Naruto Uzumaki and the Chunin Exams (Re-Written) Chapter 6: Forest of Death, a Harry Potter + Naruto Crossover fanfic

"Blah": Talking

'Blah': Demon speaking/Inner Sakura

'Blah': Naruto's thoughts/other people's thoughts

'Blah': Harry talking to Naruto

We're back with second part of the Forest of Death!

But first and foremost, I want to apologize sincerely for holding this chapter off for such a ridiculous amount of time. I really am so sorry. I have to admit that the last several months have distracted me from completing this chapter; there was school, finals, Christmas, choosing new classes, getting used to new classes, the massive homework assignments, and to top it all off, my older brother got into a terrible accident on Saint Patrick's Day and was landed in the hospital. He's ok now, he's totally fine, but he was stuck in the hospital for months and it had me (as well as my whole family) worried sick. So much that writing completely slipped my mind. And to make matters worse, as far as writing this new chapter is concerned, I was hit with some serious writer's block.

The last several months have been really distracting and stressful…

But now I'm back and so is Azeroth44! The two of us have been talking and discussing our ideas about the futures of our stories over the winter and spring break, and we both watched The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (WHICH WAS FREAKIN' AWESOME) and as a bonus, I finished the outlines for Book 3 and more than half of the outlines for Book 4. I made some great scene layouts and twists here and there when Naruto sets out on one of his most dangerous adventures!

It still took me some time to get back in the swing of things, but I hope that this chapter is worth the wait because I wanted to make some nice changes to it and make it as entertaining as I possibly can to make up for my extended absence. I hope all of you wonderful, patient friends and readers out there enjoy what I have for you here! :D Sit back, relax, and enjoy this new action-packed chapter!

Reviews are welcome and wanted!

Disclaimer: Naruto is the property of Masashi Kishimoto,

Harry Potter is property of JK Rowling,

Chapter 6: Forest of Death

Several hours later, sometime around dawn, Naruto had the last turn as the watch and it was obvious that he had not rested as much as he should have over the night. He had about two or three hours to rest at the most and it showed on his face when it looked like he had slight bruises underneath his eyes and his skin was almost translucent and cold, as if he had lost a lot of blood. The blonde shinobi had smacked his own face several times to cancel out the drowsiness, but it didn't work so much and instead made a distinct red mark on his cheek. Naruto tried his best to remain awake and alert while he looked out for other hostile shinobi teams as he started to break down the invisible barriers that continued to hide their hidden location until the first beams of sunlight burst into the woods and broke into the shield.

While his newest shadow clones stared out into the woods and canceled the translucent barriers at the same time, Naruto searched his supplies and found three bottles filled with Wiggenweld Potion hidden inside and decided to drink one of them. He uncorked the first bottle and swallowed it in one sweet movement. Almost as soon as he had consumed the elixir, he felt like he had rested for more than twelve hours and was wide-awake. The dark bruise-like marks under his eyes vanished while the color in his face was restored. He looked over at his teammates back inside the ruined house and looked back down at the two other bottles that he had left. After a small moment of hesitation, he decided to share them with his teammates but tell them that it was a normal energy drink. Naruto felt that his friends would need to have some in order to restore their stamina and increase their chances of survival.

Naruto soon nodded and smiled as he told his older brother his idea and the man understood and let him do what he must to increase their chances to succeed. Besides, it would be wise to resort to the Wiggenweld Potion instead of make another fire to cook some food and attract the attention of animals and the other rookies.

Back inside the hideout, Sasuke was almost awake and counted his kunai and shuriken and wires. At the same time, his teammate Sakura rolled onto her side and smiled as she blushed and dreamed about her crush, even while she was as cold as stone and in the middle of a rotted old shack. She clenched her shoulders and shivered while she earned her teammate's attention when it sounded like she was awake.

"Oh, Sasuke-kun… I will follow to the end…" he heard Sakura moan as she was still in a dream-like state.

The irritated Uchiha looked over to her and asked in an irritated voice, "What are you talking about?"

Sakura must have heard his voice and came to her senses as she bolted from the floor and remembered she was in the middle of the exam and frozen down to the bone.

"Ok! I'm awake then!" she said as she rubbed her arms and slid her dress down closer to her feet.

At the same time, Naruto walked back into the house and showed his teammates the bottles he had hidden earlier and told them, "Here's some breakfast! I've rationed these for a while. I didn't think we would need them, but here we are in the Forest of Death. So what better time than now to have a drink, eh?"

His teammates were each handed a small bottle filled with the emerald-colored water and were oblivious to the enchanted characteristics or the effects it would have on them once it was consumed. Sakura and Sasuke observed the bottles and tilted their heads at the substance that swished inside, unable to see the faint emerald radiance inside them as the sun shined into their humble and torn-down hole. Sakura wanted to feel revolted or nauseated at the nameless substance, but was curious as to what it was and what it would do to her if she drank it. Sasuke felt the same as his teammate, but he suspected that the substance in the bottle was harmful or some sort of steroid, based on the unusual color.

"What is this?" asked the tired kunoichi.

Sasuke asked as well, "This isn't some random medicine mix drink, is it? Steroids mixed with alcohol?"

"No, it's an energy drink that I found last week in the market," he lied to them and then told them the truth, "It'll serve as food for the next several hours and it should make us feel more awake. It's a little bit like a tasteless coffee. I tried it once, and there are no side-effects from what I can tell."

Sasuke and Sakura both looked down at their bottles and uncorked them. There was some cautious hesitation, but soon both the students held their breaths and drank their share down in milliseconds. Sakura frowned and looked down at the bottle she drank from and tried to determine what it tasted like or what it was made from. Sasuke looked down at his bottle and felt about the same, unsure what the taste was or what he could familiarize it with. Naruto watched them and waited for their faces to become filled with life.

Sakura told both her teammates, "It kinda tastes like… I don't know what that tastes like…"

"You feel more awake now?" her blonde teammate asked her as he started to notice her face and beamed.

It took some time but soon Sakura stood on her feet and was full of life once more as she smiled, "Y-Yeah… I do… That's incredible…"

"That's not bad… At least it works…" said Sasuke as he felt the same effects, so much more alert and wide-awake, "But this better not turn me into the Inevitable Bulk in a few minutes."

Naruto cleared his throat and corrected him, "It's the Incredible Hulk, teme."

"Whatever. Now let's head towards the tower," he said as dusted his blue shirt and stood, "If we move now, we can save some time…"

The blonde-haired shinobi shook his head as he re-collected his vials and stored them for later use. Once the team was awake and well enough to set out into the unknown, the team removed all traces of their existence in the area and moved out into the wild.

The team soon soared across the forest and noticed as the trees became thicker and the moss on the rocks and earth were all sorts of different colors and shades that made Naruto believe some of them were poisonous. He made sure he did not touch the trees and almost all the plants and small animals, such as the several small red toads he noticed and the massive leaves that had dark teeth at the ends. His teammates did the same and continued to travel on foot towards the tower, careful to make sure that no one saw them and remained hidden in the shadows. Sasuke was in the lead and had his teammates follow him down lower, close to the most incredibly massive tree to be seen in the forest. It must have been more than a thousand feet in diameter. The forest was darkest in this area as the sun was blocked with clouds made from the leafs and thick branches that hovered over their heads.

When the team took a break, Sasuke needed some water and Sakura needed time to breathe, so the team took their time to think about their next course of action to take down another team in the woods and obtain their desired scroll.

The Uchiha said, "We should head closer to the tower… Once we're there, we could wait for a team to show and ambush them. But we'll have to remain hidden and make sure to overwhelm them with Naruto's shadow clones."

"That sounds like a brilliant idea, Sasuke-kun!" beamed his female teammate.

While his teammates took their break and discussed their ideas, Naruto watched over the area and felt the Earth scroll that was hidden in his trousers. He had to think of how he could reveal the scroll to his teammates without raising suspicion before Sasuke led them into a dangerous fight with another team. He figured that he could wait for them to run closer to the tower and pretend that he had found a lost scroll, but there was a chance Sasuke wouldn't believe another shinobi would make a mistake like that and Sakura would support Sasuke no matter what he said and demand a real answer out of him, or suspected it was a bait-scroll.

Naruto hid his frustration as he turned towards the forest and tried to think of another idea that could work. In order to ease the stress accumulated from his lack of ideas he decided to comment on the environment and start some small talk with his teammates. With a little luck, an idea could come to him out of nowhere.

The blonde-haired shinobi said as he looked around and heard some wild birds out in the distance, "Man… Look at all these trees… It's so wild in this section of the forest…"

"Yeah…" the Uchiha was distracted for a moment and he too looked around the area, "It's like we're locked inside a whole other moment in time…"

Naruto smiled and chuckled, "Welcome to Jurassic Park…"

"Very funny, Naruto-baka…" their female teammate fumed at her blonde-haired teammate.

The small rookie smiled a little bit at his own sense of humor and continued to wander around the area, careful not to walk too far and make his teammates scold him and alert other rookies of their location. While he wandered around, he took in the smell of the forest and all the sounds heard out in the distance. As he took in the unusual wild scents of the trees and wood, his nostrils became inflamed and swollen when he smelled a familiar chemical and a terrible burn in the air. Naruto felt his forehead twitch in irritation for a moment and then he listened as he heard a subtle sizzle. He looked around for the source of the smell until he noticed the massive branches far above him and his teammates as one of them released smoke from the massive trunk. His older brother enhanced his vision for him for a little bit and then he noticed that the sizzle and smoke came from seventeen paper bombs that were attached to the branches above his team.

He turned almost bloodless as he had less than a second to warn his teammates. He saw the seals become consumed with flames and did all that he could do, which was scream.

"LOOK OUT!"

Naruto shouted as loud as he could. But when Sasuke and Sakura looked above them, it was too late and the bombs went off with a series of loud and forceful blasts. All three rookies were blinded and deafened from the detonations above them. Sasuke and Sakura stumbled for a moment but Naruto fell off the branch from the force of the blasts and he fell down into shadow.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

As the blonde teen fell, so did the enormous branches that once shaded the immense tree. Sasuke and Sakura must have had some serious luck to not be crushed underneath the branches as the two of them stumbled in opposite directions. But when the branches started to slide towards both of them, the two rookies were forced to fall down into the same darkness as their teammate but in different areas. Sakura screamed and Sasuke shouted as the two of them fell into the shadows.

Naruto Uzumaki had fallen much further than either one of his teammates. He had hit several roots and tried to hold on for dear life to at least one of them with the aid of his chakra. But with the moisture that was rich in the air and in the roots, he slid downwards and he continued to fall, down, down, down until he hit the earth with a loud thud. He was lost, unseen in the darkness, buried so far down that even someone as skilled in the dark as his silver-haired sensei would have been stuck.

The rookie was knocked out for a short while until he heard his worried older brother's voice call out to him in the dark. It was such a relief to hear him in the dark, that it almost felt like he was there with him, lost as well.

'Naruto? Naruto!'

'Ohhh… I'm here… I think I'm ok, Nii-san… I feel sore, but I don't think I'm hurt too bad…'

'Thank heavens… but those blasts, I don't know who set them off, I couldn't see them in time,' he said and then he stretched out his senses and said, 'I don't sense Sasuke or Sakura are close... We must have fallen far to not be able to sense them... This tree is massive. The roots travel far into the earth; I don't know how old this is but the ends of the roots could run for miles…'

'Yeah… I'll think about that more once we're out of here…'

It was a true miracle he hadn't broken several of his bones when he landed, but it was thanks to several sizable mushrooms that cushioned his fall. Naruto moaned, his torso was sore and he had hit his head hard after he tried to latch onto that one root. When he tried to look around, he realized that he couldn't see more than a foot out ahead of him. While he tried to sit wherever it was where he landed, he noticed the mushrooms with what little he could see and scrambled out of them before one of toadstools released a toxin in case he disturbed them.

