I do not own Naruto or any of it's characters.
Naruto arrived at the training ground and he immediately sensed Orochimaru was here. He spotted him disguised as a ninja for Kusa and had to quickly finish this part of the exam before he could protect Natsumi even though he had a feeling she wasn't his target.
"Alright kiddies welcome to training ground 44." Anko says
"This place looks kinda creepy." Sakura said, shaking.
"It should be. This place is called the forest of death, you'll find out why soon." Anko replied, as they were talking, Natsumi wasn't paying attention so she threw a kunai at her that cut Natsumi's face a bit and then Anko appeared behind her
"My beautiful face! What hell is your problem you crazy bitch?!" Natsumi asked
"People like you are the first to die in this forest." Anko said
"Well, people like you are the first ones to have broken bones if you don't get the fuck off of me!" Natsumi said
Just then Anko felt somebody appear behind her and Natsumi. She pulls out another kunai and holds it up, but a long tongue appears over her shoulder.
"I was just returning your kunai" said a creepy kusa-nin after a brief stare off Anko replies
"Thanks kusa-nin, but don't stand behind me so close unless you want to die quickly." Anko said
"I'm sorry but with the sight of blood and your kunai cutting my hair I couldn't help but get excited. My apologies." The ninja walks away and then Anko returned to the front of the group
"Excitement must be in the air today for a lot of you, but do not let it get you killed. Or let it. I don't really care. Now these are waivers you must sign that say we are not responsible for your death if you die in the forest." She said and gave them to Natsumi
"Why the hell did you give me all of them?" Natsumi asked
"Because you're going to pass them out my little tomato." Anko said and Natsumi's eye twitched
"I'm going to cut this bitch once the exams are over." Natsumi mumbled and took a waiver before passing them to Sakura
"This part of the exam will test your survival skills. This forest has 44 entrance gates and inside there are rivers and in the middle of a forest is a tower ten kilometers from each gate. This part will test your survival skills in an all out battle for these scrolls." She said and pulled out a heaven and earth scroll.
"Scrolls?" Sakura asked
"You'll be fighting to get a heaven and earth scroll. Each team will start with either or and your objective is to collect both scrolls and head to the tower in the middle of the forest. You have 5 days to gather the scrolls if you do not gather the scrolls in 5 days you fail and have to find your own way out of the forest." She said.
"5 days!" Ino exclaimed
"What are we supposed to do about food?!" Choji asked
"Find something in the forest, there's plenty of things to eat in there." Anko said
"That's not all in there. There's also some man eating animals and poisonous plants in there." Kabuto said
"Aww man." Choji said
"Well you're a smart one. How did you know that those were in there?" Anko asked, even though she already knew.
"Well this is my 7th time taking it." He said
"Wow you must suck. Are you sure you're fit to be a ninja?" She asked, purposely pissing him off.
"No, I'm quite content to be a ninja. I'm feeling lucky this time around so I'll be fine." Kabuto said, gritting his teeth at her insult.
"If you say so. Now, I need one person from each team to come grab a scroll for your team and head to your designated gates and wait for the signal to go in. You can also be disqualified if you lose a team member or if you open the scrolls before entering the tower." She said
"What about me? I'm going solo." Naruto said
"Since you're going solo, your task will be a bit more difficult. You have to get both scrolls in the forest before heading to the tower. The idiots who prepared the scrolls didn't make any extras." Anko said
"Get two scrolls. Sounds easy enough." Naruto said
After every team had their scroll and were at their gates a timer went off and Anko spoke.
"Alright, the second part of the exams begins NOW." She exclaims the gates open and all the teams rush into the forest.
As Naruto was running through the forest, he felt two teams around him and decided to strike quickly. He didn't want to waste any time so he created a shadow clone and had it tail the team on his left while he went to the right. He thought of a good plan so he kept high in the trees to ambush them. He wanted to conserve strength just in case. 10 minutes later he came upon a team from Kiri and from their chakra levels, they were pretty weak. Two boys and 1 girl who looked like the leader
"I thought you said the person tailing us would be here." Said the shorter boy of the mist team
"Yeah I want that scroll immediately." The other said
"Shut up, I know whoever it is was following us, but I don't know where they went." The female leader said
"Behind you." A voice said and the next thing they knew, all of them were knocked out.
Naruto began to search them and luck was on his side. He found a heaven scroll on the female ninja and also took the medical supplies they had. His shadow clone came back and brought two earth scrolls. Naruto just looked at the shadow clone with a raised eyebrow.
"What?" Clone Naruto asked
"Why do you have two earth scrolls?" Naruto asked
"I don't know. I thought it would be nice to have two of them." Clone Naruto said
"We only need one. What will we do with the other one?" Naruto asked
"Keep it. Give it to Natsumi. She may need it." Clone Naruto said
"Good idea." Naruto said and released the clone
"So my clone took on another Konoha genin team." Naruto thought and heard a scream
"Hm? That's not Natsumi's scream, but I guess I'll check it out." Naruto said
He ran through the forest at a fast pace in the direction of the scream. When he got there, he saw a red haired girl backed up against a tree with a bear about to tear her to pieces. He was going to kill the bear, but he noticed a scar on the palm of the bear and then he just dropped in front of the girl.
