Gratitude

"This is the place?"

"My clone saw them here," Naruto confirmed. "They had a camp here. Guess they moved."

Sasuke looked around. There were clear signs that someone had camped under the roots. The grass was flattened and there were also some fresh drops of blood on the ground. Did another team attack them? That would be unfortunate, but he couldn't see any signs of a battle taking place here. There was a chance that they had noticed the shadow clone. Or it was simply bad timing and they had decided to change position for unrelated reasons.

"Look!", Naruto called for their attention. "Footprints!"

Sasuke and Sakura quickly joined him. Their teammate was right. They weren't very pronounced on the hard, dry forest ground, but still clearly visible once one paid attention to them. There was an issue though.

"It's just one set," Sakura voiced the very thing he was thinking. "Where are the other two?"

"Maybe the others are better at covering their tracks? Nah, that doesn't make much sense, huh?" Naruto shrugged.

"It really doesn't," Sasuke agreed. "But we shouldn't waste too much time. It hasn't been long since your clone spotted them, so they can't be far. We will follow the tracks. Naruto, make groups of three shadow clones and transform them into us so each group makes a copy of our team. Send one team following the tracks ahead of us so that if this is a trap, they spring it for us. Send the others in different directions in case the footprints are a diversion."

"Got it!"

Naruto did as asked and they followed Sasuke's plan to the letter, chasing after the tracks with the dupe team acting as bait ahead of them. Nothing happened though. After a while, Naruto suddenly got memories from the shadow clones.

"They stopped," he announced and just a couple of seconds later, they had caught up to their target. It was indeed a group of three, two boys and a girl, all wearing headbands from Grass.

The first boy wore green, with black hair peeking out under his bandana. He also had a sword strapped to his back. The other had brown hair, a grey scarf, and a blue jacket. Both boys seemed maybe two or three years older than Team 7. The girl, on the other hand, looked close to them in age, her most defining features being her glasses and her flame-red hair.

The girl stood hunched over with her hands on her knees, panting heavily.

"You're not seriously out of breath already!" the boy with the scarf reprimanded her.

"I'm… sor-… sorry…" she panted teary-eyed, almost unable to get the words out.

"If you're sorry, get your shit together!"

"Calm down, Wara," the boy with the sword interjected. "If someone hears us, we're in trouble."

"Am I wrong, Shigeri?" the first boy, Wara, asked his teammate in a quieter voice. "We barely moved from our original position, we're never going to find another team like this. Do we now have to carry her or what?"

They didn't seem to have the best team dynamic, to put it lightly. Though to be honest, this 'Wara' guy didn't seem completely wrong. Their old camp wasn't far away, the girl shouldn't be this exhausted from this distance. She seemed more heavily armored than the other two, a full-body mesh armor visible under her clothes, but it couldn't possibly encumber her that much.

"Well?" Naruto whispered quietly. "What are we waiting for?"

"Not yet," Sasuke stopped him. Naruto was right, now would be a good time to attack them while they were still distracted, but Sasuke still couldn't shake the feeling of this being a trap. They seemed too oblivious, and the singular set of footprints…

Suddenly, the girl's head jerked up and turned. He immediately recognized the reaction, it was one of the things Tanya-sensei had drilled into him.

"Sensor!" he quickly hissed before she was fully looking in their direction, notifying his team that stealth was now pointless. He rose from his cover and threw two handfuls of shuriken in their direction before she could warn the others. The boy with the sword - Shigeri - noticed them, pushed Wara to the side, and drew his sword to block the attack, but that wouldn't be enough. Guiding two of the shuriken on chakra threads he made them curve. One buried itself in Wara's arm, the other got stuck in the girl's leg - although it couldn't penetrate the mesh armor fully. The redhead gave off a startled shriek and fell to the ground. But the relevant part was that all three got hit in some way or the other. His Sharingan had also shown that all three were real, but it was good to have another confirmation. His first suspicion - born from the single pair of footprints - that this was a Genjutsu was therefore out of the window.

While all of that was happening, Naruto had created two new shadow clones that charged at their opponents.

"Shit!" Shiregi cursed. "Take her and go!"

Sasuke gave Naruto a wordless look. His teammate nodded. He created two more shadow clones while Sasuke and Sakura jumped into the air. The clones raised their palms for them to land in and from there, the two leaped again with a chakra-charged jump. Simultaneously, the clones expelled chakra as well and the two got catapulted through the air, flew above their opponents, and landed in the exact right spot to cut off their escape route. They were about to engage Wara and the girl - who had started crying for some reason - but once they got closer, Sakura suddenly let out a surprised gasp and jumped backward. Confused, Sasuke stopped, but then quickly followed her while running through a set of hand signs.