'It's so dark down here… I can't see a thing… I need a light…'

While he was lost in the dark, Naruto reached back for his wand. But to his dread, he discovered that it wasn't there where he had left it. He held his breath and he turned cold with fear and woe until he heard a small clatter from behind him. The blind wizard turned around, and moved about on all fours in search for his wand. Naruto wandered around the floor and felt around for his wand like a blind idiot. He shuffled in the darkness and noticed, while he wandered, that a lot of his other items had fallen out when he ran into all those roots, which included the treasured stolen Earth scroll. The wizard tried his best to collect all the items he felt he lost, that included the Earth scroll as well as several other items that were not his to start with; such as leaves, smalls bits of branches, dirt, small but harmless clusters of mushrooms he could use later, and even a small black stone he believed was a button that was once stuck in the earth, embedded in an ancient tree root until he stumbled in the darkness.

"C'mon… It has to be here somewhere…" he said as he scurried around.

He took all the items he found and had them stored in his weapons pouch and made sure he fastened it shut so that he wouldn't lose them second time. He continued on and crawled across the floor until he felt the familiar wooden handle on his fingertips and would have cheered had he not been worried if someone had watched him this whole time, the same shinobi that had set off those bombs and landed him here in the first place.

"Yes!" he muttered under his breath as he stood, "I found it!"

Naruto took his wand and used one of the first charms he ever learned that enabled him to see in such untold darkness.

He muttered under his breath, "Lumos!"

And the end of his wand lit and revealed the area that the blonde sorcerer had landed. He raised his wand and discovered he had fallen into what looked like a cavern carved out of wood and covered with moss. There were a number of wide crevices scattered above him, no doubt he must have fallen out from one of them and landed in this cavern hidden in the roots. The floor Naruto stood on was a number of thick roots that intertwined so well that it formed a solid floor. The roots he stood on were littered with dirt, moss, small animal skeletons in the corners, and vast mushrooms here and there and in between other roots that formed on the floor and walls.

'Well look at this, Nii-san…'

'That is a curious and unsettling sight, Naruto… But we better leave now. Whoever set those bombs shouldn't be far… Get out of here, or else we'll look a lot like those animals in the corner…'

Naruto held his wand out and wandered around the cavern for another exit. He would have crawled out from the same crevice he fell out from, but there was no doubt that the crevice was blocked off thanks to that massive branch that fell earlier. Not to mention that Naruto didn't know which hole he had fallen out from and didn't know if someone wanted him to come out from a crevice and attack him from the outside.

With no other choice, he had to find another way out.

He wandered around the cavern and started to notice as the roots curved and formed a hill. Naruto followed it, careful not to slide back down to the mushroom chamber, the whole time he continued to hold his wand out and see the end of the hill. He soon started to climb and the hill transformed into a narrow hall made out of more roots and earth. After several minutes, the air started to feel less dense and fresher, which meant that he was close to the outside world.

Determined to leave the cavern and be reunited with his teammates, Naruto walked much faster. But as he continued to march, he felt his forehead burn a little bit and then he felt worrisome or unnerved, as if there was someone with him there in the dark, about to attack him from behind.

He took a moment to wait and catch his breath, and then he heard it as he held his breath; a noise that sounded like a creature that had hatched out from a massive disgusting egg. Naruto froze in the cavern hall and started to turn his head around as he shivered. When he looked behind him, he saw a tall, dark, teen with a rebreather attached to his face that towered over him and was about to stab him in the head with a kunai.

Naruto breathed in and reacted at once as he aimed his wand and screamed, "STUPEFY!"

There was a red flash and the man was hit in the chest, but Naruto was shocked to see the man's chest blow out like a chestburster. The blonde shinobi then saw the teen start to mutate and turn into two different men, like some advanced form of a shadow clone that was unable to die, as the two of them formed new arms with kunai out of their ink-like flesh and started to attack. Naruto moved fast and avoided their slashes and stabs. He then aimed his wand at both of them and tried to knock them both out or blast them out of existence.

He screamed two more times, "STUPEFY! STUPEFY!"

This time it worked and both the humanoid creatures broke down and turned into what looked like ink or water. But then Naruto saw at least ten more of these freakish creatures start to come out of the walls and run after him. Scared for his life, Naruto was forced to use curses this time and swished his wand like a sword as he stumbled backwards.

He shouted, "SECTUMSEMPRA!"

With one horizontal swish, at least five of these ink-like clones were sliced at the waist and started to mutate into more doubles of themselves. Naruto looked on in horror and then heard his brother scream in his ear.

'GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE!'

Naruto dashed as fast as he could and tried to lose the clones that followed him. It wasn't until now that he remembered the face of those clones; he was the unnamed member of the Ame rookie team that he stole the Earth scroll from. Naruto now realized that it was the Ame team that set off those bombs and landed him and his teammates into this dangerous situation. There was no doubt in his mind that Sasuke and Sakura were distracted with the other two members of the Ame team while he was stuck with the one that created these unusual clones that continued to chase after him in the narrow tunnel.

The blonde shinobi had to make it out of the cavern fast and then find his teammates before one of the other Ame rookies found them first.

Within several short moments, Naruto continued to run down the tunnel and the wooden cavern did lead him back outside at the base of the incredible tree. But when he dashed out from in between two narrow roots, he froze where he stood when he was faced with over six-dozen identical clones, a lot like the ones he had faced in the wooden cavern.

"Oh, I am so screwed…" he said as he stared at the ambush that had waited for him.

'It looks like someone else has learned how to make shadow clones…'

All of the dark, ink-like clones remained still until all of them withdrew kunai and shuriken in one simultaneous motion. Naruto still held onto his wand and was about to dive into the firestorm when all the clones and the real shinobi that created them made one short but stern statement. All of them raised their voices at the same time and enunciated:

"SURRENDER THE SCROLL NOW, OR DIE…"

The blonde-haired shinobi refused to return the scroll he had taken from the team, he stared down at the clones as he clenched his wand and answered, "No…"

Without another second wasted, all of the clones of the lone Ame rookie ran after Naruto like a dark swarm of enormous black insects. Some of them roared and others shouted curse words and battle cries as all of them withdrew their kunai from out of their torsos and bodies like a mass of blob-like humanoid creatures. Naruto felt that sudden short-lived burn on his forehead and then he was overwhelmed with that other sense he sometimes felt in situations like this, a sort of alarm in his brain that told him what to do next or when to dodge the mass of attacks that stormed towards him. Naruto heard his older brother shout at him at the exact-same time and moved like there was another force inside him that willed him to avoid the swarm.

'DUCK!'

The blonde-haired shinobi shouted and then ducked down and rolled underneath the swarm of rookies, "WHOA!"

Naruto focused his chakra into his feet on instinct and moved as fast as he could to avoid the cloud of kunai and fists that would have otherwise killed him. He ducked down and rolled a number of times and bounced backwards to avoid slashes aimed at his throat and stabs intended for his heart. He felt several blades cut his face and cheeks here and there, but none of his cuts were serious. It was incredible that he was able to remain so unscathed so far, but it was a chore to move around and not be able to land even a single blow. Naruto started to feel more frustrated after about five minutes, until he decided to take a chance and move in to execute one of the clones. He dashed forward, ducked down low in mid-run and drove his fist into the stomach of the first clone he could reach and Naruto smirked.

'Got him! One down!'

'Hold that thought.'

Naruto blinked and then he saw the clone vanish out of thin air when he was convinced that it was solid. It was like it was there but at the same time it wasn't as he crashed into several other clones thanks to his momentum. But when he crashed into the other clones, a lot of them felt the same as the first one he eliminated as he crashed into the base of another tree. All of the clones were solid but not like flesh, as the clones burst and turned into translucent mist.

'What? What in the world sort of clones are these?'

'Ok… I think we're in trouble…'

The blonde-haired shinobi scrambled to his feet and soared backwards into the air to avoid three clones that were about to hold him down and stab him. While he was still in the air, another clone lunged after him. Naruto turned around and sliced the clone with a horizontal thrust. His kunai should have sliced solid flesh, but it felt like there was almost no substance that kissed his blade and the clone turned into mist. This confused Naruto to no end as he started to fall back down to earth. If the clones were an illusion to trick him, then none of them should have been affected even while he was in the cave. Not to mention that none of them should have looked so solid and formidable when he was so close to them.

When his feet hit the forest floor, he twisted and sliced a clone in half and the clone was still affected from his blade but it didn't feel like it was all there.

Frustrated and a little bit worried, he asked out loud, "What in the world are these made from? GENJUTSU OR NINJUTSU?"

Not able to receive an answer from someone, Naruto continued to drive his fists into somewhat solid bodies and sliced into his enemies with both his kunai and his wand. There were flashes, blasts, and ink thrown all across the crowded meadow, but after about five more minutes, Naruto started to slow down. When he rested for a fraction of a second, another clone tried to maim him, but he used a Stunning Spell to blast it into a tree. When the clone was eliminated, Naruto sensed a kunai was thrown at him and was cut across his cheek and nose.

"OUCH!" he shouted, "DAMMIT!"

Naruto went on the move and continued to avoid more attacks and random kunai that came out from nowhere. At the same time, his older brother observed the battle and tried to determine what sort of technique was being used with these unusual clones. He rushed over to his books and searched a section on ninjutsu dedicated to various forms of clones and what moves could be derived from them. After one intense minute, the wizard realized the situation at hand and reached out to his brother while he was cornered with the ambush that refused to rest. Naruto held his kunai and wand like twin swords as he breathed and he listened to his invisible comrade.

'Naruto, listen here! All of these clones are not real. It's an illusion. Well, it is an illusion but at the same time it isn't. These clones are somewhat solid but none of them are able to kill with those kunai and shuriken. The blades are a part of the illusion. Well, to be honest the blades and cuts from them are real but not from the kunai that the clones are wielding.'

'MAKE UP YOUR MIND! Are these clones real or not? BECAUSE I CAN STILL HIT THEM!'

'MIND THE VOLUME, MATE! The real… whatever his name is, is hidden somewhere with kunai and shuriken in hand. This genjutsu is designed the wear out the victim while the user attacks from a distance to make sure that the clones seem real. None of them are substantial enough to kill or even harm someone. It's like the clones are made out of somewhat dense water vapor. It's a trick to make the victim think he's surrounded with solid clones. The kunai are made out of a somewhat dense form of water vapor and chakra that is not able to penetrate human skin. It's like stabbing someone with a knife made of butter.'

'What do I do then? Should I let all these clones attack me?'

'No! No matter what, don't do that, Naruto! The real Ame rookie could be blended in with his clones and could be mistaken for one of the fakes. He could attack from anywhere and there's almost no distinction between the clones and the real one.'

Naruto took a breath, corrected his posture, and then started to advance towards the crowd of black rookie clones. But he still made sure that he never missed a kunai or a blade that was thrown at him or so much as raised towards him. His brother was wise and he made sure to follow on his advice and never let even one of the clones so much as touch him.

'Ok, then… So the real rookie is out there somewhere throwing kunai at me… Tell me where the real one is then, Nii-san!'

'I need a little more time, Naruto. It's difficult to find the real shinobi's location with so much interference from the clones. As I said earlier, he must have blended in with the clones and is hidden in plain sight. I have no idea where he is.'

'An answer now would be more than excellent!'

'I have to be sure, Naruto! Hold them off for one minute and I'll have his exact location in no time flat!'

Naruto sensed another kunai was thrown at him and did a backwards flip in order to avoid it and heard a loud thud behind him as the blade was embedded in a tree, "That's much easier said than done, Einstein!"

(A/N: I'm not sure if that's how the technique was used in the original manga since it was a little bit inconclusive to me, so I decided to make my own unique twist with this scene and alter how this clone genjutsu works. I also know that this Ame character is named Mubi, but I'll change it sometime later in the future when I have the time to edit in his name.)

"OWW! OOF! ARGH!"

Sasuke hit several roots and branches while he continued to fall. While it did hurt him, those sudden harsh blows saved him from certain death when he found hold on the last branch and then he fell onto some harmless moss scattered across rocks and earth. When he came to and realized he and his teammates were ambushed, he took in the new area in the woods where the roots were covered with red and brown moss that covered the floor like some unusual carpet. The roots from the trees above him looked like trees themselves, as tall as the dark heavens above. With little time on his hands before whoever had bombed them came down to kill him, Sasuke drew out a kunai and waited for the storm.

