Outside The 44th Battle Training Zone(Forest of Death): Morning…
All the teams who passed the first phase arrived outside the Forest of Death where they met with their proctor.
"Whoa, this is some place." Naruto commented. "What is it?"
"This is the location of the second phase for this exam." Anko responded. "It's the 44th Battle Training Zone, but we call it the Forest of Death."
"It's the 44th Battle Training Zone, but we call it the Forest of Death." Naruto repeated with a squeaky voice while doing a little mock dance that consisted of moving his butt left and right. "That name doesn't frighten me! I can handle anything that's inside that forest, believe it!"
"Oh, looks like we have ourselves a tough guy." Anko noted with a smile.
It all happened too fast. Anko drew a kunai out of her sleeve and threw it past Naruto, making a cut on his left cheek. Before the blond realized he was hurt, the purple-haired kunoichi was already behind him.
"You tough enough to handle this?" Anko hissed into his ear. "You're not afraid, are you? Tough guys like you usually leave their blood all over this forest."
Anko then felt a presence behind her. She pulled out another kunai and turned around just to see a female Genin from Kusagakure holding her kunai she previously threw with her unnaturally long tongue.
"I believe thisss belongs to you."
"Thank you, Shinobi from Kusa." Anko replied with a fake smile. "Though do yourself a favor, don't ever get behind my back like that, or I might end up killing you by mistake."
"Khu khu khu, my sincerest apologiessss. I get a little excited when I ssssee blood."
Once the Kusa nin stepped back, Anko grabbed a stack of papers out of her overcoat. "Before any of you get inside that forest, you need to sign this. Don't worry, they're nothing out of this world. These are consent forms which you'll read and sign if you want to proceed.
After all, some of you may not return from this forest…at least not alive. These forms free Konohagakure from any responsibility. After all, we don't want any of your villages to come after us for your deaths, right?
Here, give one of these to every candidate." Anko handed the consent forms to Naruto, who did as he was told. "Now, I shall explain this test. The first thing to know is that this will tax every one of your survival skills." She then unfurled a scroll.
"The 44th Training Zone has 44 locked entrance gates. There are rivers and a forest within. In the center, you will find a locked tower. The test itself will be an anything goes battle to get your hand on one of these scrolls."
"Both of them?" Sasuke asked.
"Half the teams will be fighting to get an Earth scroll while the other half will be fighting to get a Heaven scroll." Anko responded. "In essence, teams will receive one of these scrolls before heading in."
"How does a team pass?" Sasuke asked.
"You must bring both scrolls to the tower." Anko responded.
"That means at best half the teams can pass; however, that's an unlikely probability given everything this test entails." Sakura voiced.
"No one said it'd be easy." Anko retorted. "One more thing you might want to take into consideration is the time limit. You must reach the tower, with both scrolls, within five days. If you don't, you will be disqualified."
Ino was outraged. "Five days out there!?"
"What are we supposed to eat!?" Choji exclaimed.
"What can you eat?" Anko repeated with amusement. "Just about everything. There are plenty of animals and plants that are eatable. The only thing you have to do is find them while avoiding the bigger animals and deadly plants, naturally."
"Can we quit halfway through the test?" Shikamaru asked.
"Of course not." Anko retorted. "In the middle of a battle you can't suddenly decide to quit." She smirked. "Well, you could, but that'd probably see you killed."
"Just great." Shikamaru sighed. "This will be a drag."
"Are there any other ways of getting disqualified?" Goku asked.
"If the entire team doesn't make it to the tower, you're disqualified. If a team member is unable to continue or dies, you're disqualified. The most important rule of all is to never open a scroll, no matter the circumstance."
"Why not?" Naruto questioned. "I mean, what if I accidentally drop the scroll and it opens?"
"Let me put it this way." Anko gave a cheeky grin. "You. Don't. Want. To. Know." The blond sighed. "There are times when a ninja will be asked to carry secret documents. The scroll rule is to test your integrity. Now, we are done.
You have one hour to sign your forms and get them all to the sentinels over there in exchange for a scroll." She pointed at a stand where three Chunin were waiting. "After that, they will point you to your gate where you'll wait for the start."
Gate 12: 45 Minutes Later…
"Sasuke, Naruto, and Hinata, gather around." Goku voiced.
"What is it?" Sasuke asked.