"Hey, buddy. What are you doing?" Naruto asked then the bear relaxed and growled at Naruto
"Come on. You can't eat her. She's innocent." Naruto said and the bear growled again
"Who is that?" The red haired girl thought, as she looked for her glasses
"Look. How about you eat her teammates and let me talk to her? I'll even bring you some fish once the exams are over." Naruto said and the bear seemingly nodded before leaving
"Found them!" The girl said and put her glasses on
"Sup." Naruto said
"U-Uh. H-Hi." The girl said filled with fear
"Don't be scared. If I wanted you dead then I would've let Bosco kill you." Naruto said
"Bosco?" The girl asked
"Oh right. He was the bear that was about to eat you. So, who are you?" Naruto asked
"Karin Uzuma...Karin." Karin said, as she didn't want to reveal her last name
"I'm Naruto Uchiha. It's nice to meet you, Karin Uzumaki." Naruto said and gave her a smile, but she started to hyperventilate
"Oh no! He understood my last name!" Karin thought
"Whoa. Whoa. Easy. I'm not going to hurt you. I understand why you want to keep your last name a secret. Plus, we have another Uzumaki in Konoha. You aren't the last one." Naruto said
"Another Uzumaki?" Karin asked
"Yup. She's my sister." Naruto said
"I thought you were an Uchiha." Karin said
"I am. We have the same father, but different mothers. It's a long story. I'm sure she'd want to meet you." Naruto said
"She can't." Karin said
"Why not?" Naruto asked
"Because since my team is dead, I have to leave the forest. My jonin sensei will take me back to Kusa immediately and I'll have to face punishment for failing the chunin exams." Karin said
"Kusa? Why didn't your parents come to Konoha? That's technically where all Uzumaki are supposed to be." Naruto said
"Really?!" Karin asked and she was filled with hope
"Yeah. I mean from what I've learned before it's destruction, the Uzumaki clan merged with the Senju clan through marriage, which makes you a Konoha citizen." Naruto said
"That must be what my mom meant before she died when she told me to follow the leaves and I'll find the flame. Or something like that." Karin said
"More like where tree leaves dance...one shall find flames." Naruto said
"That's it! How'd you know that saying? It's supposed to be a secret." Karin said
"It's an old saying passed down in Konoha from the first hokage to the third hokage. The actual quote is 'Where tree leaves dance...one shall find flames...the fire's shadow will illuminate the village and once again tree leaves shall bud anew.' I'm guessing she only told you the first part because the leaf village is in the land of fire." Naruto said
"I guess, but I can't exactly leave my village and be safe." Karin said, as she grew depressed
"Why not?" Naruto asked
"Because my village sold me away." Karin said
"They did what?" Naruto asked
"Yeah. They sold me away to Orochimaru. I know why he wants me and I can't get away from him." Karin said
"Why does he want you?" Naruto asked
"Because he's sick and wants to experiment with my healing ability. It's called heal bite and it's self explanatory. Somebody bites me and my chakra will heal them. It's how my mother died. Kusa forced us into their village because my mom revealed that she could use the heal bite ability as well when she healed a stranger in the woods. She was overworked and died from healing too many people. After she died, that responsibility was passed onto me until they sold me to Orochimaru. He placed a tracker seal somewhere on me and he's used it to find me multiple times when I tried to run away." Karin said
"I was going to ask why you had so many bite marks on your arms, but I see why. I can remove the tracker seal for you, but getting you out of here will be difficult since you have large chakra reserves and it'll be easy to detect you." Naruto said
"I can suppress my chakra levels to zero and become undetectable or use my sensing ability to block out all sensors." Karin said and Naruto nodded
"In that case, let's get rid of that tracker seal. Where is it?" Naruto asked
"On the back of my neck." Karin said and moved her hair
"Piece of cake." Naruto said as he went through hand signs and placed his hand on her neck
"I've never heard of an Uchiha being this skilled in fuinjutsu. This tracker seal is atleast a level 5 sealing skill." Karin said and flinched as she felt the seal being removed
"I get my fuinjutsu skills from my dad. He was a master himself." Naruto said
"That makes you unique then." Karin said
"I don't want to brag, but I'm skilled in every aspect of being a ninja." Naruto said and removed his hand
"Sounds like a lie to me." Karin said
"I'm telling the truth. I may be an elite genin in rank, but skill wise I'm low-jonin level." Naruto said
"Then why are you taking the chunin exams?" Karin asked
"Me and my sister wanted to take them together and become a chunin together. I actually turned down a field promotion 3 times." Naruto said
"That's some dedication to your sister." Karin said
"She's the only blood relative I have left." Naruto said
"I guess that's nice. So, how am I getting out of here?" Karin asked
"I'll take you to the tower." Naruto said
"I can't get in. I only have a heaven scroll." Karin said
"I've got two earth scrolls and a heaven scroll. You can have one of the earth scrolls." Naruto said
"Then what?" Karin asked
"I'll take you to the old man." Naruto said
"The old man?" Karin asked
"The hokage." Naruto said
"You call the hokage old man?" Karin asked
"Yeah. He doesn't mind." Naruto said and placed a hand on her shoulder
"That better be the only place your hand touches me." Karin said
"Don't worry. I'm kind of involved with somebody and I'd rather not get hit with her fan." Naruto said and they vanished in a shunshin
Forest of death tower
"Alright. We made it. Record time too." Naruto said
"How long has it been?" Karin asked
"I don't know. Maybe an hour." Naruto said, as they walked into the tower and looked around