He soon activated his Sharingan and scanned the area for even the faintest source of chakra.

Whenever an Uchiha used their bloodline-limit it looked like the whole world had turned much darker as Sasuke tried to locate someone else's chakra based on whatever color he could see, which was often a mixed blue color, like blue flames and a human outline that encased it. He looked all around him until he saw a clear mold of blue chakra in the middle of the darkness. Well aware that it wasn't Sakura or Naruto, he ran towards what he would have mistaken for another root in the dark forest and smacked it with the back of his left hand. The root blasted into white smoke and revealed to be Oboro. The teen wore a new rebreather than the one he wore on his encounter with Naruto, and he had noticeable bruises and cuts all over what could be seen of his face. He stared at Sasuke and withdrew half a dozen kunai.

"You're the one with the scroll! AREN'T YOU?" the older teen shouted, his voice clouded beneath his ridiculous mask, "SURRENDER NOW OR DIE!"

Sasuke went on the offensive almost at once and ran over a dozen handsigns, took in a massive breath, collected his chakra, and then he shouted, "Fire Style: Phoenix Flower Jutsu!"

In another area, far from Sasuke's current location, Sakura started to come to as she looked around and saw that she had fallen between two massive roots and landed on a third one that felt a lot like the wooden floor of her bedroom, but there was dirt and moss scattered all across the base that must have softened her fall and saved her from a broken ankle that she checked to make sure she didn't have.

Once she was sure that she wasn't wounded from the blast or the fall, Sakura looked around and realized that neither one of her teammate could be found. Her bottom was still seated on the root she landed on; she too scared to set out and search for her teammates and decided to wait for them to show themselves. She would have been a lot braver and would have even stood to her feet if her blonde-haired teammate were still around to shield her from harm.

"S-Sasuke-kun… N-Naruto…" she called out in a weak and terrified voice.

Sakura balled her hands into fists and held them close to her face, now much more terrified when no one answered her call. Not even Naruto revealed to be around the corner as she sat there on the root, alone and without someone to hide behind. While she mumbled and waited, Sakura almost screamed when she heard a noise. She heard feet break bark and small sticks before she heard a subtle swish and then a loud thud from above, between the two roots that hid her from sight until now. She looked above and saw another rookie, this one was tall and had his face hidden underneath cloth and a rebreather. Sakura covered her mouth to mask another scream while the older teen above her tilted his head with a wicked smirk stretched across his hidden bruised face.

"Hello there, beautiful…" he said, "You smell nice, like flowers…"

With that said, the teen fell between the roots and landed on his feet. He then started to march towards Sakura with a dark look hidden under his mask while he brandished a kunai he had drawn out.

Back with Sasuke, he soon clashed kunai with Oboro, the leader of the Ame rookie team. The two genin stared at each other in the face and tried to shove their kunai into the other combatant for several intense moments. Neither one of them seemed to move in the dark root forest, until the two of them bounced backwards off each other. Sasuke was about to dash after while, while Oboro seemed to start to flee from the scene.

"Screw this!" shouted Oboro, "I need more room to breath!"

Oboro tried to set more distance from Sasuke in order to attack from afar and the Uchiha ran after him with kunai in hand. Sasuke was unable to see much in the dark other than Oboro's chakra signature. So he followed after him; he ducked under horizontal roots and bound over slanted roots while he continued to maintain his sights on the Ame rookie leader. But as he traveled further and further into the darkness, the Uchiha failed to notice when Oboro threw several blades at Sasuke but had aimed them at the root he was about to dive under. One of the blades was a kunai with a paper bomb attached to the end and the Uchiha had less than a second to react before the bomb blasted in his face and the force blew him back in a violent manner until his back hit a root and he fell on his knees.

"ARGH!" he had shouted as he held his ears.

He was somewhat deafened from the blast and without his auditoria functions he was forced to look and wait for Oboro to come after him. He was wise to overcome the effects of the bomb to the face and saw the Ame rookie was about to close in on him. Oboro drew out a curved kunai and was about to hold down the Uchiha and force him to surrender the scroll he believed he had with him. But then Sasuke felt one of the blades that had landed beside him, one of the same knives that Oboro had thrown at the root earlier in addition to the kunai with the bomb attached to it.

The Ame rookie leader roared as he closed in on the Uchiha, "LUCKY ME!"

Given no other choice, Sasuke reached for the blade and then he threw it at Oboro and ran after him. The Ame rookie snarled and was forced to deflect the blade with the curved knife in his hand. But when he blinked in the darkness he saw Sasuke's livid face and heard him let out an almost inhuman roar. He then felt Sasuke's kunai slice into his clothes and felt the Uchiha shove the blade into his flesh and bone. Oboro stammered in shock as he looked down, while unable to see much, felt blood run down his torso.

Sasuke then muttered, "No… the luck is all mine…"

With one last forward thrust and kick to the chest, Sasuke threw Oboro and he vanished into the wilderness. The Uchiha deactivated his Sharingan and he never saw or heard from the Ame rookie leader again. He didn't know if the wound he had inflicted could have killed the rookie and he was dead somewhere close to him or that Oboro had vanished and reached his teammates in time for medical assistance if the wound was serious. It was too dark for him to tell where his kunai had stabbed and he didn't think that he wanted to know as he sat down there in the dark and tried to catch his breath.

Sasuke took some time and tried to slow down his breath as he cleaned the sweat from his brow. For some reason, while he recovered from the incident, he wasn't too bothered, concerned, even or stressed out from the clash between him and the other shinobi. So Sasuke decided to move on and find his teammates after he felt that was well-rested to move on. He looked to the branches around him and started to use his chakra focused into his feet to scale the roots and reach the surface.

While he set out to search for his teammates, Sasuke Uchiha never took the time to wonder or realize that his small skirmish was another reason that this area was called the Forest of Death.

Elsewhere in the forest with the shrill and terrified Sakura Haruno, she stared at the older and taller rookie as he brandished his kunai and made noises with his mouth that were somewhat distorted from the rebreather stuffed in his mouth. While the noises were unclear, the frozen kunoichi could tell what he intended to do as he continued to saunter over to her. The rookie named Kagari reached out and snatched Sakura's arm and started to twist it.

She screamed out as she tried to act brave and frustrated, "GET OFF OF ME, YOU FREAK!"

Sakura broke free of the hold and tried to scramble backwards while the older rookie smirked at her under his rebreather. He chuckled a little bit and but Sakura didn't submit to the rookie that terrorized her. After her outburst, she reached for a kunai and threw it at the older rookie as he loomed over her. The Ame rookie was forced to avoid the blade and stumbled backwards a little. He looked back at the thrown blade and then looked back at Sakura as she trembled and she tried to find another kunai.

Kagari mocked the kunoichi but then his actions were cut short, "Heheheh! Missed me! ARGH!"

It came out of nowhere, but a branch had come out of the shadows above both the rookies and hit Kagari in the head. His rebreather was blasted out of his mouth, he froze in an awkward/comedic stance, and then he fell and landed on his back. Sakura froze on the wooden floor and stared at the rookie even after the avoided incident was over. It turned out that the kunai she had thrown at Kagari had hit a broken branch above the older rookie. When the blade hit the branch, it fell and hit the older rookie so hard that he lost consciousness and wouldn't move thanks to the serious concussion he sustained.

Sakura soon stood and loomed over the genin that had threatened her for all of about one minute. She looked around to make sure none of his teammates were around to attack her as well, and once she was sure that she was safe and the older rookie was unconscious, she kicked him several times and even slammed her foot into his chest to break at least one of his ribs.

She shouted at him, "Take this! CHA!"

Back with Naruto, he twisted and slashed three clones that surrounded him. While he was in the middle of his twist, he ducked down and knocked down at least two more clones that came in to ambush him as soon as the three clones he eliminated were down. While he ducked down low, he felt that unusual sense almost control his actions and he rolled to his side in time to dodge a kunai that would have otherwise stabbed him in the head. It was almost like he could sense whenever something was about to hit him before it was even thrown at him, like a sixth sense. He used this unnamed sense to his advantage and he was able to avoid all of the real kunai that were thrown at him while he stalled for more time for his older brother to localize this bothersome shinobi.

He continued to twist, turn, and duck around over and over. Naruto was soon exhausted, but he had to continue to move and run around until he heard that familiar voice boom inside his head.

'I FOUND HIM! He's transformed into one of the clones and blended in with the others. Over there, on the left, he's the third one in the middle area! Freeze him!'

Naruto locked his sights on the middle shinobi, as directed. He saw the assumed clone twitch when he looked at him. The Ame rookie made a mistake and reacted on instinct when he tossed a kunai at Naruto and failed to command one of his clones to move in and mask his movements to remain hidden. The blonde sorcerer ducked in time and then he aimed his wand at the older rookie's chest and forced an incredible amount of magic into his wand.

He then shouted out loud, "PETRIFICUS TOTALUS!"

There was a flash and the Ame rookie was blasted off his feet and flung into the air for a short time. There was another blast of white smoke as his black clothes were returned to their normal white and he stood out from the mob he had created. The unnamed rookie shouted and landed on his back. He tried to recover from the blow he sustained but then he started to move in slow motion and then he remained frozen, like a statue in mid-action. As soon as the curse was affective, all of the clones scattered around the meadow froze as well. The black-clothed crowd lost their stable structures and turned back into water or mist.

Naruto stood victorious and relaxed as he tried to catch his breath. He looked around and saw all of the clones were dead and the lone rookie that created the illusion was frozen in between two trees. Naruto checked to make sure he still had his scroll and trinkets before he sauntered over to the rookie that saw him use his secret abilities and made sure to aim at his forehead and ensure his secret would remain well-hidden.

The blonde wizard shouted, "Stupefy!"

And with a sudden red flash, the rookie was unconscious and frozen for the next several hours and left some of his most recent memories a bit more clouded than most in his dense mind.

Naruto then said out loud, "That takes care of Bozo over here. Now I need to find Sakura-chan and Sasuke-teme."

As Sasuke crawled out from the crevice he fell into, he searched around the area where he last saw his teammates and tried to sense their chakra signatures. He even used his Sharingan but had no luck as he stood there over the massive branch that would have crushed him and the others as he waited for someone from his team to come around. While he stood there and tried to decide on which direction he should search for his teammates if none of them returned, he heard a loud noise that sounded like a massive wild animal, like a wild bear in the distance.

He turned his head in the direction of the noise and asked out loud, "What the hell was that?"

"AAAAAIIIIIEEEEEEEE!" was the sound of a shrill scream he heard mere moments later.

The Uchiha soon abandoned the tree and set out towards the source of the roar and the scream that followed. He felt a small amount of excitement in his chest as he was drawn to the source of the screams.

'That must be a kunoichi from another team…' he then smirked as he dashed towards the source of the noises, 'Sounds to me like someone is about to lose a scroll…'

Almost an hour later, Sakura wandered around the wilderness, close to the same area where she was last seen with her teammates. She would have been more active in her search but she was too scared to run, but also too scared to remain still at the risk of another attack. She walked across the woods on her own with her balled hands close to her face in a somewhat defensive manner while she started to shiver and shake. She continued on with her slow walk until she heard several cracks out in the distance and a flock of wild birds that was disturbed and screeched.

Sakura withdrew a kunai when she sensed someone was close. And within several seconds after her senses were inflamed, a familiar blonde-haired shinobi came out of the woods and shocked her almost to death.

Naruto beamed at his female teammate, "Sakura-chan!"

But as the blonde-haired shinobi stood before his teammate, she threw her kunai at him almost without a second thought. Naruto was able to swerve in time, but then the kunoichi attacked him with another kunai. This time, it cut his sleeve a little bit and almost sliced into his shirt and skin. Naruto shouted and then he raised his arms into the air to show that he wasn't armed.

He shouted as he tried to reach out to his scared teammate, "WHOA! IT'S ME! Sakura-chan! IT'S ME!"