"I've been attempting to think of a plan to see us through this test." Goku voiced, having generally mulled something over since they were given the free time. "Naruto, do you have any of those storage scrolls you've been making on you?"
"Yeah, I've been using them to store extra kunai and shuriken." Naruto responded.
"Got any empty ones?" Goku asked.
"Hm." Naruto thought about it before remembering he did make one just that morning and ended up bringing it along. "Yeah, I got one right here." He reached into one of his pockets and produced a seemingly unimpressive scroll. "Wait, are you suggesting we store the scroll?"
"That's actually pretty smart." Sasuke stated. "I can't imagine a lot of people would know how to make a storage scroll themselves, let alone break into one."
"That's even if they know what it is to begin with." Hinata added.
At that point, it was a no brainer for Sasuke to hand over their Heaven scroll to Naruto who sealed it away.
"Now, hand it here." Goku stated, receiving the scroll. "I'll mark it with my kanji, so I can use Flying Rajin to recover it should anyone think to take the sealing scroll." He did just that before tossing it to Hinata. "Now, you hold onto this as opposed to Sasuke."
"Why does Hinata get to hold it?" Naruto asked.
"Her Byakugan gives her a layer of defense, she knows Palm Rotation, and she is our medic." Goku voiced. "In a situation like this, it's more important that we protect her. After all, if we're injured, she's our best bet at getting patched up."
"That part makes sense." Sasuke added. "Anko said if a team member is unable to continue, we are disqualified. Since we'll already be protecting her for that, we'll be a third level of defense. Well, technically we're the first. In short, our scroll must be the safest here."
With the initial protections set up, the team began discussing broader strokes of how they'd go about handling this test.
Team 8:Gate 16
"Alright, we rock at survival!" Kiba exclaimed. "There's no way we could lose."
"Between Shino's bugs and the noses on you and Akamaru, I'd say you're right." Sakura stated.
"Don't sell yourself short." Shino added. "Genjutsu will likely have its place before we get to the tower."
Sakura smiled at her teammate before turning to face the gate with a determined expression.
Team 10:Gate 27
"The test might cost us our lives, what a drag, and it seems we can't even go after Naruto first." Shikamaru sighed as that information on Team 7 ran through his mind.
Choji was going through his food supplies.
"Seems having him on their team hasn't slowed Hinata, Sasuke, or Goku down in the slightest." Ino shrugged. "In the end, there's bound to be an easy team for us to take down."
Team Vegeta:Gate 20
The three sound Genin stood before their gate.
"It's time we carry out our orders in the open." Vegeta thought.
Team Kabuto: Gate 38
Kabuto and his teammates waited patiently for the second phase to start.
Team Baki: Gate 6
The sand siblings were waiting; however, Kankuro and Temari were looking at their younger brother nervously. Not only would they have to deal with the punks on the other teams, but Gaara was a potential danger to them as well.
Team Shiore: Gate 15
The first of the Kusagakure teams were confident.
"We'll target the rookie teams first since they're easy prey."
"Their scrolls will be easy to acquire." Shiore stated. "After all, anything goes."
Team Guy: Gate 41
"Guy Sensei, I will make you proud!" Lee was fired up. "Neji, soon I shall join you as a Chunin!"
"He's amped as usual." Tenten voiced.
"What else is new?" Turles shot back.
Team Sumui: Gate 29
The three Kumo Genin under Sumui stood ready at their gate, Atsui and Karui were the most pumped.
"Don't rush on ahead when the gate opens." Omoi voiced as he unwrapped and put a sucker in his mouth. "If you do, you might run into a trap and lose your lives in an instant. If that happens, what do I tell Samui?"
"Gah, you're always thinking too much, idiot!" Karui shouted.
"Even if we do run into a trap, it won't contain my hot spirited approach." Atsui declared.
Team Shigeri: Gate 13
The red headed Kusagakure Genin, Karin Uzumaki, stood with her teammates as she mulled over the exam so far. Karin entered expecting not to pass to the end. After all, these examinations show off combat skills more than anything, and she's not exactly a star there.
To outside appearances, she's only here to take up the third slot on her team, but if she happened to gather intel on foreign Shinobi…well, that could be useful. Almost immediately, she'd picked up on a silver-haired Leaf Genin who couldn't be one.