"Now what?" Karin asked and Naruto read off a plaque
"If qualities of heaven are your desire, acquire wisdom to take your mind higher. If earthly qualities are what you lack, train your body and prepare to attack. When heaven and earth are opened together, the pairless path will become righteous forever. This something is the secret that guides us from this place today." Naruto said
"What does that even mean?" Karin asked
"Simply put, we need to open the scrolls." Naruto said, as they threw their scrolls after opening them revealing Kakashi and Karin's jonin sensei
"Well, this isn't much of a surprise." Kakashi said
"Karin? Where are your teammates?" Her jonin sensei asked
"They're dead. A bear killed them and I was about to be next until he helped me." Karin said
"Naruto, I thought the purpose was to defeat your enemies and not help them." Kakashi said
"In my defense, I had to deal with Bosco after her teammates killed his mother." Naruto said
"Bosco?" Kakashi asked
"Long story." Naruto said
"Karin, accepting help from the enemy is unacceptable. You have once again shamed the village. Pack your things. We're leaving." Her jonin sensei said
"No." Karin said
"What did you just say?" He jonin sensei asked
"I said no. You and Kusa can kiss my ass. I'm done with that village. I found my real home." Karin said and threw her headband at his feet
"You're not going anywhere. You have your responsibilities to Kusa and until further notice, you will get back to the hotel and pack your shit so we can leave." Her sensei said and when he took a step forward, Naruto had his sword at his neck
"You heard what she said. Now back off." Naruto said
"You want to start a war with our village?" Her jonin sensei asked
"It's a war you'd lose. However, you have two choices. One, you can take Karin back to Kusa and start a war over stealing a shinobi of Konoha and holding her captive. You know exactly what I'm talking about too. Your second choice is to leave now and keep your village standing. Technically we have the right to go to war with your village since you're responsible for the death of her mother." Naruto said
"Don't leave this village if you know what's good for you." Her jonin sensei said and left
"Care to explain?" Kakashi asked
"She's an Uzumaki." Naruto said
"You should go to the hokage." Kakashi said
"I know." Naruto said and vanished with Karin
Hokage office
"Yo! Old man!" Naruto said, as he came in the office with Karin
"Naruto? Aren't you supposed to be taking the chunin exams?" Hiruzen asked
"I finished the second part already. I'm here for business." Naruto said and pushed Karin in front of him
"Who's this?" Hiruzen asked
"I-I'm Karin Uzumaki." Karin said
"Uzumaki? I thought there was only one left." Hiruzen said
"She was forced into Kusa." Naruto said
"My mom died from overusing her heal bite ability. I was responsible for healing everyone in the village after she died. Before she died she told me where tree leaves dance...one shall find flames. I guess I finally found the flames." Karin said
"Yes. During the times of Mito Uzumaki and Hashirama Senju, that was the saying we said for any Uzumaki to use just in case they ever got lost and needed to find sanction in the leaf village. We used that saying because there was a group of people dying their hair red during the third shinobi war to get into Konoha." Hiruzen said
"Can I stay?" Karin asked
"Yes, but you'll have to go on a 3 month probation, as well as a mind walk by Inoichi since you were in a different village. It's only to see if you are here as a spy." Hiruzen said
"Well, I am. Well, I was." Karin said
"Can you elaborate?" Hiruzen asked
"My village sold me to Orochimaru so he could experiment on me later because of my Uzumaki abilities. He said he had some business to take care of in Konoha and I was used to make sure nobody could detect us. He placed a tracker seal on me and used it to find me once when I tried to run away." Karin said
"Business here? He has no business with anybody in the village. Do you have an idea about what it is that he wants?" Hiruzen asked
"Not really. All I know is that he wants the sharingan. He had a guy looking through your files, Naruto." Karin said
"I know. It was Kabuto Yakushi." Naruto said
"I don't think he's after you though. He wants the sharingan and you're already 13, so the chances of you having the sharingan is extremely low." Karin said
"I never said I didn't have the sharingan. I just don't go around flashing it like a dumbass." Naruto said
"Naruto, head back into the forest and protect Sasuke. However, do not let him see your sharingan." Hiruzen said
"You got it, old man." Naruto said and vanished
"Um. What about me?" Karin said
"Cat!" Hiruzen said
"Yes, lord hokage." Cat said, as she appeared
"Take Karin here to Ibiki and Inoichi. Tell them she's the newest member of our village and to give her the usual check up. After that, I want her kept there under heavy anbu surveillance for protection." Hiruzen said
"Yes sir." Cat said
"What about food and stuff?" Karin asked
"They will provide you with everything you need. Since you're not a prisoner, you'll get the good stuff." Hiruzen said
"Sweet." Karin said and left with Cat
"I fear I may be joining the three of you soon. You as well, Biwako." Hiruzen said
Team 7
"Well, that was something." Natsumi said, as they just finished fighting a rain ninja
"It just proves we can't trust appearances. We need a secret code or something to identify ourselves." Sasuke said
"Alright. So, what do you have in mind?" Sakura asked
"Listen closely because I only want to say this once. The question will be, when does a ninja strike? The response is, a ninja waits until the time is right. When the enemy sleeps, it drops its guard. When it's weapons lie forgotten in the stillness of the night. That is the moment for a ninja to strike." Sasuke said
"That's too fucking long in the middle of a fight. Let's keep it simple. How about the question, who is the ice ninja? The answer is simple and we all know who it is." Natsumi said