"You could be one of the other rookies transformed into Naruto," she said as she rationalized her outlandish actions and held another kunai in her hands like a sword, "Prove it!"

Naruto was at a loss for words, unable to ensure his teammate that he was who he claimed to be, until he remembered one incident in their childhood that he was sure the kunoichi would remember.

He then asked, "You remember that one time when we were in school, I once asked for a rubber? I swear to God that didn't mean that I had asked for a condom-"

"SHUT UP ABOUT THAT STUFF, YOU GIANT PERVERT!" she screamed as she blushed and thrust her blade into the earth in frustration, but then she held her breath and smiled as she ran over to her teammate and almost embraced him, relieved that she wasn't alone, "Oh, Naruto-baka…"

The blonde-haired shinobi let out a breath of relief as well and said, "Good to know that I was missed… And for the record, back then when we were in school, it meant that I had asked for an eraser, Sakura-chan. There was a bit of a language barrier back then…"

"Whatever," she said and then she started to look around the forest and ask, "Where's Sasuke-kun?"

Naruto looked a little bit irritated when his truthful comment was dismissed and then the sudden narrow-minded focus was switched back to his rival. But then he too started to look around, as the two of them were about to embark on short-lived search for their third teammate.

"The teme? I haven't seen him. But he couldn't have fallen far from that same massive tree. He should be somewhere close," he told her with confidence.

But then a voice was heard behind them both as the silhouette of the lone Uchiha heir walked out of the shadows, "I'm over here."

"BLEEDIN' HELL!" shouted Naruto in astonishment.

Sakura was a little bit shocked as well when she retreated behind her blonde teammate, but then she looked around him and stammered, "S-Sasuke-kun?"

For a second, no one moved until the blonde-haired shinobi heard his brother's voice and assured him that the Uchiha in front of them was the real one and not some other rookie that assumed to be him. Besides, it wasn't that difficult to tell that it was real him as he crossed his arms and smirked at both of his teammates when he saw both his teammates almost soar into the air at his sudden reveal.

'That's him. It wouldn't be Sasuke Uchiha if he didn't make a dramatic entrance.'

Naruto then shouted at his teammate and then he crossed his arms, "You've been in the shadows the whole time! You had us worried there for a second, teme!"

The lone Uchiha used his chakra to bounce his back from the tree as he dusted his hands and knees, even while there was no need to clean them. There were also these unnoticeable but common traits seen here and there that further cemented the confidence that it was the real Sasuke Uchiha and not a fake. No other rookie could have noticed those other subtle characteristics and enacted them on such a detailed level.

"Hrm! I had to make sure it was safe to come out," he told them as he continued to smirk a little bit, "You two could have been fakes for all I knew."

'To steal ideas from someone like Sakura Haruno is a new low, even for him…'

Sakura felt so relieved that she ran after her crush and embraced him for a short moment and retreated so as not to irritate him too much, "Oh, Sasuke-kun! You're safe! You're safe! You're safe!"

"So…" started Naruto as he was soon sick to his stomach when his female teammate embraced his rival and not him, "Who was it that attacked us, teme?"

The Uchiha answered, "I don't know. It was some random team from Ame. Their leader ran for the hills as soon as I was done with him. Once I came back here, I saw this other red-head rookie from Kusa that this wild bear tried to attack and I scared it off. After I save her life, I checked to see if she had the scroll we needed, but all she had was a Heaven scroll, the same as us. Such a waste of time to save someone's life."

'He sure does love to milk a moment for what its worth, doesn't he?'

'You haven't noticed until now, Nii-san?'

'And here I believed Sasuke Uchiha would be different after last night…'

Sakura then continued to adore her crush, even while his tale seemed overblown and made much more serious and central than it should have been and she still cheered him on, "Oh, Sasuke-kun, that's still such an incredible tale, Sasuke-kun!"

'Please kill me a third time…'the older sorcerer commented on Sakura's blind admiration at the Uchiha's admitted failure, and then he smiled as he talked to his little one, 'You know, I think it's about time to show those two what we found in the woods the other night, Naruto.'

The blonde shinobi soon started to smile as he reached down and felt the scroll he had collected hours in advance. He had an account of his own in mind that would no doubt knock his teammates off their feet. With a little luck on his side, Sasuke and Sasuke would even start to realize how valuable and resourceful he was as a teammate and end the harsh nicknames from their time at school and start to treat him as a true member of the team, an equal, as it should have been from the start.

The blonde shinobi smirked and then he revealed the scroll he had hidden for several hours, "Well then, if those idiots from Ame are out of our hair, I don't think the three of them will miss this much."

Both Sasuke and Sakura looked at their teammate and noticed the scroll he held in his hand as he showed it to them and continued to smile wide. The two stubborn teammates both froze almost at once. Sakura held her breath and held her hands close to her mouth while Sasuke looked like a statue with a somewhat bewildered look stuck on his face, as if he were an adult and he realized that someone had stolen his date from under his nose.

"Naruto…" stammered the kunoichi as she too started to smile, "How in the world?"

The brilliant little sorcerer tossed the scroll in the air and caught it in the same hand as he answered, "I stole it. The Ame rookie that attacked me went at me at full force with all these clones. It took me a while but I was able to beat him and I stole this from his rucksack while he was knocked out… How's that for a so-called dobe, teme?"

He then tossed the scroll over to a somewhat dumbstruck Sasuke Uchiha, who had to shake his head to check that he was still awake before he almost let the black scroll slide out of his hands. He almost couldn't talk while he stood there like a zombie with the scroll in his hands, deflated while Sakura turned her attention to her blonde teammate and shook his shoulders out of excitement and even a little affection.

She smiled and shouted at him, "Naruto, that's incredible! No, that's awesome! Well done! So well done! Now we can leave this damned forest and move on to the final exam!"

After several moments of indecision, Sasuke had come out of his zombie-like trance and felt a little more relieved that the worst the exam was now behind them. And now all that the team had to do was make it to the tower and their second examination would be done and over with.

"Uhh… Yeah… Yeah, well done, Naruto… Well done… You found the Earth scroll we needed first…" admitted the somewhat reluctant Uchiha.

But it didn't end there as Naruto decided to take control over the team now that he had won them over, "Well then, I think we should leave now. If we make a break for the tower, we could be inside before midnight."

"Fine with me," said Sakura as she nodded her head and asked her crush, "Sasuke-kun? How about it?"

The Uchiha had a somewhat darker look on his face than usual, but soon he nodded and the look went unnoticed, "Hrm… Fine. We should head down to the tower now. We could use Naruto's shadow clones later as a distraction should we run into trouble."

Soon the blonde-haired shinobi took the lead and soared into the woods with his teammates close behind him. Naruto had never felt so in-control in his life. It exhilarated him while he continued to smile and moved from tree to tree branch with Sakura at his side and Sasuke a little bit behind them both. He would have let out a subtle shout once in a while as he soared, but to his delight Sakura did the same and even let out a small chuckle as she followed her once dim-witted teammate. However, Sasuke was silent almost the whole time ever since the team recovered the scroll the three of them needed in order to finish the exam.

Sakura and Naruto were oblivious to his silence as the two of them ran across the woods and did their best to avoid contact with the other teams that lurked inside the woods. Unknown to either one of his teammates was that Sasuke was unsettled with that fact that his blonde-haired teammate had beaten him to the scroll. He assumed that he would be the one to obtain the scroll the three of them needed to enter the tower, but then his so-called rival beat him to it and stole his moment.

While he dwelled on this matter for a while, it started to infuriate him a little bit more than it did when Naruto started to beat him while the two of them climbed those trees in the Land of Waves. This small loss ate at him like an acid and churned his insides as he dwelled on it more and more. But he made sure that it never showed on his face as he continued onwards towards their destination.

For the next hour or so, Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura continued to run towards the tower and checked to make sure no one used an illusion on them to set the team off the beaten track. But Kakashi Hatake's students still had at least a mile or even two more left. After a while, the team did succumb to exhaustion and Sakura was the first member to force the team to slow down. She rested on a comfortable branch while her two teammates did the same. But Sasuke looked a little bit frustrated with the kunoichi and walked over to her.

He then told her in a rather irritated tone, "Sakura, let's move it."

"Just a moment, Sasuke-kun," she breathed and then drank a little bit from the canteen, "I need some water."

Sasuke was about to reach out and force her to stand on her feet and ordered, "I said let's move it!"

But then Naruto came to the rescue and forced Sasuke to relent as he forced the Uchiha to listen to him. The blonde shinobi also looked exhausted with sweat all over his face, dirt and roses on his cheeks, which showed how tired he was while he addressed his teammate in a forcible but reasonable voice.

"None of us will make it to the tower alive without a break, Sasuke," he said and insisted, "We can afford one minute to rest. Besides, I'm a little bit tired too."

Sasuke scoffed at his teammate with a horrible attitude and said, "Hrm… fine. One minute and that's it."

Naruto rested on a branch and looked at Sasuke as if he had smacked him in the face. At the same time, inside the mindscape, the older wizard looked a little bit worried or concerned as he stretched out his senses. He stretched them out one more time and then he shared his concerns with his little brother.

'What's the matter with him?'

'Never mind his foul attitude, Naruto… Listen, I didn't think much about this until now, but I think someone has followed our trail ever since we ran into Sakura and Sasuke found us.'

'Is it another team?'

'Yes, but it seems a little bit weird… I can sense them, but their chakra levels are enormous… I don't think I've ever sensed someone with such a massive amount of chakra ever since Sarutobi on the night of the Uchiha massacre… It doesn't feel like it's one of the other rookie teams. And whoever this is this so-called team is, their leader is close behind us…'

'How far is the leader and his team?'

'Far… But it won't take much time for them to be here… You have about ten minutes at the most before the team reaches our location… Get out here fast and get inside that tower.'

While Naruto listened to his brother's advice, Sasuke announced the end of their minute-break and Sakura was on her feet almost at once. She stretched out her arms, twisted around a little bit, and then she looked over to both her teammates.

She stated and then asked, "I should last until the final stretch! Sasuke-kun? Naruto?"

"Same here…" said Naruto as he nodded his head and stood beside his allies.

The team traveled further into the woods as the sun started its descent and the woods were a shade darker than usual. Naruto made sure he led his teammates closer to the tower before that other trio his brother sensed arrived. No one on the team seemed to be in the mood to talk and decided to focus on their mission; to reach the tower soon and with little to no distractions. The team did take one more break when the three of them were hidden in a rather massive meadow, where the trees had moss that was dark and oozed over the trees, branches, and rocks like a natural curtain or veil that started to melt over the branches and rocks but was frozen as it melted.

While the team took their short break, the rookies decided to trust both of the scrolls to Sasuke when Sakura admitted that she almost lost their Heaven scroll after she bounced off a tree several minutes earlier thanks to a hole in her weapons holster. As soon as the Uchiha was handed over the documents, Naruto felt his forehead hurt for what felt like the millionth time and felt that unusual sense, the same one that warned him whenever the Ame rookie was about to throw a kunai at him. But this time, it felt so much worse, and felt the need to flee as soon as he could with his teammates.

He rubbed his forehead and wobbled a little bit and moaned as his newest sense overwhelmed him, "Ohhh…Oh, man..."

"Naruto? What is it?" asked Sakura as she noticed her teammate wobble.

The blonde-haired shinobi shook his head and tried to stand tall as he told both of his distracted teammates, "I don't know… But I feel like we need to leave… We have to move fast and-"

"Naruto," she motioned towards her teammate's face and told him, "You're bleeding…"

Sasuke twitched and blinked when he felt a small rock hit the back of his head and started to feel the wind brush his hair. At the same time, Naruto blinked at Sakura and checked his face when he felt a warm substance trickle down his face.

Naruto dabbed his cheek and indeed saw his own blood, "Where in the world did this-"

He never had the chance to finish his sentence as a sudden burst of wind broke out from between the trees. It felt like a hurricane had blasted into the middle of the dark forest and forced him off his feet. He screamed as the wind took him and threw him into the woods while his teammates were forced off their feet but landed in the bushes and latched onto their roots. Sakura screamed and Sasuke shouted as the winds blew their hair back and cut their faces here and there. The two teammates would have continued to shout, but soon the winds died down and the two of them fell to the earth and saw that a new team had arrived and had attacked them.