He was either an undercover proctor or something suspicious was going on. Regardless, she stored that bit of knowledge away to report to Kusa. Soon, they'd entered that room where a different red head from the Suna gave off intense, murderous Chakra.
The only positive there was that his Chakra didn't feel anything like an Uzumaki. Today, something was different about her fellow Kusa Genin on the other team. She hadn't really noticed her yesterday, but today that Genin's Chakra was malicious.
She's never spoken to them before, but she's also never felt this Chakra within Kusa. If that wasn't enough, she picked up traces of a second Chakra within that felt scorching. It was bad to the point she contemplated saying something to a sentinel or that Ibiki person.
She kept her mouth shut since that was a Genin of her village. None of this was even accounting for that blond Leaf Genin who challenged everyone. He said his last name was Uzumaki, like her; however, she couldn't get a read on his Chakra with that Suna Genin around.
"We need to stay away from the Suna team with the red head." Karin suddenly voiced, drawing her team's attention. "Also, I think there's something seriously wrong with that other Kusa team."
"Really?" One of her teammates asked, unimpressed. "That's just Shiore's team. They're not all that impressive, even compared to us."
"There's something wrong," Karin insists. "They're not…"
"Karin, are you okay?" Her other teammate asks.
"I'm fine." Karin spat back.
She bit the inside of her cheek and didn't push it. If she can't handle this, she'll never be a proper kunoichi. Her teammates are here to prove Kusagakure can produce skilled Chunin while she's here to prove she can handle aggressive, foreign chakra.
"I must prove myself because the alternative…" Karin froze as the memory of her mother's ran through her mind, making her want to hug herself, yet she refrained as not to display weakness. "The alternative of what I could become is unacceptable."
Forest of Death
All the gates were soon opened, and every team sprinted inside. As of now, the second phase has begun. Various teams were intent on enacting plans, finding the scroll they didn't have, or both.
Team 10
Shikamaru and Ino were being cautious before the latter noticed Choji was out in the open with a bag of chips at the ready. "Are you serious!? What are you doing!?"
"Just having a snack." Choji opened the bag. "I mean, I got to keep my strength up, don't I?"
"We haven't even been out here five minutes." Ino retorted.
"Yeah, come on Choji." Shikamaru voiced. "We have a job to do here."
"I can't help it." Choji turned from them. "I got to eat. They're my favorite flavor."
"You and your snacks." Ino huffed. "This is a survival test, you know. You should have packed more kunai and less candy."
Shikamaru realized something. "Quick guys, hide." They hid in the brush just before three Suna Shinobi appeared. "Oh no."
Unfortunately, one chip from Choji's bag had fallen out. If the Suna Shinobi saw this, they'd know another team was in the area. Luckily, they did not look down and moved on.
Team Shigeri
Karin followed her teammates, who were feeling rather confident, into the forest. To be fair, while Kusagakure is named for the open prairies in the West, the East has forests almost identical to the one surrounding Konoha. Plus, it is exceedingly difficult to hide from Karin.
Maybe even impossible. As they moved, she did her job by steering them away from all the other teams. They'd set up camp first and plan. Before anything, even though it took an exceeding amount of effort, she locked onto the dangerous people.
The malicious Suna and Grass Shinobi followed by that suspicious silver haired Leaf Genin. Despite this eliminating three potential teams, it was worth it since she didn't think her teammates would stand a chance against them anyways.
She mentally tagged those three, holding them in the back of her mind to be aware of their movements. She can probably keep tabs on them, within this forest, for about a day before she starts getting headaches.
Then, she went about sorting through the weaker Chakra signatures. The prior three took a lot out of her, so it was harder to discern much beyond who was weaker and less distinct. By this time, her teammates were growing impatient, so she begins relaying locations.
"Let's just go for whoever's closest."
Karin let them plan since her ideas have never been heard, and she didn't imagine this time being any different. Besides, her roles are to make sure they don't run right into someone they can't beat and help them find satisfactory victims. Before they move out, Karin is handed their scroll.
"You're not engaging in combat, so you're safer."
Karin sighed and decided to relax from how taxing that session had been on her sensory abilities. It would have been easier had she not take the time to pinpoint the problem Shinobi, but it wouldn't have put her at ease. Unfortunately for her, a large shadow loomed in the brush.
Team 8
Three Amegakure Shinobi suddenly came across Team 8, who stood out in the open.