"I think that's a good idea." Sakura said
"No. How I'll we know if the person has a henge on?" Sasuke asked
"Use your fucking sharingan dipshit! The henge is basically a genjutsu and your sharingan should be able to see through genjutsu, right?" Natsumi asked
"She's got a point." Sakura said
"Fine. Now that we have that over with, you two will follow my lead with no questions asked." Sasuke said
"Excuse me? Who the fuck put you in charge, duckbutt? If anything, I'm the one who should be in charge. You're too emotional and clearly stated you don't care about your teammates. Sakura has the brains, but she's useless in a fight. No offense." Natsumi said
"A lot taken." Sakura said
"Me on the other hand, I'm a combination of brains and the skills to back it up. Plus, I can turn myself into an army to get us out of a tough situation with my shadow clone jutsu." Natsumi said and then something nearly cut her cheek
"What the?" Sakura asked
"What was that?" Natsumi asked and then a huge gust of wind nearly knocked them away revealing the same Kusa ninja from earlier
"Alright. You two go out into the woods and keep your eyes open. I'll handle this alone." The Kusa ninja said to her teammates and they left
"You bitch! You cut my damn cheek!" Natsumi said, as they all got ready to fight
"I'm impressed. That gust of wind should have knocked you away. This will be more fun than I thought." The Kusa ninja said and licked her lips with her long tounge
"This person is too creepy." Sakura thought
"She's the same ninja from earlier that had the stare down with the crazy lady from earlier." Natsumi thought
"You want our earth scroll, don't you? It would go so nice with your heaven scroll." The Kusa ninja said and swallowed the scroll with no problems
"What the hell?" Natsumi thought
"Well, let's begin. When this is over, one of us will have both scrolls and the other will be dead." The Kusa ninja said
"Bring it, bitch." Natsumi said
Naruto
As he was running through the forest, Naruto fought multiple teams and gathered their scrolls. He was losing time for this mission and had to admit that most of these teams had great teamwork, but they were still no match for him. Along the way he passed by Temari and her brothers, but he decided to keep it moving since he had something important to do. He arrived at the scene and saw Sasuke on the ground clutching his neck, Sakura was on the verge of passing out and Natsumi was being held up by a tounge from the same Kusa ninja from earlier. He saw a purple glow on the fingertips of the Kusa nin and recognized it at the five pronged seal jutsu. He figured this was Orochimaru in his disguise, so he activates his Mangekyou after slapping an explosive tag on a tree and switched places with Orochimaru.
"Naruto?" Natsumi asked, as the nine tails chakra stopped flowing in her
"Yeah. You were no match for that person." Naruto said and then his explosive tag went off
"Who is she?" Natsumi asked
"That's not a girl. That's Orochimaru. He's one of the legendary sannin." Naruto said and then they heard an evil laugh
"So, the other Uchiha decides to show his face. You don't possess what I want, but I'll test you to see if you're worthy of my power as well. You want Itachi dead as well, don't you?" Orochimaru asked
"I don't need your power and for the record, I don't give two fucks about what Itachi did to the Uchiha clan." Naruto said
"Interesting. You don't have the sharingan, but I can tell that you are stronger than Sasuke. Let me give you a little test." Orochimaru said
"Natsumi, Sakura. Take Sasuke somewhere safe and leave. I'll catch up with you." Naruto said
"No way. He's too powerful for you." Natsumi said
"I can handle this. Just go. Sasuke's safety is our main priority. I'll keep him distracted." Naruto said
"Don't die." Natsumi said and grabbed Sasuke before leaving with Sakura
"Quite bold of you to challenge me by yourself. A lone genin hopes to defeat one of the legendary sannin." Orochimaru said
"I don't need to defeat you. I just need to buy some time. Now, let's dance." Naruto said
Naruto released his resistance seals and released a lot of chakra which shocked Orochimaru, that a genin who wasn't a jinchuriki had this much chakra. Naruto, taking his moment of shock, knees Orochimaru in the gut and gives him a kick that knocks Orochimaru back into a tree.
"Kukukuku. I'm impressed, Naruto. A mere Genin was able to catch me off guard. Although Sasuke has the Sharingan I will say that you're quite unique and would make a great host for me before Sasuke. I fought him at low chunin speed so I'll try that much against you." Orochimaru said
He took off at low chunin speed however before he could get halfway He felt a fist in his stomach and looked down to see Naruto with a smirk. Naruto pulled out a kunai and tried to cut Orochimaru with it, but he grabbed Naruto's wrist and threw him away.
"Don't underestimate me just because I'm not using the Sharingan. I can still keep up." Naruto said
With that they both blurred away at mid-chunin level and Orochimaru was shocked that Naruto was still keeping up with him every punch that connected against Naruto he got hit as well and it was vice versa so he kicked it up to low jonin and Naruto was still keeping up with him. He knew he couldn't increase his chakra levels no further than what they were at unless the anbu would be on him and he didn't want to deal with them. Orochimaru used his true speed which was kage level and hit Naruto with a straight jab stunning him, grabbed him by the neck and slammed him onto the ground.
"Very impressive. I won't kill you because that would cause alarms. I will simply knock you out and leave you for the animals to kill. Any last words?" Orochimaru asked
"Yeah. Boom." Naruto said
He lifted up his shirt revealing a ton of explosive tags and set them off causing everything within 4 miles to get destroyed.