In the middle of the meadow, there stood three older rookies that heralded from Kusagakure no Sato. The leader was a woman with fair white skin and silk-smooth black hair that ran down her slender back. She wore plain grey garbs with black trousers and a thick purple rope belt tied in a large knot behind her back and silver tomoe-shaped earrings. She also wore a black polo under her clothes and a straw hat that hid most of her face until she decided to remove it. Her teammates wore similar clothes, but one of them wore a demonic mask carved out from white wood and the other wore a straw hat like their leader but did not remove it to hide his face.

The woman in the middle, the leader, threw her hat to the side and said to Sasuke and Sakura as the two crawled back to their feet, "You two can stick around here for a while…"

Sasuke and Sakura recovered from the moment with the hurricane winds and then noticed that their third teammate was gone. Sasuke realized this as well, but did not look around to search for him or even raised his voice and called out to him. Sakura on the other hand looked worried almost at once and looked around the meadow for her blonde-haired teammate to show his face.

She asked with a rare concern for her teammate obvious in her voice, "Naruto? Where is he? Where's Naruto?"

The woman with the black hair answered, "He is very far away from here now. The little blonde child was unfortunate to be thrown into the forest from the jutsu I used… But don't be too alarmed… The friend I left behind with him will take good care of him…"

Back with Naruto, he had landed on the base of another massive tree. He soon came back down to earth and checked to make sure no random shard of wood or broken shuriken had stabbed him and felt for a moment that it was another miracle he wasn't killed. He moaned as he tried his best to stand and check his new, much darker environment. It was warmer in this area and a little bit moist. For a moment, he wasn't too worried until he heard noises all around him. The trees moved and shuffled around him in a domino-pattern, like some massive creature in the woods rustled in the darkness and encircled him on the other side.

While Naruto was distracted, his scar burned for a moment and that same awful smell from Kabuto and the Oto rookies was soon all around him. He was distracted for a moment, and in that one moment a massive creature revealed itself from the darkness behind him. Naruto would have remained oblivious to it for one more second, but he heard a stick break behind him and that smell became so strong that it made him sick to his stomach. He turned around in a flash and to his shock and horror he saw the most enormous snake he had ever seen in his life. It must have been at least five feet in diameter and more than a hundred feet long. The head of the beast was so massive that more than two or three full-sized men could fit inside its maw. Naruto and his brother noticed there were three distinct tomoe on the crown of its skull that seemed to resemble the Sharingan a little bit, but the tomoe were much more bold and there was no visible iris in the middle.

Naruto screamed, unable to hide his shock as he retreated, "AAAAGH!"

He tried to scramble far from the serpent as it stared down at him and smelled his scent with his sick slime-covered black tongue. With the starved look in the creature's eyes, it meant that it had its sights set on Naruto to be its latest and freshest meal. The creature reeled back and Naruto used his natural reflexes to evade the first attack it made to eat him. The rookie shouted and tried his best to run while he still recovered from the blow he took earlier with the hurricane. When the beast tried to strike him a second time, Naruto was almost hit had it not been for the tree that took the blow and was blasted into bits from the sheer force of the snake's unbelievable bite.

'Bleedin' hell! I've never seen a snake like that before!'

'Well, at least it's not a basilisk!'

'Not now, Nii-san!'

As Naruto was about to turn around and run, the snake tried to bite him one more time, but this time the creature slithered across the forest and started to coil around Naruto. In a flash, the teen was surrounded with scales and warm snakeskin. He shouted in horror and tried to break free from the confines of the beast's incredible body, but the creature soon tightened its hold on the blonde-haired teen so hard that he couldn't move. Naruto tried to breath as he felt the snake start to crush his bones and insides. He soon felt drained and weak and would have held his breathe and screamed as the massive creature released its maw to invite the child into its stomach.

"NO!" the blonde-haired wizard tried to scream without his breath to draw.

And so the snake swallowed him whole. The rookie shinobi slid into total darkness and as soon as he was able to draw breath, he screamed louder than he ever screamed in his life as the muscle walls that surrounded him slid him down farther and farther towards the snake's stomach.

"HARRY! HELP ME! HARRY!" he bellowed.

Naruto tried to scratch the walls around him and kicked around as he drew another breath to scream out loud. But when he breathed in, the foul stench of the inside of the beast filled his sensitive nostrils and lungs. The smell of the inside of the snake was so awful that it caused him to vomit. The smell started to suffocate him and he continued to vomit for several moments each time he drew even the tiniest breath. It was an absolute nightmare that he would not have trouble to remember in the future.

"GET ME OUT OF HERE!"

The blonde-haired shinobi tried to hold his breath and hold back his constant sick when he noticed his skin started to burn, almost like he was dunked into a bowl full of molecular acid. With what little he could see inside the stomach, he noticed one of his fallen kunai started to melt. When he realized he had reached the foul creature's stomach, Naruto started to thrust around and screamed even louder and even cried a little bit as he felt the smile continue to burn and melt his clothes.

"HARRY, HELP ME! WHAT DO I DO? THIS THING IS GOING TO DIGEST ME LIKE IN THE BLOB FROM OUTER SPACE!"

'HAVE YOU GONE COMPLETELY MAD? ARE YOU A SHINOBI OR NOT, BLONDIE? CREATE SHADOW CLONES! LOTS OF THEM! BLOW THIS BASTARD UP LIKE A BALLOON ANIMAL!'

Naruto did as he was told to do and drew in one more vomitous breath and screamed, "TAJU: KAGE BUSHIN NO JUTSU!"

Back outside in the forest, the snake's smooth stomach started to swell. The massive creature continued to bloat with each shadow clone that was created inside it. The snake felt its insides start to burst and its bones break as it continued to swell into an enormous scaled ball. The snake inflated so much and its skin stretched and stretched and then it started to tear as its blood oozed out from the numerous crevices all over its scaled skin. The massive inflated creature had several seconds to realize what had happened to it, but before it could make a noise or even attempt to slither back to its master for assistance, it detonated in a hideous shower of blood and shredded meat with bones.

Snake bones, flesh, slime, and internal organs were blasted in all directions and covered the surfaces of all the trees within the area. It was fortunate that the forest was so dark and moist to start with, otherwise Naruto would have been even more revolted had he been able to see all the innards and blood that surrounded him.

Naruto crawled and stumbled out from the mess, covered with slime, blood, and snake intestines. The blonde shinobi would have vomited one last time but there was no food left in his stomach to heave. Instead, he tried his best not to breathe in the toxic fumes and remove all the slime and blood on his skin and clothes before his skin started to melt. Once he was done and had recovered from the trauma from being eaten alive, he looked around to see he was still in the same area of the forest where he was eaten. He noticed how the trees were blasted out and created a clean trail, like a hole had been drilled into the forest and the earth.

"At least it shouldn't be too hard to find Sasuke-teme and Sakura-chan," he said with determination in his voice.

'Naruto, I just realized something terrible about all this!'

'What is it?'

'It's obvious that those snakes did not come from this forest; I mean, the size of that last one back there. I also noticed that the snake had three tomoe on its forehead. That mark means that the snake was a summoned animal! Someone that signed an animal contract must have brought them here to this forest to attack us! The same one that I sensed followed us earlier!'

'So what?'

'So who have we read about that has ever been able to summon snakes of that enormous size? What famous shinobi defected from the village over a decade ago has ever been able to do that?'

'You… You don't think that we're facing against…' the blonde child turned white and then he stormed back to his teammates with his chakra to aid him, "SASUKE! SAKURA-CHAN!"

Back in the dark meadow, Sasuke and Sakura were forced to bare witness to the woman as she showed them both how sick and sadistic she was before she even moved to attack them.

The woman that revealed to be named Shiore had ordered her teammates to head back to the tower. Once the other two shinobi had vanished and left them all alone, Sasuke demanded that she surrender and leave them before he would be forced to attack her. Shiore smirked at the Uchiha and his teammate, she took her scrolls and shoved them into her mouth and then forced them down her own throat while she lubricated the scrolls with her extensive snake-like tongue. She then lowered her hand down to her face and pulled down her lower left eyelid with her middle finger. She stared at both the rookies with a look that chilled them both down to the bone.

She then said, "Let's have some fun, children…"

Shiore had released a massive wave of killer intent, that was so influential and tremendous, that it made Zabuza Momochi's threats back in their first confrontation with him on their last outdoor mission almost feel insignificant. The wave reached into Sasuke and Sakura's minds and created an actual illusion that forced them to feel whatever it was that the woman intended to do to them. Both rookies felt like shuriken and kunai were sliced all over their bodies and those same blades stabbed them and sliced their skins into ribbons. Their blood flew out from their faces and their limbs and drenched their clothes. It felt like the two of them had been tortured and sliced until it all ended when Shiore threw two kunai and had them stabbed into the center of their foreheads, which would have killed them in an instant. Once the illusion was over, Sasuke vomited and shook with absolute fright. Sakura had tears that rolled down her face, she would have sobbed and blubbered, but she was unable to make even the tiniest noise.

Shiore smiled at them both and then smirked as she taunted her victims with their undeniable fear of death. She watched and waited for at least one of them to move in and attack her, but neither one of them dared to move and continued to shiver, or in Sasuke's case almost urinate in his white shorts but was able to resist. Shiore soon withdrew two kunai and was about to throw them and make the end of the illusion she created a dream come true.

She then said in a sadistic but rather bored voice, "What a shame. I wished our battle would have been more fun than this, Sasuke Uchiha."

But when Shiore launched her kunai at the defenseless rookies, Sasuke took his own blade and thrust it into his thigh to break the illusion and took his female teammate with him. The two rookies retreated into the trees and hid in the shadows while Shiore smirked and watched her little targets move around. Sasuke and Sakura were hidden in the trees above the woman, on a branch far above the meadow. Once Sakura had calmed down some she found her voice and tried to talk to her teammate.

"Sasuke-kun! Please, talk to me-"

Sasuke forced his hand over her mouth to silence her and she watched him look over his shoulder and continue to shiver. She noticed that he was scared and she was terrified to see her idol act like this: so scared but also a little bit excited for whatever reason. Sakura remained silent, but then she turned white when she heard a noise come from above her and saw a snake that was twice the size of an anaconda. She tried to scream to let her teammate know what was about to bite him from behind, but he continued to force her mouth shut so that he could watch out and think. Sakura was then forced to remove his hand from her mouth and screamed, as the snake was about to bite at his black-haired head.

"SASUKE-KUN! SNAAAAAKE!"

Sasuke turned around and saw the beast, no more than five inches from his own face. He reacted on instinct and used his chakra to soar across to the next branch before the snake could recoil and devour him. Sakura stood at the same branch as she watched Sasuke evade the snake. The Uchiha then tossed several kunai and shuriken at the beast's mouth and killed it as the shuriken sliced into its head. The snake fell dead against a large tree trunk and Sasuke and Sakura watched to their horror as Shiore burst out from the snake's side like she had hatched out at the base of the monster's neck and head. She shook her head at the Uchiha and licked the slime and blood that was smothered all over her face.

"For shame; a soldier that let's his guard down… Stay on your toes like a good prey should," Shiore hissed in her snake-like voice, "It makes the chase so much more rewarding for the predator…"

Shiore reacted so fast and was somehow able to twist her torso around the tree she stood close to. She swathed around the tree so fast that it made her look like a snake as she started to slither towards Sasuke so fast that she turned into a dark blur. The red-dressed kunoichi covered her mouth and screamed as she was forced to watch the snake-woman start her attack, determined to execute her beloved Uchiha.

"SASUKE-KUN!"

