi.
"I'm done playing with you, but since I've already revealed a little secret, I might as well show you what I mean. Say hi, Kyubi," Naruto said as he held up his blade, which turned red and sent out an energy shockwave that sent Orochimaru flying. (Rocker1600 Note: I am unsure if this was jmac615's intention, but I don't intend to have "Say hi, Kyubi" as the release command for Naruto's Zanpakuto)
By the time he hit a tree, Orochimaru was kneed in the gut and sent to the ground. Orochimaru recomposed himself in time to block Naruto's zanpakuto, but was getting severely over powered. Naruto proceeded to grab Kusangi with his bare hands and flung it out of Orochimaru's hand. Naruto proceeded to impale him in the chest; Orochimaru, however, turned into a log and disappeared.
"This is more than I had expected from this kid. I need to do what I came here to do and leave; I'll deal with the jinchuriki later. Time to make the Uchiha come to me," Orochimaru said; he proceeded with caution so as to not be discovered.
(Elsewhere in the Forest)
Sasuke was staying under a tree, watching over his pink haired teammate, who had gone unconscious after she was snapped out of the shock. He was also thinking about what Naruto had said to him. He saw how strong Naruto was and it seemed that this strength, along with his drive, was due to his desire to protect his friends. He wondered if his quest for revenge was actually holding him back rather than helping him move forward.
Sasuke was still questioning the path he had taken in life he suddenly felt a strong pain in his head that seemingly came from out of nowhere. He put his right hand on his forehead as the pain grew with every second until he was enveloped in a dark void; after a few minutes he opened his eyes, which he had closed during the ordeal.
He found himself reliving the scene that had haunted him for five years: the massacre of his clan at the hands of brother Itachi; this time, however, Sasuke felt that something was wrong. As he saw his brother finish his speech, he noticed that the younger version of himself got up and, to his complete shock, awakened the Sharingan. The younger Sasuke then pursued Itachi.
"I know this isn't what happened that night… so why does this feels so familiar, as if it had occurred," a shocked Sasuke thought to himself as his younger self was defeated by Itachi.
Current (12/13 yrs. old) Sasuke then watched in disbelief as his brother began crying while he was he was picking up his forehead protector, which little (7/8 yrs. old) Sasuke had knocked off. Itachi then incapacitated little Sasuke, but not before he using the Tsukuyomi on him; current Sasuke fell unconcious soon after. After a few seconds, Sasuke woke up to find himself back in the Forest of Death with a still unconscious Sakura in front of him.
As he continued watching over Sakura, he tried to make sense of what he had witnessed.
"Why would Itachi want me to forget those last moments? Something is definitely wrong. Even if he really wants me to kill him, that doesn't explain why he would rid me of those memories," Sasuke thought to himself as he considered the possible meaning of his visions.
"Does this mean my desire for revenge is misguided? Does this mean that Naruto was right? And does that there really was more to what happened that night?" Sasuke thought to himself; his musings were cut short, however, when Orochimaru appeared in front of him. Sasuke stood up to face this potential threat.
"Finally, I will soon have my hands on the sharingan," Orochimaru said as Sasuke took a defensive stance.
"I may have not even awakened my Sharingan, but I won't let you take me until I have found a path to follow," Sasuke said even though he now unsure of the first part of that statement. Sasuke had decided, at the very least, to uncover the full truth of what had happened that fateful night before he would decide on the path he would walk. The fact that Sasuke was "unable" to activate the fabled dojutsu did little to deter Orochimaru.
"Pity, but allow me to give you a gift that will make you come to me in time," an ecstatic Orochimaru said before his neck stretched out and lunged at Sasuke.
Before he could even get to Sasuke, however, Orochimaru's neck was seized by a hand... belonging to one Naruto Uzumaki. Orochimaru tried to wiggle himself free of the blonde's grasp forcing Naruto to squeeze his neck even harder to make sure he couldn't get away. Finally, without saying a word, Naruto took out his zanpakuto and severed Orochimaru's head from his neck. The snake body dropped to the ground and didn't turn into a substitution signifying the quick end of the infamous shinobi.