Team 7
"Do you think it was smart for us to leave Naruto back there?" Sakura asked, as she and Natsumi were in a hiding spot with Sasuke underneath a tree
"We had no choice. Something big is going on and it obviously revolves around Sasuke. Naruto must know what's going on and needs us to get Sasuke away from that guy." Natsumi said
"Who was that?" Sakura asked, as she was patching up Sasuke's wounds
"Naruto said that was Orochimaru." Natsumi said
"One of the legendary sannin?" Sakura asked
"Yeah and he's a pedophile." Natsumi said and Sakura just looked at her
"What makes you say that?" Sakura asked
"Come on, Pinky. Use that big ass head of yours. He's like 50 years old and he bit a 13 year old boy on the neck. That just screams pedophile. He even lifted up my shirt a bit. He tried to steal my innocence." Natsumi said and Sakura couldn't help the chuckle that escaped her
"I guess you're right. I should've known something was wrong when Sasuke couldn't even lay a finger on that guy." Sakura said and then a huge explosion was heard
"What the hell was that?!" Natsumi asked, as she and Sakura fell to the ground
"It sounded like an explosion." Sakura said
"That must've been some jutsu for us to feel the shockwave all the way over her." Natsumi said and Sakura looked at her ankle
"You twisted your ankle." Sakura said
"I know. It happened when we were fighting Orochimaru." Natsumi said
"You twisted your ankle and carried Sasuke all the way over here?" Sakura asked
"Yeah. It's no big deal." Natsumi said
"Natsumi, we traveled like 5 miles. Let me take a look at it." Sakura said
"I'll be fine, Sakura." Natsumi said
"Just let me take a look at it. Naruto gave me this medical ninjutsu book and I might be able to help." Sakura said and Natsumi sighed
"Fine. No funny business." Natsumi said and removed her ninja sandal
"Well, from what I can tell it's not broken, but it's swollen. I can wrap it up for you, but you should take it easy the next couple of days." Sakura said and wrapped her ankle
"That just means we have to head straight for the tower when Sasuke wakes up." Natsumi said
"We can't. We still have to find an earth scroll." Sakura said
"No, we don't." Natsumi said and pulled out an earth scroll
"Where did you get that?" Sakura asked
"I didn't realize I had it until a few minutes ago. Naruto must've given it to me before we left without me noticing." Natsumi said
"Let's rest up for a few hours and then head to the tower then. Sasuke's still out and your ankle is still swollen." Sakura said
"Fine. You'll have to be on the lookout then. Even though it's not much." Natsumi said and smirked
"Better than what you can do right about now." Sakura said
"Bite me." Natsumi said
"No thanks." Sakura said and they shared a laugh
"This is the longest we've gone without arguing. It feels weird." Natsumi said
"It does feel a bit weird." Sakura said
"Tell me about it." Natsumi said
"Do you think we could ever be friends like Naruto said after our wave mission?" Sakura asked
"We were friends before, but your mother ruined our friendship." Natsumi said
"She did?" Sakura asked
"Yeah. I'm surprised you don't remember. Me, you and Ino were playing at the park when your mom showed up and told you to stay away from me because I was a monster. Ever since that day, you never spoke to me again unless it was to insult me just so you could fit in." Natsumi said
"Why would she call you a monster and make me stay away from you?" Sakura asked
"I can't tell you. Not yet atleast." Natsumi said
"Why not?" Sakura asked
"Because we have people coming toward us. Three of them to be exact and they're not friendly." Natsumi said
"I'll set up a few traps. Stay right here." Sakura said and quietly snuck out
Bushes
"I found you. As Orochimaru ordered, we'll wait for daybreak to do it. Remember, our target is none other than Sasuke Uchiha." A boy wrapped in bandages said
"Yeah, but if the other two get involved, it's okay to kill them, right?" Another boy asked
"Of course." The man said
Team 7
"I set the traps with the little supplies I had left. It's not much, but it should at least help us." Sakura said
"It's something at least. We should probably rest up." Natsumi said
"We can't. The enemy might attack any minute." Sakura said
"It's the middle of the night. They can't attack us because they can't see us. This gives us a few hours before the sunrises. Thanks to Kakashi-Sensei, I've got used to waking up an hour or two before the sunrises. I'll wake you up when it's about 20 minutes before sunrise." Natsumi said
"What about Sasuke?" Sakura asked and they looked at him
"I don't think he's waking up anytime soon. Whatever Orochimaru did to him really messed him up. It's like he's in a coma." Natsumi said
"I really wish Naruto was here right now. Do you think he's alright?" Sakura asked
"One thing about my brother is that he can get out of any problem in an instant. I don't know how he does it, but it's really cool." Natsumi said
"I've been meaning to ask you about that. Why do you call him your brother?" Sakura asked
"Because he's my brother. We have the same dad, but different moms. At first I didn't know we were related, but I was always telling him he was like my brother. Turns out he knew all along that we were related, but couldn't tell me due to certain circumstances surrounding our father and my mother." Natsumi said
"Is that why he was always so protective of you?" Sakura asked
"Yeah. He's been protecting me since I was five. He's only taking the chunin exams because we want to become chunin together." Natsumi said
"He's a good person. I've never seen him get angry except the day we became a team." Sakura said
"Yeah. It's like we're polar opposites. I'm the hothead and he's the calm one." Natsumi said
"That's the truth. We should get some sleep." Sakura said
"Yeah. Goodnight." Natsumi said
"Goodnight." Sakura said
Next day
"Sakura, wake up." Natsumi said
"Mmm. What is it?" Sakura asked
"It's time to wake up." Natsumi said
"Huh? Oh yeah. Man, I slept great. Kind of a bummer that I can't sleep some more." Sakura said
"The sooner our guests are dealt with, the sooner we can make it to the tower. It's only been a day, so if everything goes well, we should be able to make it to the tower before nightfall." Natsumi said