"If the tower is where everyone will head in the end, I say we lay a trap around it and take scrolls from whoever shows up." Kiba declared before Akamaru smelt the Ame Genin. "Oh, looks like we got company."
The Ame Genin had fallen into Team 8's trap. They'd found some rather large leeches, which Shino got to not attack them. Said protection didn't extend to anyone else who might happen around this area, so they set up trip wires. As the Genin fell into them, they were hosted in a net.
Team 7
The four Genin stopped suddenly.
"Someone was screaming." Hinata stated.
"Come on, it's nothing to be scared of." Naruto declared nonchalantly. "This will be a piece of cake." Suddenly, he started squirming a little while shakily and closing the gap between his legs. "I really need to go!"
He approached a nearby tree and was about to 'take care of business'.
Hinata squealed, and her face went red. "N-Naruto, you're not going to do that here, are you!?"
"You really are an idiot." Sasuke scoffed. "Go find a bush."
"Okay, I'm going." Naruto retorted as he took off.
"He might be a good minute." Goku turned to the right. "I'm going to do a little scouting."
"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Hinata asked worriedly.
"Don't worry." Goku grinned. "You still got the storage scroll with my kanji on it, so I can just teleport back here if anything happens."
"He makes a good point." Sasuke agreed. "Go on ahead and see what you find."
Goku nodded before leaping into a tree and taking off himself.
With Goku
Goku jumped from tree branch to tree branch, keeping an eye out and ears open. He was hoping to locate a Shinobi or team with an Earth Scroll while intending on not being overtaken himself. Suddenly, a scream pierced the silence of the vast forest and was followed by a roar.
"What was that?" Goku thought.
He moved in the direction of the scream and roar. Upon landing on another tree branch, he saw a giant bear standing before a girl with red hair. She fell to the ground while her glasses fell off.
"Where are you guys!?" The girl was terrified while the bear prepared to swipe at her.
Goku quickly wove through hand signs while taking a deep breath. "Fire Release: Fireball Jutsu!"
He fired a ball of fire right at the bear, setting his fur ablaze and making him cry out in pain before taking off.
Goku then jumped down, landing next to who he discovered was a Kusa Genin. "Are you alright?"
The girl put her glasses back on and fixed them before looking at him. "Yeah, I am."
For some reason her face turned red, not unlike how Hinata could get around Naruto at times.
"You sure?" Goku put a hand on her forehead. "Your face is turning red."
"Of course, I'm sure!" She shouted.
The Kusa Genin swatted his hand away from her forehead and huffed in annoyance while her face was crimson now.
"She's a lot like how I remember Sakura being, before seeing her in Phase 1, and a lot like Ino is now." Goku thought. "Well, I'm Goku Sarutobi."
He laughed while scratching the back of his head in an awkward gesture. The girl looked surprised that he was still being friendly with her after she basically reprimanded him. This made the girl crestfallen to have been rude with him.
"He's been nice to me, so maybe I should be nicer to…wait wasn't this guy with that Naruto kid?" Karin realized he did seem close to that guy who claimed to be an Uzumaki. "I'm Karin…Uzumaki."
This was a huge gamble since Kusagakure wouldn't like this.
"Uzumaki?" Goku laughed. "Hey, that's my friend's last name. Hm, I think I remember learning something about them in the academy. They're a clan that were wiped out. If you really are one, he'd likely be excited to meet you."
He stuck his hand out. "Oh, it's nice to meet you!" Fortunately, her gamble seemed to be paying off. Karin looked at his hand, the blush on her face still apparent, before she took it and shook hands with him. "So, where are your teammates?"
"They left me here to pursue a team in search of a Heaven scroll…" Karin responded.
His question suddenly made Karin keenly aware of the Earth scroll in her other hand. She clutched it tightly since this boy could be trying to take it; however, a pained expression graced her face. Even though that scroll was the one they needed, Goku felt bad for this girl. Her teammates abandoned her, and she almost got killed by a giant bear because of it.
"Those who break the rules are scum…" Goku's words drew Karin's attention. "…but those who abandon their friends are worse than scum. To show my hand, I'll admit my team has the scroll you're looking for." He shook his head. "I can't give you that one, but I'll help you find another."
Karin's face reflected the pure astonishment she felt at Goku's rash decision. "We've just met, yet this boy is already willing to help me?"