But before the older kunoichi could use her chakra and attack the frozen Uchiha, several kunai and shuriken came out of nowhere and forced her to halt while she was still swathed around the tree. She looked above in the trees; Sasuke and Sakura looked to the source of the thrown blades and saw blonde hair and somewhat tan skin mixed in the shadows that surrounded them. Naruto Ignotus Uzumaki had arrived with a smirk stretched across his face while he looked down at the snake-woman and the woman frowned at the child that had arrived and ruined her hunt.

"Gomenasai… I'm a little late, friends and mates, but I had to say goodbye to my friend, the giant snake that tried to eat me…" he called down to his teammates.

He had his left hand rested on his waist, while his other arm was stretched out from when he threw those shuriken and kunai at the women. Naruto smirked down at his teammates and the somewhat withdrawn Shiore.

Shocked and relieved to see her teammate was alive and well, Sakura smiled and screamed, "Naruto! YOU'RE OK!"

However, the blonde wizard's male teammate looked more distressed than ever as he clenched his teeth so hard that he almost shattered them. Sasuke continued to shake and sweat while he shouted at his teammate above him and tried to warn him.

"Get the hell out of here, dobe! He outclasses all of us," he shouted, "GET OUT OF HERE!"

Shiore had tilted her head as she stared at the somewhat familiar blonde child. While she was sure that she never seen him once until now in this forest, she could have sworn that somehow she must have known him. It must have been the blonde hair, or his voice, clothes, or the defiant tone in his voice. She soon shook it off as she wondered how in the world the child was able to defeat her summoned animal and the reason it didn't follow him here.

She asked in a curious tone to make sure she wasn't mistaken, "You were able to defeat the snake that I summoned, Naruto-kun?"

"It swallowed me whole, so I used shadow clones and blew it into smithereens," he answered the assumed kunoichi.

Shiore frowned and then her tone looked more serious and dark and so did her tone, "You shouldn't have done that, child… To kill a summoned animal is a serious offense from where I come from."

Naruto stared down at Shiore and didn't believe a word she said. He even noticed that her voice didn't sound that well, like it was somewhat remixed with someone else's voice. It was all he needed to confirm his fears, but the blonde shinobi used his mental shields and his skills as an Occlumens to make sure he was brave for his own sake as well as for his teammates.

"Somehow I doubt that," he said and then he accused, "You're not even from Kusagakure no Sato. You're not even one of the rookies, like us! You're a fraud!"

Sasuke and Sakura looked to their teammate in confusion and then looked back at each other. Meanwhile Shiore continued to frown at him but then she switched moods as her frown turned into a small smile on her smooth face.

"What's this now?" she asked in a somewhat innocent tone.

Naruto continued and told his audience, "Back in school, I remember it now… Back then we learned a little bit about shinobi that could summon animals with their chakra… It's a rare skill that a handful of shinobi and kunoichi from Konoha are able to master… Iruka-sensei told us that there are all sorts of animals that can be summoned but there was one man from Konoha that could ever summon enormous snakes the same size as the one I had to kill earlier… But our teacher mentioned that that man defected from Konoha over a decade ago and became a criminal outlaw. He was a murderer and considered to be absolute scum… You're not from Kusagakure no Sato at all! You're that same man from Konoha that summoned the snakes! You're Orochimaru of the Sannin!"

Sasuke and Sakura both held their breath as the truth was revealed. The two of them were shocked that their teammate remembered another lesson from school. But were a lot more troubled with terror as Shiore hissed at the meddlesome blonde shinobi and a wide smirk started to stretch across her face, unlike the one she used moments earlier.

"Isn't that right, Orochimaru?" asked Naruto.

Shiore then reached to her own face and in a rather sick and twisted manner, she removed the skin from her own face. It turned out that the face she had was a false one that hid the real one underneath, like a molted mask. Underneath this incredible guise revealed the man named Orochimaru. His true form revealed a tall, thin, snake-like man with almost translucent white skin and dark black hair that made his white skin look all the more like the same color as chalk or cleaned bone. He had amber-colored irises that were set around slits also like a snakes. He also had lilac-colored marks around his lids that emphasized his similarities toward snakes. His fingers were all so extensive, like a spider's legs that made his hand movements look all the more unnatural and smooth, like some terrible creature from the dark. Once the man had removed his false-skin, Naruto was overwhelmed with that same abhorrent smell from earlier, the same scent that radiated from Kabuto Yakushi, the rookies from Otogakure no Sato, and the snake that he was forced to kill with his shadow clones. But this time it was so much worse, far worse than rotten meat or the entrails of some massive beast.

'That's where that smell must have come from. That Kabuto Yakushi and the rookies from Oto could be related to him somehow…'

The older wizard inside his subconscious started to increase the amount of magic that flowed in his brother's veins. A confrontation with this terrorist was now unavoidable and Naruto would need to be as resistant as he needed to be if he wanted to survive. The blonde shinobi could feel his muscles swell a little bit and define him under his clothes like a svelte Roman statue as his shirt felt a little tight around his torso. Naruto stared down at the Sannin revealed and was about to reach down for his wand and focus his chakra into his feet in order to save his friend Sasuke and defend him and Sakura with whatever charms he could think to use with the extra boost he felt.

Naruto muttered in a tone too low for the shinobi and kunoichi below him to hear, "We need to find someone. We'll have to alert Anko-sensei or someone outside the fences at once."

'No argument from me, kiddo. But there's a chance the authorities are also in the tower, and that's much closer to our location. If we can outrun the Sannin and block him with some charms and spells, then there's a chance we can all survive from this. But we'll have to move fast and also make sure no one we know sees us use our secret abilities if we can.'

Sasuke soon looked torn in between Naruto and Orochimaru. He continued to sweat and he was so scared from the illusion earlier and the fact that one of the most notorious shinobi in recent times was here to kill them caused his skin to turn so white that it looked like the Uchiha almost had no blood left in his face.

Scared and unable to think straight, he reached back and showed the Sannin the two scrolls and shouted, "That does it! I can't take this! Here! Take both our scrolls and leave! Just take them and leave us alone!"

The Uchiha was about to throw the two scrolls at the snake-like man until his teammate Naruto came out from nowhere, nabbed the scrolls in time, and kicked his blacked-haired teammate in the chest so hard that the wind was knocked out of him. The black-haired teen stumbled backwards and almost fell on his back, now much closer to Sakura while she stared in shock, silence, and absolute fear. At the same time, Naruto's scar burned a lot more intense than usual for half a moment and that new sense he now had almost felt like someone screamed in his ear to take his teammates and run. He was so close to Orochimaru, no more than several meters from the most lethal and notorious Konoha shinobi alive.

"YOU MORON! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" the Uchiha screamed at his teammate, "STAY OUT OF THIS!"

Naruto soon shoved his teammate back and shouted at him in a stern, frustrated manner when he witnessed his blatant cowardice, "YOU'RE THE IDIOT, YOU COWARD! What would he do even if we did surrender the scrolls to this maniac? You think he would let us live? HE'S AN OUTLAW AND A MURDERER! On the run! HE CAN'T HAVE ANY WITNESSES TO SAY THAT HE WAS HERE, YOU MORON!"

Orochimaru smiled even more as he showed his teeth, tilted his head like a curious child, and licked the corners of his mouth as he stared at the children.

"Well…" he started as he licked his extensive white canines, "Your little blonde friend here is correct."

Sakura held her breath and covered her mouth with her hands as she stared at the tall man, while Sasuke twitched at the realization and Naruto looked more infuriated as the man started to threaten the live of his teammates.

The tall Sannin chanted and motioned with his hands in a charismatic fashion, "As soon as the time were to come, I would have to kill all the rookies in the forest that so much as looked me… I think I'll start with the black-haired fellow… He looks so delicious…"

Orochimaru hissed as he rolled back his left sleeve and revealed an unusual tattoo on his arm. He then bit his thumb to draw his own blood and smeared it over the tattoo as he started to run several fast handsigns and concentrated an incredible amount of chakra that the rookies could almost taste it. Naruto's face was filled with malice as the air around him became warm with hot mana. While his instincts told him to flee and save his own life above all else, Naruto was filled with the desire and will to follow his childhood heroes from favorite comic books and the heroes from real life. He knew what he had to do in order to defend his teammates, so he ran after the Sannin without another second to waste.

He shouted at the tall-thin Sannin, "OVER MY DEAD BODY!"

"NO! DON'T DO THIS, NARUTO!" the Uchiha screamed and tried to hold back his teammate but he failed.

Naruto shouted at both his teammates as he chose to sacrifice himself to allow them time to leave, "SASUKE! TAKE SAKURA-CHAN AND RUN! I'LL HOLD HIM OFF! GO!"

The blonde shinobi was determined to defend his teammates and hold back Orochimaru to let them flee. He was aware that he stood no chance in a fight with someone like a Sannin, but all he had on mind was to immobilize the criminal while his friends ran to the tower and with a little bit of luck he would also run if he was able to freeze Orochimaru like he did with the Ame rookie. Sasuke and Sakura stared at their teammate but did not leave him as he told them to and stood there in the trees as he ran.

When the blonde dashed after him, Orochimaru had finished his jutsu and annunciated, "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"

Wind started to swirl around the white snake and a cloud of white mist came out from underneath him. There was a blast of white smoke and then a massive snake, more than five times the size of the one that ate Naruto earlier, came out from nowhere beneath the Sannin and crushed the trees and the meadow beneath them. Orochimaru smirked and Naruto blanched when the Sannin commanded the immense creature to strike the blonde shinobi with its incredible tail. The snake did as it was told to do and whacked Naruto so hard that he soared into the air like a cork. The force of the sudden blow sent the blonde shinobi to crash into several dead hollowed trees. Bark, hollow trunks, and branches were blasted into smithereens as Naruto soared into the heavens.

Sakura and even Sasuke cried, "NARUTO!"

As their blonde friend was slammed into a solid tree branch, and the two of them saw him vomit out blood.

For less than a second, Naruto seemed to be stuck to the branch he crashed into, and then he started to fall down like a lifeless doll and he was about to slide into unconsciousness. Inside his subconscious, Harry had to think fast as he saw his brother start his slow descent, unable to move as he looked down at the Sannin on his snake. He knew there was another method he could use that would awaken Naruto and send an adrenaline rush to him that would enable him to continue the battle and even stand on the same level as the Sannin.

He would have to visit the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox and flow it's red chakra into Naruto.

The wizard didn't have much of a choice if he wanted his brother to continue the fight. He didn't want Naruto to have to use the demonic chakra and be influenced, as he knew he hated the sensation and was well aware that it did him a lot of harm. But thanks to the phoenix tears he absorbed back in the Land of Waves, the chakra wouldn't do as much harm as it did the first time he used it and Naruto would be able to heal from the chakra use much more on his own. He would need this chakra to remain conscious and the adrenaline rush and enhanced chakra would enable him to attack the Sannin and even immobilize him if he was careful while he controlled it.

Naruto would hate him for this later, but Harry still marched into the familiar corridor and headed towards the demon's chamber. It took him a little bit of time to reach the door and enter the room and based on how hot the room felt, it meant that the beast was awake and sensed him arrive as his robes swished behind him. The ancient wizard made sure he was shielded as he marched into the chamber and faced the demon as he saw it twist and turn around behind the bars and smirked at the small humanoid.

"YOU CAME BACK FOR A FIGHT, WEAKLING?" asked the beast.

The wizard stared at the monster with no other emotion on his face other than hatred or frustration, "In order for him to survive, he needs that demonic chakra… Let me direct it to him so that he doesn't lose control… It makes sense since I know how this subconscious realm works and use it all the time… Besides its better I do it rather then let some rotten overstuffed beast take him over like the last time…"

"WHY SHOULD I EVEN LISTEN TO SOME INSIGNIFICANT LITTLE ANT LIKE YOU?"

"Because if Naruto dies in this battle, both of us will die too…" he threatened and then asked the creature, "You want to lend me a hand now or what?"