"What about your ankle?" Sakura asked
"I'll be fine. It's a bit stiff, but once I get moving, it'll feel better." Natsumi said
"Some hiding spot you have. At least you don't have to wait for us to show up anymore. Wake Sasuke up. We want to fight him." A boy wrapped in bandages said
"What do you want with him? What is it that you're after? I know Orochimaru is calling the shots from the shadows." Sakura said and that threw the three sound genin for a loop
"Huh?!" All three of them said
"What's that strange bruise on the back of Sasuke's neck? You're behind this, aren't you? Now you want to fight him when he can't defend himself." Sakura said
"I can't stay quiet after that. First I'm gonna kill the girl and then I'll kill Sasuke." The other boy said
"Wait, Zaku." The bandage boy said
"Huh? What is it?" Zaku asked
"It's the color of dirt that's just been dug up. This grass doesn't grow in a place like this. You know, if you're going to lay a trap, the least you could do is make it so it can't be discovered." Bandage boy said
"You're just a joke. You threw your kunai so that the squirrel wouldn't be caught in the trap." Zaku said
"Now we can kill her." The trio jumped at her, but Sakura cut some ninja wired and a giant log came at them
"A log?!" Zaku said and bandage boy destroyed the log
"Nice try, little girl. You clearly have no talent as a ninja. Someone like you needs to make more of an effort. Don't you think so?" Bandage boy asked as they were closing in on Sakura
Leaf hurricane
All of a sudden, the trio of sound genin were kicked away by Rock Lee
"Looks like you also need to make more of an effort." Lee said
"Who are you?" Bandage boy asked
"I am the beautiful blue beast of the leaf village, Rock Lee." Lee said
"Why are you here, Lee?" Sakura asked
"I will always appear anytime and anywhere you are in trouble, my dear Sakura." Lee said
"Hey." A voice said and everyone looked up to see Naruto
"Naruto!" Sakura exclaimed
"Another leaf village scum. Dosu, let me kill this one as well." Zaku said
"They're dropping in like flies. I can careless about what you do with him." Dosu said
"I'll give you three seconds before me and my sister embarrass you." Naruto said
"You're all by yourself." The female sound ninja said
"Look behind you." Naruto said and she turned around to Natsumi standing there with a smile on her face
"Hello." Natsumi said and knocked her out with a single punch
"How did she move so quickly on a twisted ankle? It was swollen a few minutes ago." Sakura thought
"Why are you here?" Naruto asked
"We want to fight the Uchiha." Dosu said
"Sasuke is clearly unable to fight right now. However, I can take his place if you'd like." Naruto said as he dropped in front of them
"You're a waste of our time. We said we wanted the Uchiha and not some random kid with a mask." Zaku said
"I can assure you that I'm not some random kid with a mask." Naruto said and activated his sharingan
"Another Uchiha. What the hell is going on?" Dosu asked
"You leaf ninja just keep appearing out of nowhere. Oh well. More people for me to play with." Zaku said and pointed his hands at Naruto
"Zaku wait." Dosu said, but it was to late he had already pointed his hands at Naruto
Decapitating airwaves
He blew a strong gust of wind at Naruto who didn't move and got hit by the blast.
"NARUTO." Yelled Sakura, Rock Lee and Natsumi
However a gust of wind blew the smoke away revealing Naruto who was standing there with his arms crossed.
"Is that all you can do?" Naruto asked and Zaku got pissed
"No this is." Zaku said
He was about to do another jutsu but his arm had a kunai lodged in where the air came out and he got a kick to the side of the head. He was knocked out by Naruto which put Dosu on edge at how easily he did it. Nobody saw him move except for Neji who was hiding up in a tree with TenTen and he barely saw him due to his Byakugan being activated.
"He's fast." Neji thought
"He's almost as fast as me without my weights on." Lee thought
The other sound ninja both were shocked by how easy it was for Naruto to defeat Zaku. He wanted to attack, but before he could move, Naruto and Natsumi were standing in front of him with a kunai pointed right at his face. Dosu looked around and saw nothing that could help him since both of his teammates were knocked out.
"Any last words?" Natsumi asked
"Wait. I give up." Dosu said
"Smart choice of words, mummy man." Natsumi said
"H-Here. Take our scroll." Dosu said
"We don't need your scroll. Fuck off before I change my mind." Natsumi said and Dosu grabbed both of his teammates before quickly leaving
"You can come down now." Naruto said and Neji dropped down with TenTen
"Naruto, are you okay? You look a mess." Sakura said
"I'll be fine. How are you two doing?" Naruto asked
"I'm fine, but Natsumi twisted her ankle." Sakura said
"I'm fine." Natsumi said
"Trust her. She's fine. She has a unique healing ability." Naruto said
"Really? It must be some kind of kekkei genkai then." Sakura said
"Yeah. You can say that." Naruto said
"Excuse me, Naruto." Lee said
"Yeah." Naruto said
"Please have a spar with me." Lee said
"No." Naruto said
"Why not?" Lee asked
"Because if you're anything like Might Guy, then I know exactly how you fight and why any other genin other than myself would lose to you." Naruto said
"Neji can beat him. He's done it plenty of times." TenTen said
"I can assure you that Neji has not beaten Lee when he's going all out." Naruto said
"How do you know?" TenTen asked
"Because Lee is a genius of hard work and it's hard to find somebody who trains harder than him." Naruto said and then a sinister chakra was felt in the area
"W-What is that?" Sakura asked
"I've never felt something so evil before." Natsumi said
"Looks like our teammate finally decided to wake up." Naruto said
"Yeah, but that chakra. It's evil." Sakura said, as Sasuke came from the hiding spot covered in black marks
"This power he gave me. I can feel it growing stronger every second that passes." Sasuke said, as he looked around and saw everybody moving back from the sinister chakra except Naruto who just stood there.