'Katon: Kakabe no Jutsu!' [Fire Release: Fire Wall Jutsu]

He spewed a stream of flames that hit the ground before them, expanding into a wide wall separating them from their opponents to prevent them from capitalizing on the moment.

"Sakura, what's wrong?"

"Sorry, I just got surprised," she quickly apologized. "That girl's chakra… can't you see it?"

"I can see that she has more than the others, but it otherwise seems normal," he answered, keeping his eyes focused to make sure the two didn't try to escape on either side of the fire.

"Not just 'more'," Sakura corrected. "Her reserves are insane, she has more than even Naruto! Well, at least Naruto without… you-know-what."

"Really? How much more?" he inquired. While his eyes allowed him to see the chakra flow, they didn't give him a very detailed picture while it was still in the body. Only when chakra was used could he see it clearly.

"A LOT more. But that shouldn't be a problem if we are careful, as I said, I just got surprised."

"Okay, then let's go!"

Each of them ran to one edge of the wall of flames. A few seconds later the jutsu ended and the flames disappeared. At the same time, Shigeri came flying and landed next to his team. He coughed heavily and didn't get up again, seemingly having gotten a bad hit from Naruto. With their new positions, Team 7 now formed a triangle around the opposing trio to make sure there was no escape for them.

But then, something unexpected happened. The girl, still with tears in her eyes, looked between Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura in a panic and crouched down, holding out her arm. Shigeri grabbed it and… bit her? At the same time, Wara did the same with her other arm. Sasuke could see chakra flowing out of the redhead into her teammates. Shigeri then jumped up again, seemingly well, and the deep cut in Wara's arm was suddenly healed. Was that a form of medical ninjutsu? Sasuke had never seen anything like that. But the healing was incredibly quick, and if she had as much chakra as Sakura said, then she could do this often.

"Take out the girl first!" he ordered his teammates. The fear in the girl's eyes became pure terror upon hearing that. Sakura immediately began weaving hand signs while he pulled out a set of kunai, made them hover with his chakra threads, and hauled off to launch them.

"Wait!"

Naruto's unexpected call brought the battlefield to a screeching halt. Confused, they looked over to their teammate. Flanked by two of his shadow clones, Naruto held a pouch in one hand and an 'Earth' scroll in the other. Confused, Shiregi reached for his hip.

"What the… you bastard, when did you-"

"Calm down, we got 'Earth' as well," he stated.

Sasuke threw a suspicious look at their opponents. While unlikely considering their behavior, it was still possible that they had both scrolls already.

Seemingly coming to the same conclusion as him, the girl suddenly grabbed Wara's pouch, tore it off his belt, and showed Sasuke the contents with a pleading look.

"Hey! What do you think you are doing?!" he yelled and took it back but Sasuke had already seen what was in there, and more importantly, what wasn't. The girl meanwhile didn't seem to have a pouch on her, which was odd. Not even a leg sheath, and the jacket didn't have pockets either. That was just reckless. Using his enhanced vision he gave all of them one more close look, but he couldn't see any bulges that would hint at a scroll hidden under their clothes.

"Understanding your situation better than you," Sasuke sighed and guided the kunai back into his satchel. Sakura dropped her fighting stance as well.

"So y-you'll leave u-us alone?" the red-haired girl begged.

"Wait, hang on!" Wara interjected. "You attacked us out of nowhere, and now you just want to pretend that nothing happened?"

"Got a better idea?" Sasuke responded, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "None of us have anything to gain from a fight, we would just pointlessly waste energy. Something you should be specifically wary of considering your team tactic seems to be a war of attrition."

"I mean, technically it's not 'nothing'," Sakura chimed in. "A second scroll can be a bargaining chip, plus it would reduce the number of teams who can pass."

Naruto, who had gotten closer to the Grass team, crossed his arms and tilted his head.

"I guess… but that sounds kinda shitty."

"I'm just saying," the pinkette answered with a shrug, but Sasuke shook his head.

"Well, 'shittiness' aside, it would also give them a reason to chase and attack us. And I don't see how reducing the number of teams who can pass helps us. I agree there is an argument to be had, but I don't think it's worth it to take the scroll."