She had no idea what was up with this guy, but Karin did find herself strongly attracted to his Chakra. It was warm, inviting, and soothing.
"Look Goku, that's nice, but I don't think I need help." Karin stood while trembling slightly, still a bit shaken up from her encounter with the giant bear.
Goku figured she was the stubborn type. "Your comrades left you alone, and you were almost killed by a bear." He swung an arm around her shoulders to show he was a good guy at heart. "I'm going to help you whether you like it or not."
Karin recoiled from him in trepidation, still a bit weary of his true intentions. Perhaps she could trust him; however, she knew letting her guard down could be disastrous. Once she took another good look at him, he didn't look like the type to betray others.
"Fine, I'll accept your help…" She adjusted her glasses and lightened up on the harsh stare she'd been giving. "…but I'll…"
Karin suddenly froze, as she extended her sensory abilities to see where her teammates were. She felt them…for about a moment. Then, both Chakra signatures faded. Considering she felt that other Grass Genin around them, Shiore they said, it didn't take a genius to put things together.
"My teammates just died…" Karin muttered.
"Huh?" Goku asked.
"I have sensor abilities, and just felt their Chakra signatures vanish around someone I've been keeping tabs on since we entered the forest." Karin informed, now looking pale. "The exam is over for me."
"I'm sorry to hear that." Goku voiced, genuinely. "Despite your teammates being jerks and abandoning you, they didn't deserve that."
"It's fine." The way Karin said that, clued the Sarutobi onto the fact that this kunoichi had seen death before. "Goku, is your team strong?"
"I'd say we are." Goku responded.
"Then, I'll cut you a deal." Karin presented the Earth scroll. "You can have your missing scroll, and I'll use my abilities to help you all to the tower. In return, all I ask for is protection and an escort to the tower."
"I'd agree in a heartbeat." Goku voiced genuinely. "Though, we should ask my team first, but I promise to put in a good word on your behalf. If it comes to it, I'll guarantee you can leave with your scroll. That way you can try to seek shelter with another team, should it come to it."
"Good enough for me." Karin stated. "Let's go."
With Sasuke and Hinata
The remaining two Genin of Team 7 awaited the return of either teammate. Though, given the nature of what each was doing, it was more likely for Naruto to return first.
"I really needed that." Return the blond seemingly had. "I even managed to write my full name!"
In that moment, Sasuke and Hinata shared a look which confirmed they were on the same wavelength. Sasuke punched Naruto in the face knocking into a tree. He hit it back first and slid down to his butt.
"What the heck was that about?" Naruto asked.
"We have no idea who you are, but you're obviously not Naruto." Sasuke glared at the whiskered boy. "Show yourself, coward."
"What are you talking about Sasuke!?" 'Naruto stood up and returned the glare. "Of course I'm Naruto! Who the hell am I supposed to be if not me!?"
"If that's the truth, then where's the cut on your left cheek?" Hinata questioned, firmly. "Also, why are you wearing your kunai holster on your left leg when Naruto is right-handed?"
"Your normal transformations are even lamer than the losers." Sasuke added. "Now talk, what have you done with Naruto?"
'Naruto's' mouth twitched a little before becoming a cruel smirk. "You two have sharp eyes." The impostor dropped the transformation, revealing himself to be a teen from Amegakure wearing a beige jumpsuit. "It doesn't matter since I'm still taking your scroll. Now, who has it?"
Hinata responded by throwing shuriken which the Ame Genin dodged before drawing two kunai. Sasuke withdrew his saber and moved to meet him head on. The two of them clashed with the Uchiha immediately proving his superiority over their opponent.
"Hinata, find Naruto!" Sasuke shouted.
"Right!" Hinata nodded before making the hand sign. "Byakugan!"
She spotted him, tied up not far from where they were. The Hyuga took off over to him while Sasuke continued to clash with the Rain Genin. All the while he began steadily building his Fire Chakra into his blade.
"Burn Blade!" Sasuek shouted.
He swung down with all his might, his heated metal cutting through the kunai as his opponent attempted to block like they were nothing more than butter. He didn't stop there resulting in the blade cutting and cauterizing a wound into the Rain Genin's torso, making him cry out in pain.
Sasuke took advantage of his opponent's current state to lunge at and palm him in the face with his hand. As they fell, the Uchiha pushed with all his might resulting in the Rain Genin's head impacting the ground with enough force to render him unconscious.