"He looks creepy." Natsumi said
"Naruto, I want to test this new power out against you." Sasuke said with a cruel smile and activated his sharingan with 1 tomoe in his right eye and 2 in his left eye. The others are about to step in, but Naruto holds his hand out at them.
"Stay out of this. It'll be over soon." Naruto said
He motions for Sasuke to come at him which he obliged. Due to his curse mark, Sasuke's speed increased to mid chunin and every punch or kick he threw at Naruto was dodged easily. Naruto gave him a strong jab to the face which made Sasuke stumble backwards holding onto his face. Before Sasuke could react, Naruto put him in a chokehold until he passed and the black markings on his face receded.
"What was that?" Natsumi asked
"We'll talk about it later. Let's go." Naruto said
"Wait. You don't think we're going to let you go freely, do you? We want your heaven scroll." Neji said
"Do you honestly think you can beat us? Well, we know you can beat Pinky, but do you honestly think you can beat me and Naruto?" Natsumi asked
"I am fated to win against the two of you." Neji said
"Then do it." Naruto said from behind him and his eyes went wide
"My Byakugan couldn't even keep track of him." Neji thought
"I'm waiting." Naruto said and put a kunai to his neck
"Neji, stop. Let's just get a scroll off of somebody else." TenTen said
"Fine. You're lucky." Neji said and Naruto lowered his kunai
"If you say so. Sakura, Natsumi, let's go." Naruto said and grabbed Sasuke as they jumped into the trees
Forest tower
"We made it." Sakura said, as she was breathing heavily
"You really should start training more." Naruto said
"Shut up. Just because the two of you are freaks of nature doesn't mean you can rub it in." Sakura said
"I wasn't, but okay." Naruto said
"What do we do now?" Natsumi asked
"Open the scrolls." Naruto said
"I don't think that's a smart idea." Sakura said
"Yeah. We ran into a group that opened their scroll and they were knocked out." Natsumi said
"You couldn't open them in the forest. It's okay to open them here. I've already done it." Naruto said
"Really? How long did it take for you to complete the second part?" Sakura asked
"I don't know. Maybe an hour. If that. I found two teams quickly and took them out. It helps that I've been in this forest plenty of time growing up." Naruto said
"Are you sure we're supposed to open the scrolls?" Sakura asked
"Done." Natsumi said and opened the scrolls then threw them
"Natsumi!" Sakura said
"Hey. It's been a long time." Iruka said, trying to make a cool entrance
"If that was your idea of a cool entrance, then you need more work. You suck." Natsumi said and Iruka deflated
"Iruka-sensei?" Sakura asked
"It appears you guys have gone through a lot." Iruka said
"Will you hurry up and stop wasting time? We have something to do." Naruto said
"Right. At the end of the second test, we chunin are supposed to welcome the test takers. I just happened to get the important task of being the messenger for you guys. It's only been one day and you've already made it. Congratulations on surviving the second exam." Iruka said
"If we had looked at the scrolls in the middle of the exam, what were you going to do, Iruka-sensei?" Sakura asked
"Well, the point of the second exam was to test you mission execution ability. I'm the case of the scrolls being opened contrary to the rules, I would have had to knock you out. Some ninja found that out the hard way." Iruka said
"Then I guess it's a good thing we didn't open those scrolls. I wouldn't want to embarrass you, Iruka-sensei. It would be a shame if a genin knocked out somebody who has been a chunin for many years." Natsumi said
"Iruka-sensei, what does that mean on the wall?" Sakura asked and pointed to the plaque
"They're chunin instructions lord hokage recorded for us to follow. Heaven stands for your mind and earth for your body. If qualities of heaven are your desire aquire wisdom to take your mind higher. Get it?" Iruka asked
"This is taking too long. You wonder why I barely showed up to class. Your voice puts me to sleep. We need to go. Like right now." Naruto said and picked Sasuke up off the ground
"What happened to him?" Iruka asked
"Naruto choked his ass out." Natsumi said as Iruka looked at Sakura
"What she said." Sakura told him
"Just one more thing before you go." Iruka said
"Nope." Naruto said and vanished
Hokage office
"Do you mind explaining why your teammate is unconscious in my office?" Hiruzen asked, as he was looking at Naruto and an unconscious Sasuke
"I choked his ass out." Naruto said
"I see. What happened?" Hiruzen asked
"Orochimaru got to him before I could get there." Naruto said and showed him the curse mark
"We need to take him out of the exams." Anko said
"We can't. With Orochimaru here, he'd know we were onto him. Sasuke must remain in the chunin exams. I'll have Kakashi seal it away after his match." Hiruzen said
"There's a huge problem we face." Naruto said
"What is it?" Hiruzen asked
"Sasuke already used the power of the curse mark. He's going to use it again even if you seal it away. I know what type of seal Kakashi is going to use and Sasuke will do anything to get power." Naruto said
"I'm sure Sasuke will be able to overcome this." Hiruzen said
"I don't mean to be rude, but you're being too naive right now, lord hokage." Naruto said and that threw everyone for a loop since he only calls him old man
"Yup. He's pissed." Anko thought
"I assure you I am not being naive." Hiruzen said
"That's bullshit and you know it. Sasuke was already a flight risk the moment he woke up from his coma after the Uchiha massacre. This village coddled him and gave him whatever he wanted. He's obsessed with killing Itachi and will do anything to do it even if he has to betray the village. A simple seal won't do the job. This curse mark puts you in a lose-lose situation." Naruto said