The demon let out a breath and the chamber was soon lit with fire as the fox relented and let the wizard take control over some of its incredible chakra, "AS SOON AS I BREAK FREE OF THIS CAGE, I WILL VERY MUCH ENJOY DEVOURING YOUR SOUL…"

"Don't count on it, demon-scum…" said the sorcerer as he took control over the chakra and told the ancient beast, "You will never break free from here. Not while I'm still around…"

Back in the real world, Naruto continued his fall back down towards the meadow and trees, while Orochimaru looked a little bit bored as he watched him fall. Sakura and Sasuke looked on in horror as their friend didn't move and it almost looked like he was about to die. The two of them wait for him to come back to life and rush after the Sannin and show them that he still had that fire in him, but he continued to act like a lifeless doll. Orochimaru raised his hand and motioned to the child in a rather slothful manner as the snake stared at the child with a more interested look.

"Devour him," said the Sannin, "He killed one of the other snakes I sent here… Kill him and avenge the blood stained on his hands…"

Naruto was able to look down and see the snake release its incredible maw and let out that horrid smell from the inside of the other snake in addition to the smell he associated with his snake-sense. As the blonde shinobi descended closer and closer to the creature's mouth, he almost lost consciousness. But then he felt a fire in his chest, a fire not to be mistaken for his determination. He felt his muscles and insides burn and sizzle as the chakra flooded inside him, but this time he felt his insides heal and the burn was not as intense as the first time he ever used it. His irises were soon drained of their natural blue color, and when he blinked, were turned into an intense shade of scarlet.

No more than a second later, Naruto was about to be swallowed a second time until he fell closer towards the snake's crown and slammed his fist down into its snout.

"EAT THIS!"

The snake's mouth was forced shut as Naruto's chakra-laced fist sent the creature to fall downward and break several branches and trees that it rested on. Naruto locked eyes with Orochimaru and the two of them stared at each other for a split second that seemed to last for a solid minute.

Orochimaru stared at the blonde shinobi, 'How could that little brat have even…'

But the Sannin reacted before he and his summoned snake were driven back down to earth. He focused a lot of chakra and threw Naruto back with another wind-based attack. As the enormous snake recovered, the blonde shinobi was knocked into the base of a tree. But then he focused his enhanced demonic chakra into his feet and bounced after Orochimaru like a bullet. Naruto started to bombard the snake with his fists and caused the creature and Orochimaru to stumble back and cause several trees to fall down and crumble into more trees and the earth as well. This continued until the area of the forest was turned into an arena made of crushed branches, trees, and unearthed roots. The snake tried to use its tail to whack Naruto back, but the rookie had bounced off whatever surface he was thrown at and came back at full force, each time with more fierceness and viciousness.

Sakura and Sasuke were forced to watch as their beloved teammate was turned into an animal. The two of them watched, as he turned more feral and inhuman over time; his whisker marks were more black and noticeable, and his nails almost turn into claws as he slashed at the Sannin's snake. But what the two of them noticed that made them start to fear their teammate was that his irises were not blue, and instead turned into a brilliant shade of scarlet. Neither one of them could move as he went all over the area and battled a massive creature that should have killed him earlier.

Sakura worried over her teammate, 'What has happened to Naruto? Where did all that come from?'

'Is that even him? All that chakra I can feel from here, it's so intense that it's almost inhuman…' thought Sasuke as he watched him.

Orochimaru inhaled an incredible breath and then unleashed a fireball that was as intense as the wrath of a furious Common Welsh Green. Naruto was caught in the middle of the hot blast, which made Sasuke and Sakura held their breath. But then the two of them saw their teammate come out from the center of the fireball and dive after Orochimaru. That to the demon chakra, his molecular structure was more dense and made Naruto resistant to most blows as well as the flames as he dove after the white-skinned menace with a kunai in each of his hands.

He screamed as he closed in on the older shinobi, "YOU STUPID SON OF A BITCH!"

Orochimaru reacted almost at once when he thrust his arm across Naruto's face in an unbelievable backhand. This sent the rookie into the trunk of a tree far across from his teammates. The villainous snake-man smirked as Naruto hit the base of the tree and he slid down towards another branch far below them in the darkness. With the child out of his hair for several vital moments, Orochimaru decided to move in on the other rookies as he noticed the two of them remained still the entire time.

'Now this will be so much more fun,' he then commanded his snake summon to slither after Sasuke and Sakura as he shouted in a wild or insane manner, "And now it's Sasuke Uchiha's turn! HOW WILL IT TURN OUT?"

Sasuke remained where he stood, unable to move as he watched the snake slide after him. He was so shocked at his teammate and still froze with fear when death had never been so close to him since the massacre. He was so shaken and felt so weak and defenseless that he almost wanted it all to end and let the snake kill him.

"SASUKE-KUN!"

Sakura screamed as she watched Orochimaru set off at Sasuke. But then Naruto came out from nowhere and stood in front of the Sannin's snake. He then turned around and drove the two kunai in his hands into the snout of the incredible beast. Naruto's demon-induced strength held the snake back and caused Sasuke to come out of his coma of fear and blink when he saw his blonde teammate hold back the creature, like he was some other shinobi from an old folk tale. practically squeeze out a brick in surprise. Naruto's tilted his head and hid his face from view as he tried to catch his breath and continue to hold back the snake.

He soon raised his head and forced a smirk on his face as he asked, "You're not hurt are you, scaredy-cat?"

Sasuke blinked a second time and he flashed back to when he said the exact same words to Naruto back on their last serious mission to the Land of Waves. Those words echoed in his mind over and over while he stared at the blonde shinobi with a more shocked look on his face.

"Naruto…" he breathed.

Whatever it was that Sasuke was about to utter next was never heard. Orochimaru decided to examine this tenacious foe a little bit closer once he had an idea who or what he was. He outstretched his extensive tongue to a ridiculous level and somehow was able to surround Naruto's thin torso and raised him into the air and closer to him to be examined. The feral blonde shinobi thrashed around and snarled like an animal as the demon inside him started to take more and more control over him, while Orochimaru stared at the wild child face-to-face.

Naruto shouted as he thrashed and kicked, "Get off of me! GERROFF ME! GERROFF! GERROFF! GERROFF!"

The Sannin observed the child and used excessive force to submit the child and hold him still for at least one moment. Orochimaru looked into his scarlet eyes and watched as he blinked and the rookie's pupils turned into slits. He then thrashed around in a much more violent manner than before and almost broke free of his confines. At that observation and when Orochimaru sensed as more chakra was released from within the child, the Sannin smirked as he deduced who the child was and how he was able to overwhelm him.

'So this child is the Yondaime Hokage's final heroic act… Naruto is the human container of the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox… the jinchuuriki of Konohagakure no Sato…' the white-skinned Sannin continued to smile as he stared down at the wild child, 'This is rich… it seems that whenever he is in mortal peril or whenever he is consumed with raw emotion and loses control, a bit of the demon's chakra is released and he can use it as he sees fit… But it looks like he doesn't like it too much… He must not have used it that often if that's the case…'

He then took several facts into account based on his secret observation of the rookie team. He deduced that the blonde rookie valued his teammates and there was a chance that Sasuke valued his teammates as well. If that were the case, then Orochimaru felt there would be a little bit of trouble and he would have to fix later. He soon raised Naruto a little more and lifted his shirt were he found the tattoo seal

'And here it is. The seal that contains the monster within him… It looks like a tattoo on his bare skin…'

Orochimaru hid his right hand behind his back and focused an incredible amount of chakra into his fingertips. He focused it so well that each of his fingers began to form a separate kanji for each main element. He reeled his arm back and then he thrust his hand into Naruto's stomach tattoo. The thrust caused Naruto to let out a silenced scream as the wind was knocked clean out of him.

It hurt so much and Orochimaru concentrated his chakra so well that it started to alter the seal that contained the beast. Inside his subconscious, as Harry tried his best to contain the demonic chakra he was taken by surprise when the chakra retreated back in between the bars as the beast roared and retreated back. Then out of nowhere, the wizard was thrown back like there was an invisible wall that blocked him. And then the sorcerer was thrown off his feet and soared backwards until he was thrown back outside the chamber and into the infinite mindscape corridor. He looked at the door into the demon's chamber and watched as the door lost all definition other than its outline on the wall and a new seal with five marks flashed for a moment and then vanished.

The wizard tried to touch the door and force it to reveal itself, but when he touched the smooth surface it electrocuted him and those same marks were seen on the door each time he tried to touch it.

Harry soon returned to his own chamber and watched as Naruto was materialized inside the bed, unconscious even inside his own subconscious. The older sorcerer's heart started to race and sweat beat down his forehead. Neither one of Naruto's teammates stood a chance with Orochimaru. And at this rate, all of them would be dead in a matter of moments. The sorcerer was then forced to make a difficult decision that even he wasn't sure would work. He checked to make sure Naruto's vitals were stable and even had time to tuck him into bed. He then stood over the bed and marched towards the center of the room and struck his hands together.

The air around him started to waver and then he flooded the entire subconscious realm with his own magical energies and then he vanished out of thin air.

Orochimaru was about to toss Naruto to the side and let him fall to the earth, skewered. But then the blonde-haired child came back to life all the sudden. He reached out and clenched the Sannin's extensive tongue with so much force that it caused the snake-man to wince. Orochimaru blinked and then felt a hot, acid-like burn channel into him from the touch. It intensified and continued to burn until it was unbearable. Orochimaru was forced to release the child from his hold and he recoiled backward on the head of his massive snake. He then looked shocked and almost lost with words when he saw Naruto hover in the air as the child awoke and stared down at him.

"What the…"

When he looked into his face, the Sannin was shocked to see that the color of his irises had switched one more time. This time, his irises were not blue or crimson-red, but this time were green like twin emeralds. Orochimaru stammered in confusion at Naruto's new irises, and it seemed that whatever it was that caused him to burn Naruto seemed to be embodied with it as he hovered for a short moment and landed his feet on the snake as well.

"You hurt Naruto…"

Those words came out of the child's mouth, but it was not Naruto Uzumaki's voice. Sakura and Sasuke looked at each other with mixed looks as their teammate sounded much, much older and his accent was even more accented. All of them were oblivious, but it seemed that Harry had taken control over his brother's consciousness. He radiated with magical energies that both the shinobi and one kunoichi could sense as he stared down at the Sannin that defiled the seal on his stomach.

"You should be unconscious…" stated the Sannin and then demanded in a low voice, "What in the world is this all about?"

"Oh, there's no need to be concerned about who I am, Orochimaru. But allow me to return the favor for the damage done to the seal."

Harry reached down and withdrew his brother's wand and aimed it at the Sannin. Without an incantation uttered, the sorcerer in control created an incredible white flash that almost blinded the other rookies that watched and Orochimaru was sent backwards into the air. His massive snake was left abandoned without a master as the Sannin crashed into a branch above the scene. The sorcerer then moved almost as fast as a shinobi and stood across from the criminal on another branch. The Sannin stared at the rookie as he noticed the wand in his hand and was distracted as the child's smile stretched across his face. The sorcerer almost bowed to the shinobi based on the traditions of a wizard's duel and he muttered one last sentence before he attacked.

He said as he smiled, "Excuse me, but it's been a while since I've had a decent fight. But this should still be fun for me."

The wizard made two horizontal slashes in the air with the wand in his hand and then he aimed the end at Orochimaru. There was a sudden red flash this time and Orochimaru's skin and clothes burst into flames. The Sannin screamed and would have run to whisk out the flames in a dash but then the wizard that lit him on fire launched after him and tackled him down so that the two of them fell. Both combatants landed on another branch and the wizard slammed Orochimaru in the face with his left fist. He then soared backwards and used another curse that hit the Sannin in the stomach. The man doubled over as the wind was knocked out of him and felt the blow to his stomach cause the same burns he suffered from moments earlier. The sorcerer landed on another branch across from the Sannin and smirked at him while he watched him wince and double over.

"What… What in the world is this?" he hissed.

The wizard smirked as he answered the criminal; "I like to call it magic. But let's not waste time with our background stories, scum."

The sorcerer noticed the flames on Orochimaru's clothes went out and then he heard the villain's servant slither towards him almost as fast as a shinobi. The beast tore down more branches and trees as it tried to assist its master and kill the lone sorcerer. But then the wizard smirked at the massive snake and he stared down at the creature as he aimed his wand at it and hissed at it not as a Parselmouth this time.