"Yup, same." With that, Naruto went over to the grass team and, sporting his trademark grin, presented the scroll to the girl who, eyes still red from crying, gave him a puzzled look.

"So… you gonna take it?"

She blinked a couple of times, but by the time she slowly extended her hand, Shigeri had already taken it, giving him an angry look in the process. Naruto raised an eyebrow, but then he shrugged.

"So, what's your name?"

The girl gave him another confused look.

"Huh? M-me?"

"Yeah, I heard these two call each other Shigeri and Wara, but I didn't get your name. I'm Naruto!"

The girl blushed, but Shigeri answered before she could.

"Why would you care?"

"Sheesh, calm down! We just said we have no reason to fight."

"That doesn't suddenly make us friends!"

"Why not?"

Wara now also stepped closer. The girl attempted to say something, but he stopped her.

"Um, I-I'm…"

"Because - Shut up! - because she belongs to us and is none of your business."

"If that's the case, she can tell me that herself!"

"We are telling it to you," Shigeri insisted, "so mind your own business, you twerp."

"This 'twerp' just took you out with one hit," Naruto reminded him. "Without her, both of you would still be eating dust, so why do you treat her like that? Isn't she your teammate?"

"She-"

Sasuke noticed the body flying in their direction and readied himself. Moments later, the dull impact on the ground interrupted Shigeri. Heads turned, and when the dust settled, they saw a bespectacled boy with silver hair lying on the ground. His face was twisted in pain, and his hand clutched a heavily bleeding wound in his abdomen.

"Kabuto!" Naruto called and ran over. Sasuke and Sakura joined him. It was indeed Kabuto, the boy from the Leaf's Genin Corps whom they had met at the start of the exam, and who apparently had just fallen out of one of the trees. Sakura quickly knelt down next to him, trying to heal his wound. Naruto then pulled out a 'ketsu'-tag and created a momentary barrier, shielding them from a barrage of shuriken that came from above.

Realizing that they lost the initiative, three figures landed a bit in the distance. All three wore headbands with the Sand sigil. One of them, a boy in a fern-colored, thickly padded shirt, stepped forth.

"Step aside, this doesn't concern you!"

"You didn't seem to have that opinion two seconds ago," Sasuke pointed out. The Sand Ninja merely scoffed.

"Don't act like some great moralizer. He has a scroll, we want his scroll. End of story. That's how this test works, in case you forgot!"

"He might die like this!" Naruto countered. "At least let Sakura heal him!"

"I can't."

The short sentence coming from behind them threw Naruto off.

"Huh?"

"I can't heal him," Sakura reiterated solemnly. "I only know the basics. His wound is far too severe, this is beyond my abilities. I could treat the cut, but not the internal damage."

"See?" the Sand Genin said with a grin. "He's basically dead already, so why the fuss? Just let us get what we earned, or we'll take your scroll, too!"

"Taking our scroll, huh?" Sasuke's eyes narrowed, his Sharingan flaring to life. "Funny, I just had a similar thought."

Next to him, Naruto cracked his knuckles.

"Same here."

Sakura stood up and stepped next to them

"Count me in."


Karin watched as Naruto and his team attacked the Sand Ninja. Why had a boy who didn't even know her been so friendly with her? No one but her parents had ever been this way with her. Well, maybe it was because he didn't know her.

On the ground, the silver-haired boy coughed, blood running out of his mouth. They had said he would like this. She didn't know him, but considering the Leaf sigil on his forehead and how they had talked about him, he seemed to be Naruto's comrade. The way he was laying on the ground, writhing in pain… he reminded her of… of…

Suddenly, Shigeri grabbed her wrist.

"Come on, what are you waiting for? This is our chance to get away!"

Unsure what to do, Karin's gaze wandered between him and Kabuto.

"What? Don't tell me you want to save him! Your healing belongs to Grass, no one else! He doesn't concern us!"

"B-but-"

"No buts! Now come!"

He pulled her with him. Karin tried to resist, but Shigeri was much stronger than her.

'Futon: Toppa!' [Wind Release: Breakthrough]

He suddenly let go of her and she fell on her butt, the sand ninja's stray wind attack not meant for them hitting the ground between them. Dust got blown up and she quickly scrambled to her feet, hurrying over to the silver-haired boy.

"Bite me! Quick!" She told him and held her wrist before his mouth. Kabuto, barely conscious, gave her a confused look.

"I can heal you! You need to bite me and suck!"