"How so?" Hiruzen asked
"The only way to keep Sasuke from leaving, is to fill him up with every single jutsu, boosting his ego and basically encouraging his desire to kill Itachi for revenge. You don't do that and he leaves the village to join Orochimaru which will most likely result in somebody having to kill him. In other words, we're fucked." Naruto said
"You should have more faith in Sasuke to do the right thing." Hiruzen said
"I have as much faith in Sasuke doing the right thing, as you do with Danzo doing the right thing." Naruto said and everyone could feel the tension in the room
"That was a bit too far." Anko said
"It's the truth. He knows I'm right deep down, but refuses to admit it." Naruto said
"That's enough. Sasuke will remain in the exams and Kakashi will proceed with the sealing process in a few days after his match. You're dismissed." Hiruzen said
"Fine. You're the hokage." Naruto said and vanished
"Anko. Tell Kakashi to meet me here. I want you to make sure everything is prepared for the next part of the exams." Hiruzen said
"Yes sir." Anko said and vanished
Naruto
After his talk with Hiruzen, Naruto went to the training room in the tower to blow off some steam. He didn't talk to anybody along the way and it made everyone worried. Natsumi, Sakura and Temari all tried to talk to him, but they were ignored as he wasn't in the mood right now. He sealed the room off from everyone to work on his ninjutsu, taijutsu, medical ninjutsu, shuriken jutsu and his fuinjutsu. He was brought to a stop by the arrival of Tatsu.
"What's up, Tatsu?" Naruto asked
"I come with good news." Tatsu said
"What is it?" Naruto asked
"The elders of the clan will allow you to begin training with us. They said you are far stronger than your mom was when she was your age and you can train with us now. You won't learn everything, but you'll learn a technique or two." Tatsu said
"Seriously? I'm going to be trained by the strongest dragon?" Naruto asked
"Who do you think the strongest dragon is?" Tatsu asked
"Lady Catalina." Naruto said and Tatsu shook her head
"She may be the boss summons, but she's not the strongest dragon." Tatsu said
"Then who is?" Naruto asked
"An elder named Ra. He sealed himself away many many years ago as he once said that the one who has the knowledge of his ritual will be able to summon him." Tatsu said
"Who has the knowledge to summon him?" Naruto asked
"Nobody. Our elders along with lady Catalina have searched everywhere and they were unable to locate anything. He's who they call on for a major battle that lady Catalina knows she can't win. We were lucky that he hasn't been needed ever since he sealed himself away, but our elders fear that we will need him in the near future." Tatsu said
"How do they expect us to call on him when we can't even unseal him?" Naruto asked
"I don't know. I'm just the messenger. Anyway, they want to start training you in maybe a week or so for about a month and then they'll see how you do before moving on." Tatsu said
"Well, I'm in the middle of the chunin exams. I'll have to come when I'm finished." Naruto said
"I'll let them know." Tatsu said and left
"I've got four days left until the second part is over. I'll just rest up for those days." Naruto said and when he left the room, Natsumi and Sakura were waiting for him
"So, this is where you've been." Sakura said
"Yeah." Naruto said
"You sealed the room, didn't you?" Natsumi asked
"Yeah. Can't have people spying on me." Naruto said
"I'm your teammate and sister. I think I should be able to train with you." Natsumi said
"You're also a potential opponent in these chunin exams." Naruto said and she pouted
"Naruto, have you seen Sasuke since you left with him?" Sakura asked
"He's in his room right now. He's probably wondering how he got there." Naruto said
"I'll go and check on him." Sakura said
"No. You need to stay away from him right now." Naruto said
"Why? He's our teammate." Sakura said
"Sakura, I'm more of a teammate than Sasuke and I'm barely with you guys. Right now he's really dangerous." Naruto said
"Is it because of that mark on his neck? Is it making him evil?" Sakura asked
"I'll be blunt. Sasuke has always been evil and nobody other than a few have noticed it. The curse mark doesn't make somebody evil, it just gives them a huge power boost. If Sasuke were to attack you, he's fully aware of what he's doing and out of love for his mom who was basically my aunt, I'd rather not have to kill him. That's why I'm saying stay away from him. Since he's gotten a taste of that power in the forest of death, there's no doubt that he'll want to have it again." Naruto said
"What about the chunin exams? If he's a risk right now, shouldn't he be removed?" Natsumi asked
"You'll have to ask the hokage about that. However, it's pointless because I've already tried to talk to him as did Anko." Naruto said
"Well, if I have to fight him I'll just knock some sense into him." Natsumi said
"If he uses that mark, you'll have to be able to counter it. Right now, he completely outclasses you with that mark." Naruto said
"Then I'll just have to get stronger." Natsumi said
"You do that." Naruto said and walked away
"We were about to go get something to eat in the food area. How about you join us?" Sakura asked
Naruto sighed and decided to join them since he knew they wouldn't leave him alone. As they were walking away, Naruto silently threw a kunai towards the wall where he felt somebody was watching them. As they walked away, there was a chuckle from the shadows revealing Iwaji disguised as a sand Konoha genin.
"Son of Minato Namikaze. I can't wait for us to meet and watch you die at my feet." Iwaji said and then sunk into the wall