Sasuke stood while Hinata and Naruto joined him. "About time, loser."
"It's not my fault!" Naruto exclaimed. "He got me from behind just as I lowered my pants!"
Later…
After making sure their attacker wasn't waking up anytime soon, Sasuke used some ninja wire to tie him to a tree so he couldn't escape.
"Naruto, look through his pouch." Sasuke voiced. "Maybe he has a scroll or something that can be of use."
Naruto removed the big pouch off the teen's unconscious body. "He has some kunai, a couple of shuriken, three ration bars, a water bottle, and a little bit of poison." He sighed. "No scroll."
Sasuke crossed his arm. "Figures he wasn't confident enough to risk his team's scroll on this."
At that moment, Goku lept down from the trees with Karin. This naturally put the three Genin on edge, and that was in addition to the fact they were already on edge after everything they dealt with. All of this is to say, the other three Genin drew their saber or kunai, respectively.
Karin stepped back, intimidated, before Goku stepped out in front of her. "Whoa guys." He held up his hands and noted the tied-up Rain Genin. "I see you went through some stuff, but it's just me."
"Certainly, looks like Goku." Naruto voiced.
"Hinata?" Sasuke asked.
Hinata used her Byakugan to look at Goku's network for any abnormalities. "His network seems to be his."
"Who won our first spar?" Sasuke asked.
"I did after sending you into a tree with my 'Rock! Scissors! Paper!' technique." Goku answered.
Sasuke lowered his guard since neither of them ever spoke of the results from any of their spars. While Goku's goal was to be the strongest Shinobi in the Elemental Nations, he was no bragger. By Sasuke lowering his guard, the other two did as well.
"Alright, why is a Kusaga Shinobi with you Goku?" Hinata asked.
"Who even is she?" Naruto added.
Karin found the courage to come out from behind Goku. "I'm Karin Uzumaki."
That got the three Genin across from them to freeze.
…
"That's my last name." Naruto thought.
"I thought the Uzumaki Clan was wiped out." Hinata voiced.
"Guess not." Sasuke scoffed before looking to his blond teammate. "Can't believe there's more of your morons running around."
That did it.
"What did you just call me!?" Karin exclaimed.
"Yeah, jerk!" Naruto exclaimed. "Don't call my family names like that!"
Despite not knowing how they were related, the Third never told him about his parents, he was more than willing to claim this girl as family. As such, he wouldn't let Sasuke offend her like this. Heck, he certainly didn't take it when his teammate did the same to him.
"They even act the same." Sasuke pinched the bridge of his nose. "Goku, why did you bring her here?"
Goku rubbed the back of his head since this wasn't going how he expected it to. "Well, I met Karin in the forest after her team left her to fend for herself. I managed to drive off this huge bear that was going to attack her before eventually offering to help her find her team's missing scroll.
She's a sensor and lost the signature of her team. They're gone now meaning she's out of the exam anyways. As such, she offered her scroll and sensor abilities to me in exchange for our protection and escort to the tower. I brought her here to see what you all think."
"I take it her scroll is an Earth scroll?" Sasuke asked.
In response, Karin displayed her scroll, but not without shooting the Uchiha a glare for his prior insult to her, and she supposed Naruto's, intelligence. Sure, she still didn't know this boy's exact relation to her, nor was it cemented they were family.
As she looked for it, Karin could definitively pick up on the fact his Chakra pool was rather large. Though it was less than someone with full blood. It was likely he was just half Uzumaki. Not to mention, the non Uzumaki parent must have had quite the genes.
From her admittedly limited understanding, Uzumaki genes were rather dominant. Whether it was this large Chakra pool or the fact he was offended on her behalf, Karin found it easy to think of Naruto as family to.
"It'd just be easier to snatch the scroll, that way I wouldn't have to deal with two Naruto's." Sasuke crossed his arms. "That's even forgetting this could all just be an elaborate ruse meant to trick us into lowering our guards."
"I think we should accept." Hinata saw her teammate's displeasure with the situation, and she could assume his thought process. "At this point, it's four on one. Even if her team is alive, that's still four or three odds with her near us. We have the advantage in either situation."
Sasuke realized, in that moment, he would be alone in his refusal. "Fine, we'll escort and protect her; however, no one is to reveal who holds our scroll." He looked at each of them evenly, to give nothing away. "The one holding it is not to bring it out until we reach the tower.