"Leave us alone or meet the same end as the last snake that attacked me… Your choice..."

The snake heard the wizard and froze moments before it would have otherwise killed the sorcerer. It had never heard a human talk in such a voice and felt it had no other choice but to listen. Almost as soon as the creature understood what the wizard had warned him about, the beast slithered backwards and then it blasted into white smoke as it fled the scene. Orochimaru was shocked and furious as his summoned animal listened to whatever the sorcerer told him and abandoned him in the forest.

"YOU SLITHERING COWARD!" he shouted.

Orochimaru retaliated almost at once and created a massive force like a hurricane that would have sliced the controlled rookie shinobi into ribbons. The sorcerer made it look like the Sannin had blasted him and retreated back down to Sasuke and Sakura. The kunoichi tried to force her crush to move while he stared at the battle above them, unable to move until their teammate came out of nowhere and commanded them with a stern voice.

"Sakura! Take the scrolls and take Sasuke to the tower! That's an order! Is that understood?"

All she did was stare at her teammate for a moment and then Sakura soon nodded. The wizard vanished as the Sannin was soon about to unleash another series of small hurricane winds. Sakura tried to force Sasuke to come with her, but he still refused to move, as he wanted to watch the battle that ensued above them.

"Sasuke-kun! We have to leave! C'mon! Sasuke-kun!" she shouted.

But instead he answered, "No… I have to see this…"

The sorcerer avoided several blasts of wind like curses as he ducked, twisted, and vanished with a loud crack. But soon he dashed after Orochimaru while he needed a second to breathe. But soon the shinobi criminal took in the breath he needed and unleashed another wind-based attack that would have sent the wizard across the forest. But he was clever and aimed his wand at the same time the shinobi unleashed the hurricane winds.

"PROTEGO MAXIMA!"

The winds were held back as a translucent bluish-white shield came into existence at the end of the wizard's borrowed wand and stretched out in order to contain the winds Orochimaru unleashed from his mouth. The Sannin was dumbstruck for a moment and then he had less than a second to think before he was blasted off his feet and into the base of another tree in the area. Orochimaru seethed and steam almost rolled out from his nostrils as he let out an almost inhuman roar and used his chakra to attack the wizard with brutal force.

"RAAAAHHH!"

Sasuke refused to listen to Sakura as she tried to force him to evacuate the area with her and chose to watch as Harry and Orochimaru went insane with violence. The wizard was able to read Orochimaru's movements and avoid almost all the blows he tried to throw with ducks and twists, while the Sannin was able to avoid the charms and curses that would have ended their battle a whole lot sooner. The two moved in almost a sort of dance as blades were thrown and curses blasted whole chunks of the branches, bases, and roots that would have turned a normal shinobi into dust or a mess of shredded flesh and clothes. Sasuke felt no desire to leave, as he stood there, fascinated at his teammate and the Sannin as the two of them fought across the environment.

"Sasuke-kun! WE HAVE TO LEAVE!" she shouted.

Exhausted, the Sannin tried to breathe but the wizard used his chance to kick the man in the chest and then use a curse to freeze him and lead the two rookies below them to the tower, now that he noticed the two of them did not leave as he instructed. While his foot was driven into the Sannin's stomach, Orochimaru took the chance he had; he held the wizard's ankle and twisted it. The sorcerer shouted and then the Sannin clenched the ankle in his hands and threw the wizard into the darkness between two trees in the woods. Orochimaru then took his chance and vanished into the dark.

He landed on the same branch where he left Sasuke and Sakura. The two rookies flinched when the criminal stared at them and smirked a little bit and he looked at Sasuke the most. Sakura hid behind her teammate while he stretched out his one arm in a defensive manner. The criminal's smile stretched across his bruised and battered face and then he talked to the Uchiha with a dark tone in his voice.

"I'm cannot take another chance with the freak, Sasuke-kun…" said Orochimaru as he took another step closer to him, "You are indeed Itachi Uchiha's little brother, there's no a doubt about that. You could be weak or not. But I will still make you my apprentice and give you the power you seek like a rat that sniffs cheese. I can see the hatred and lust for strength burn in those eyes…"

Sasuke turned livid and furious at the mere mention of his former brother and he demanded at once, "WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT HIM?"

Orochimaru smirked as he looked into Sasuke's wrathful face. He had activated his Sharingan and started to seethe at the older shinobi in a manner similar to the older shinobi while he faced the wizard that distracted him from his intentions with the rookie team. The Sannin licked his teeth as the teen showed such ferociousness that his female teammate tried to hold him back and force him to retreat to the tower.

"There it is, Sasuke-kun. You hold such beautiful hatred in that voice alone. You show such a thirst for revenge," the older shinobi then screamed in a cold voice, "THAT'S THE KIND OF THIRST I WANTED TO SEE THIS WHOLE TIME!"

And then out of nowhere, Orochimaru's hands blurred and then he outstretched his neck so much, that his neck resembled a white snake on its own as it extended over seventeen feet and then double that. His head swirled and twisted around in the air and then he closed in on Sasuke. The snake Sannin widened his maw and revealed a set of venomous teeth, like a snake or a vampire. The master sorcerer saw this and recovered almost at once. He cursed out loud and used his incredible abilities to storm after the Uchiha before Orochimaru did whatever it was that he was about to do. But after he launched another random curse, he missed and it was too late to save him.

"DAMMIT! NO!"

Orochimaru had reached the Uchiha and sank his teeth into his neck. He remained there for a moment, frozen, and he released a clear fluid into Sasuke's bloodstream that froze him where he stood as he shivered and drooled. The Uchiha felt the cold fluid enter his blood and flow into his veins. He felt frozen in the literal sense of the term and stood there as he stared at the trees until Orochimaru released his hold over him and muttered into his ear. Sasuke shivered and twitched his hands for several moments and Orochimaru's neck returned to its normal state.

The Sannin had muttered to the Uchiha, "I look forward to when we next meet, Sasuke-kun… I wish to assist in the conquest to obtain more power…"

Sasuke felt the cold fluid inside him start to turn hot until it at last burned and caused his neck to swell in the area where he was bitten. His neck turned red and then the swell of flesh died down until it almost looked like he was back to normal. But then his head and neck seemed to drain and almost all the color in his face had vanished. The venom started to burn as it concentrated in the area, close to where he was bitten and he felt the now acid-like fluid flowed into all his muscles and cells within seconds. He shivered and then his knees buckled as he clenched his neck and started to shout and scream. The Uchiha fell to his knees and then he unleashed a series of horrific shouts and screams.

"AAUGH! UNH! AAAAAAAAAAAAH! AIIIIEEEEEEEEE! RAAAAHHHHHHHHH!"

Sasuke screamed and writhed as his female teammate came to his side and tried to calm him down or ease whatever it was that was the matter with her beloved Uchiha.

"Sasuke-kun!" she shouted, "SASUKE-KUN!"

Orochimaru chuckled as he tilted his head and watched as the Uchiha twitch and writhe, "Consider it a token to remember me, Sasuke-kun. Use it well."

The master sorcerer was so furious and so frustrated at the Sannin that he used a curse that blasted the man off his feet in the middle of his chuckle and blasted him out from a tree. Orochimaru wasn't even able to breath or make a sound as he was thrown like a doll and crashed into the base of another tree. Harry then used a new curse that he derived from a fictional book he read about once that allowed him to control the environment at least to enable him to hold the Sannin down for whatever he had in mind to do to him.

"ADSTINGO MALUS SERPENS!"

At his command, the roots from all the trees around the human snake came to life and wreathed around the torso and limbs of the Sannin until he was bound under more than two tons of solid wood. The roots were merciless as all of them came out of the earth and constricted around Orochimaru until it almost felt like the roots were about to tear off his limbs and then his head as two more thin roots were tied around his neck and scratched his throat.

"What… I… I can't break free… What in the world is this?" he demanded.

And the wizard smirked as he answered him, "How about we call it the Devil's Snare? Go ahead and break free to see what happens. No matter what, it should allow me the time I need for this one last trick I have in mind."

The wand the sorcerer held in his hands almost turned red as he muttered a series of incantations under his breath until at last he uttered the words of one of the most intense curses he had ever used or invented while he was lost in limbo.

"INFELICITAS EXTREMUS MAXIMA!"

The Sannin realized he had made a mistake too late and should have left while he had the chance, Uchiha or not. There was a red flash and an incredible scarlet beam that hit him in the center of his chest. Orochimaru was blinded for half a moment and then he was forced off his feet while his hands reached to touch his chest as he was freed from his confines in a shower of blood and broken stones. The roots that bound the Sannin were turned into solid rock and the force of the curse that hit him in the chest blasted the frozen roots into dozens of small rocks while the Sannin was thrown into the air and the force from the sudden blow to the chest cut and tore the flesh that was once bound. Orochimaru was tossed into a new darker area of forest where he screamed when his back hit the floor and his chest was on fire. The clothes on his chest were burned into cinders while there was a red mark on his chest that faded into his skin. The Sannin tried to recover as sweat flushed down his face and all the muscles in his arms and chest were still on fire and twitched. The man tried to calm down and breath, but it hurt so much that it almost killed him to move.

There sorcerer stood over the infamous shinobi from a distance, his shadow cast over the criminal while Orochimaru turned to look at the wizard and hissed at him while he tried his best to breathe.

He demanded at the child, "What… Have… You… Done… To… Me?"

"You have been cursed. Consider it a token to remember me, wanker."

Orochimaru said as he forced himself to retreat, "Another time, Naruto-kun… Another time…"

With that said, the Sannin fled into the dark forest and was never heard or seen a second time. The sorcerer did not move until he was sure that Orochimaru would never return. Once he was alone, he too vanished in a flash and returned to Sakura and the wounded Uchiha. The kunoichi cradled Sasuke who seemed to have lost consciousness while he held his head and neck in a fetal state. She had tears run down her face as she worried over him, but then she saw the wizard return. Sakura let Sasuke down for a moment before she stood in front of the sorcerer and held her arms out as she defended her teammate.

"W-W-Where is Naruto?" she demanded while she twitched and shivered.

The sorcerer rested his hand to his chest and said with a calm voice, "He's in here, Sakura Haruno. Let me see Sasuke. He needs medical attention. Don't be so stressed out, I will not harm him."

"N-N-No! You're n-n-not Naruto! Where is Naruto? WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO HIM?"

"Lord knows how much I've wanted to do this…" he breathed out as he withdrew the wand and aimed at her forehead, "Please excuse me, Miss Haruno."

She was about to demand what he was about to do to her but her sentence was cut short, "W-What are-"

"STUPEFY!"

To Be Continued…

There we have it! The sixth chapter! It took me forever to re-write it but I hope the wait was worth it. Again, I'm really sorry that it took me this long, I feel really guilty about it. Fun-fact: I didn't actually know it would be so long once I was done, but I think a long chapter is for the best. You guys deserved an update a whole lot sooner so I decided in the end that I'll give you wonderful readers what you waited for and more. Instead of spitting it into two more chapters.

Azeroth44: Should we come out now or what?

Naruto: Not now! Give him until the next chapter!

Let's see about the differences now... In the previous version, I had Naruto use the same shadow clone he sent to retrieve the Earth scroll to hit him in mid-run with his teammates and make it look like he found the scroll when he was struck down. It was a dumb idea when I think back to it. Meanwhile, Sakura tended to Naruto, our indecisive selfish moron Sasuke checked out some noises he heard and met Karin, like he did in the manga. I decided to change this and make it much better and more action-packed to make up for the other events that I had to cut out from the original Forest of Death arc. I also felt I owed you guys for me taking so long to write this, so there we have it.

I hope it turned out well, if not better than the original version. Be sure to let me know in the reviews. As always, I really appreciate them.

Oh! I should mention that the curse Harry used: Adstingo Malus Serpens means "bind the evil serpent" and Infelicitas Extremus Maxima means "extreme maximum misfortune" these are two unique spells that I created since I never named them in the original fanfic.

See you guys next time! :D