"You all right?" Naruto asked as he sheathed his zanpakuto.
"Yeah and I think Sakura's coming to," Sasuke said as Sakura began to stir awake only to shoot up in a split-second.
"What happened? Where that woman from before?" Sakura asked looked around for her attacker.
"'She' was really Orochimaru, one of the Three Legendary Sannin of Konoha. I had read a while ago that he turned traitor, though I doubt he's going to do anything to harm the Village anytime soon," Naruto said as began searching Orochimaru's body.
"Wow, that's pretty crazy. What was he after?" asked Sakura, as she thought, understandly, that it was strange that such a power shinobi would waste time with a Chūnin Exam attacking genin.
"He was after me, and apparently thought he could get my sharingan even though I haven't developed yet," said Sasuke, as he looked over at Naruto, hoping to hide the changes occurring within himself.
Naruto, meanwhile, found four scrolls that he placed next to him before he continued his search; his teammates took a look at those scrolls and realized that none of those was the one that they needed to pass the exam.
"Damn, he doesn't have the scroll on him. Looks like were not home free yet," Naruto said; he thought that Orochimaru might have had the scroll they needed to pass since he disquised himself as a participant.
"We'll still have plenty of to find a team with the right scroll," Sasuke said, earning a nod and a smirk from the Uzumaki.
"You're right about that, Sasuke. But how about the three of you hiding in the bushes over there come out and save us the trouble?" Naruto asked; Sasuke and Sakura turned to see three Oto shinobi appear out of the bush behind them.
One was completely covered in bandages and looked like a mummy. He wore an over coat and spotted jeans, black sandals, and a weird gauntlet on both hands. The next guy had spiky hair, a scarf around his neck, yellow shirt, and same pants as his teammate as well as a face filled with rage. The third member of the group was a female that had long black hair, a scarf around her neck, green vest and same pants as her teammates.
"You killed our master and you think we'll just let you have our scroll?" Zaku asked; he was beyond angry over his master's death.
"You're more than welcome to join him if you want but we are leaving here with your scroll if it's the one we need," Naruto said as Sakura and Sasuke got prepared to back him up.
"Zaku, he's way too powerful. Let's just cut our loses and hand over our scroll," Dosu said before retrieving the scroll out of his pocket and laying it on the ground. Naruto smirked at seeing that it was the heaven scroll that they needed.
"Excellent. Oh, and one more thing; tell the rest of Orochimaru's spies to pack up and get out of here if they value their lives," Naruto said before the Oto trio left in a hurry.
"I think we should now be making our way to the tower before any other team gets wise to us," Sasuke said. Naruto, while he agreed with the Uchiha for once, had one last bit of business to take care of.
"First things first, Sasuke," Naruto said as he pointed towards Orochimaru's now lifeless body.
"We need to dispose of most of those remains," Naruto stated as he realized that this moment presented an opporunity he had been waiting for...
Next Time – Settling Scores
(Rocker1600 Note # 1: This is the last of jmac615's chapters; all other chapters from 12 onwards are of my design and mine alone.)
(Rocker1600 Note # 2: To prevent the large difference in the number of chapters between this story and my original story, The Two Heroes, I will update each story in an alternating cycle; to give you an idea of what I mean, my next update will be Chapter 4 of the Two Heroes, after which I will update KItsune of Las Noches with Chapter 12 before adding Chapter 5 of the Two Heroes, and so on. If you don't understand, simply so; I gladly give another explanation.)
(Rocker1600 Note # 3: As I've told the readers of the Two Heroes, the best way to increase your chances of receiving a quick update is to send a lot of reviews; so please send reviews. Having more Favs and Follows wouldn't hurt either.)