He seemed still bewildered but nodded and did as ordered. His bite hurt, but not as much as it usually did. He was much gentler than the ninja of the Hidden Grass Village. It didn't take long until the bleeding stopped. His wound wasn't fully healed yet, but she knew from experience that he would recover soon. Her moment of relief was cut short though as Shigeri stood in front of her again, visibly angry.

"What the hell do you think you are doing?!" he scolded her. He was about to grab her again but then, Naruto suddenly was next to them, slamming the face of one of the Sand Genin into the ground. His takedown had enough force behind it to crack the dry soil. Shigeri startled and jumped back, stumbled, and fell down. The Sand Ninja, while still breathing, seemed unconscious. Naruto stood up. When he noticed Karin and Kabuto next to him, his eyes grew wide.

"Woah! Did you heal him?"

Karin tried to answer, but for some reason, her heart beat so fast she couldn't form a word and simply nodded instead. Before she could do anything else, Naruto closed the distance between them and pulled her into a hug.

"Nice one! You're amazing!"

She could feel her face getting hot. She tried to say something, but none of the stuttering sounds that left her mouth came even close to something that could be called a word.

"I concur. 'Amazing' is indeed an apt description."

Kabuto, fully conscious again, sat up. Naruto let go of her.

"That was an incredible feat. You just saved my life, I can't possibly thank you enough."

"How did you do that?" The pink-haired girl asked. Karin hadn't noticed her and the other boy approach, but it seemed like they had already dealt with the other two Sand Ninja. "And where did you learn that jutsu? Can anyone learn that?"

Once again, she had no idea what to say. Her cursed ability had never been treated as anything but a matter of course, and certainly never with this level of admiration.

"It, um, i-it is…"

"...a secret of the Hidden Grass Village," Wara interrupted her. "Be thankful she showed it to you."

"Now now, no need to be so hostile," Kabuto said with a smile. "As I said, you just saved my life. Let me make it up to you."

"You got nothing to give to us, Leaf Ninja!"

"Oh? You already got both scrolls then?"

Shigeri's and Wara's silence told him everything he needed to know.

"To reiterate, let me repay my debt. This isn't my first Chūnin exam, I know some tricks. I can help you get the scroll."

He then turned his head and looked up at the black-haired boy in Naruto's team.

"I would make the same offer to you, but it seems a bit too late for that," he said, nodding at the 'Heaven' scroll in his hand. They probably got it from the Sand Ninja.

"Yeah, we're good," Naruto affirmed. "Glad that you made it."

"Thank you, Naruto."

"But how did these guys get you? They weren't very impressive."

"I got separated from my team, and then those guys ambushed me," Kabuto admitted. "Luckily all of you were around. I really can't thank you enough."

He looked back at Shigeri.

"So please, let me help you. I can't just ignore what you did for me."

"And how do we know you won't betray us?"

"I have nothing to gain from that. We already got both scrolls, I just need to reunite with my team. We agreed on a rendezvous point near the tower, helping you on the way there would be no issue. Besides, do I look like I could take on all three of you?"

Wara and Shigeri didn't answer immediately, but they seemed to consider it at least. Karin hoped they would agree so they could finally leave this nightmarish forest.

Meanwhile, Naruto and his team said their goodbyes. As they were about to leave, Karin called after them.

"W-wait!"

They stopped and turned their head at her.

"K-Karin! My name is Karin!"

A wide grin appeared once more on Naruto's face and he gave her a thumb up.

"Alright then! See you in the tower, Karin!"


About an hour later, as the sun was just about to set, Team 7 reached their goal.

"See? Told you we could just brute force it," Naruto stated with a grin while behind them, a literal battalion of shadow clones rampaged through the area surrounding the tower.

Not wanting to trip at the finish line, they knew that the risk of getting ambushed increased exponentially the closer they got to the tower. An issue Naruto had decided to solve by simply flooding the area with shadow clones. Four hundred did he make, insisting that he could have made a thousand had Orochimaru's seal not interfered with his chakra flow. Still, with all the clones spreading out and drawing as much attention to them as possible, sneaking past potential adversaries was a trivial matter. They did notice some other participants but ignored them since they had nothing to gain from any further engagements. And so, hiding in plain sight, three of the hundreds of Narutos reached the tower's entrance. Sakura and Sasuke dropped their transformation, then they entered.

"I never said it wouldn't work," Sasuke clarified. "I just wanted to weigh every option before doing it."