That person will not let their guard down and risk losing it. In fact, no one will let their guard down at any time and risk her snatching our scroll. If all of you can accept that, I'll get on board with this idea."
The four Genin did agree. Sasuke's teammates saw this as reasonable while Karin, despite not liking Sasuke much, recognized the situation. All they really had to go on was her word, and that took trust to accept at face value.
Despite Naruto and Karin wanting to talk to each other, the other three Genin realized they should get away from the captured Rain Genin and discuss the actual objective. As such, they found a new clearing and kneeled where Goku and Karin were informed of what happened.
Before they could discuss further, one of the Chakra signatures Karin was keeping tabs on was now towards them. "We must run!" She was terrified since it was evident to her that this person was beelining right for them. "Malicious Chakra is coming!"
"Malicious Chakra?" Naruto asked.
"She seems genuinely freaked out." Hinata noted.
Even Sasuke had to admit this seemed genuine, or she might just be the best actor in the world. Given her similarities to Naruto, he doubted that.
"Let's move." Sasuke stood. "Right to the tower."
At those words, the five Genin beat a hasty retreat as they moved in the direction of the tower. While they could stand their ground, Karin's terrified expression wouldn't have dissuaded them, the group technically had their two scrolls. Confrontation wasn't necessary.
As they ran, the Chakra signature seemed to pick up on them retreating. Unfortunately for them, whoever this signature belonged to was faster than they were. Whoever had it caught up enough to the point they could send out a powerful gust of wind their way.
Hinata was pushed back right while Naruto was pushed back left. Sasuke managed to avoid most of the impact while Goku, physically closest to Karin, managed to grab and bring her over that way. All three hid within the brush.
"That malicious Chakra is approaching while your female teammate is closer and coming up behind us." Karin voiced.
All three stood, at the ready, before Hinata broke through the brush. "Thank goodness you are all okay."
Despite Karin's assurance this was their teammate, Sasuke still had to be certain. "Halt." He drew his saber. "If you're really Hinata, reveal your Byakugan."
Hinata understood and made the correct hand sign. "Byakugan!"
"Good." Sasuke lowered his weapon.
"That signature here!" Karin yelled, scared.
As for the poll, there was no change from last time. With 4 votes in favor to zero again, Goku will be capable of utilizing advanced Chakra Natures; however, do not fear. I will not slap those onto Goku all of a sudden. Essentially, don't expect him to go busting out advanced natures next chapter. I actually have something planned that I can implement in a coming chapter that might serve as a decent enough way to introduce this. You guys be the judge when it happens.
You might be confused by this second signature within who we all know to be Orochimaru. Simply put, Konoha isn't the only place to benefit from DBZ characters reimagined into this world. If the protagonist garner boons, it only makes sense the antagonist receive the same. The reason Karin didn't detect The Nine Tails, like she did in canon, is because she isn't always looking that deeply into people's Chakra. I think that's it.
NBATazuji: Welcome back. As for Naruto, you do make a good point; however, he didn't really start receiving much recognition until the moment he beat Kiba. Even then, that was only around those who were there to witness it. It was his battle against Neji that started to grant him recognition around the village. Here, while Naruto does have a clan, it's not as well observed these days after being wiped out. This essentially, currently puts him in the shadow of his team.
The sensei is a war hero and known as Kakashi of the Sharingan, Sasuke is the last Uchiha, Hinata is the Hyuga Heiress, Goku is a Sarutobi and known son of a war hero who died stopping Janemba a second time. As far as most of village is currently concerned, excluding certain people who do know, Naruto is just an orphan container of the Nine Tails. That said, people are recognizing he should be taken lightly, hence what Kabuto had to say about him last chapter. When it comes to Vegeta, I have an arc for him.
Anthony Toujou: Thank you for your review as it was exactly where my thought process has been on the matter.
Mandalorian6969: Even without the boost Orochimaru has been given in this story, he's still a Sanin. I don't think the Genin of Team 7 could take down Kakashi at this point, so Orochimaru would be out of the question.
Dontus -not Donut- Powerus: When it comes to training in that month, I got ideas. As for how Goku mitigates the potential downside of future Jutsu that might be too strong for him, I have an explanation. That said, this chapter is not the time to go over it as such an event has not happened at this time to warrant it.