Inside, an empty vestibule greeted them. A large sign hung on the wall across, the text sounding like a riddle. By the time Naruto was done reading, Sakura had already solved it

"They want us to open the scrolls."

"Are you sure?", Naruto asked. "Because if not, we're disqualified."

"Yes, I'm sure."

Sasuke and Naruto looked at each other, both taking out their respective scroll and opening them. They recognized what was written there as a summoning formula, the same one Tanya-sensei had used to call them back from the Great Dorīmudasuto Tree. Chakra surged in the scrolls and they dropped them. Seconds later, a man they all knew appeared in a puff of smoke.

"Iruka-sensei?" Naruto called out in surprise. The academy teacher gave them a wide smile.

"Long time no see. Well done, kids. You have passed the second test."

Each of them celebrated with varying degrees of loudness, relieved to know that they had passed another hurdle. Afterward, Iruka explained the true meaning behind the riddle, that it was the motto of the Chūnin exam, written by the Hokage himself, and how 'Heaven' and 'Earth' represented mind and body, telling the aspiring Chūnin how to work on their weaknesses. He seemed like he wanted to add one more thing, but ultimately decided against it. Instead, he told them they had a room where they could stay the remaining time until the end of the exam.

Reaching the floor they were told, they opened to door to the room with their number. The way each of them tilted their heads to dodge the kunai which came flying at them from inside was almost casual at this point.

"Tanya-sensei," Sasuke greeted. The young Jōnin crossed her arms and gave them an affirming nod.

"Good job on passing. You could've been a bit faster, but your time was still decent."

"We would've been faster had we not run into that weirdo!" Naruto insisted, but the golden-haired girl just shrugged.

"Excuses don't change the result, Naruto."

"Speaking of," Sakura chimed in and looked at Sasuke. The Uchiha hesitated for a moment, but then he nodded.

"Right. Tanya-sensei, do you know anything about this?"

He pulled his collar aside and showed her the curse mark. She frowned but shook her head.

"Seals are a very vast field. I know some of it, but I haven't seen this particular one. Who placed this there?"

"A guy from the Hidden Sound Village. He called himself 'Orochimaru'."

Suddenly, the trio felt as if the room temperature had dropped several degrees. Tanya's face was distorted by seething rage, and she gnashed her teeth so hard they seemed close to the breaking point.

"Do not leave this room," she growled. Then, she stomped out, slamming the door shut behind her.


Kabuto watched the patch of red hair disappear into the tower, grinning as he allowed himself to drop the act.

"You took your time, Kabuto. Sasuke already entered a while ago."

To veiled figures appeared behind him.

"I know, but it was worth it."

"Was it, now?" A new, calmer voice asked. A slight chill went down Kabuto's spine when a third figure approached. "Then please, do enlighten us. How was the harvest?"

"Not as good as hoped, Lord Orochimaru," Kabuto answered and handed him a small stack of info cards. "By the time Sasuke awoke, Dosu and his team were already defeated."

"That's disappointing. Was it the Jinchuriki?"

"No, the civilian girl. All the info I could gather is written down on the cards. But I noticed that when he woke up, the curse mark didn't even seem active. He also didn't need long to recover afterward."

Orochimaru went quiet for a while, seemingly thinking about a potential explanation. The first awakening of the curse mark had so far always resulted in a state of bloodlust, regardless of whether or not the subject had a target to direct it at. But when Sasuke had woken up, he seemed calm, and no marks were spreading over his body. Kabuto would've loved to get a closer look, but he had to keep his distance.

"How interesting," he finally said with a smile. If he had reached a conclusion, he didn't voice it. "I didn't think it was possible, but now I want Sasuke even more. Still, it's unfortunate that he's not aware of his gift."

"True, however," Kabuto continued his report, "Dosu was nice enough to give an ambiguous explanation of the mark. He knows it grants him power."

"That's something, but Sasuke should feel the power I gifted to him rather than just hearing about it. Yoroi, we'll arrange things so you battle Sasuke in the third test. Use your unique ability and force him to use it."

One of the veiled figures bowed.

"I will, Lord Orochimaru."

"Now, Kabuto, you said your delay was 'worth it'. Care to elaborate on that?"

"Yes. While following Sasuke, I coincidentally met an interesting specimen. I then staged a little act to confirm her abilities. She is unfortunately being hindered by her circumstances, so I made sure she would make it to the third task. If my suspicion is correct, we might see something interesting."