"Does this tower feel bigger on the inside to you guys?" Naruto asked his teammates as they walked down a long hallway toward a set of large doors.

"Oh, good; it's not just me," Sakura sighed in relief, and Naruto grinned in vindication.

"What about you, Sasuke?" He asked his other teammate, his grin not faltering an inch at Sasuke's apparent lack of interest.

"Doesn't matter," Sasuke dismissed. "We need to get to the arena."

"Ah, come on!" Naruto bemoaned. "Don't be such a stick in the mud, Sasuke. We just passed the second test!"

"Barely," Sasuke grunted, quickening his pace toward the looming double doors at the end of the admittedly arduous hallway. "We had minutes to spare."

"If there's one thing I learned at the academy, it's that passing is passing!" Naruto rebutted, snatching his two (taller) teammates into his grasp and wrapping his arms around their necks. "Right, Sakura?"

Sakura groaned, but a fond titter escaped her by the end. "As much as the thought kills me, I have to agree. Passing is passing, Sasuke."

It was Sasuke's turn to groan, and he lightly wrenched himself out of Naruto's grasp. "Whatever. Let's just get this over with so we can leave and get back to civilization. You two seriously need a bath."

"Hey!" both Naruto and Sakura squawked in indignation, but a quick, cautious sniff of her muddy qipao curbed Sakura's ire.

Naruto, in his open, scuffed, and dirty tracksuit, however, was not so easily cowed. "You smell like shit, too, jackass!"

Sasuke's following smirk was almost enough to send Naruto over the edge. "I smell like shit because we just spent five days fighting in the Forest of Death. You smell like shit because you always do. We are not the same."

Naruto would have lunged to strangle his teammate if it weren't for Sakura preemptively clamping a fistful of his hair to ensure that he behaved, so he had to settle for huffing in frustration. "You better hope that the next test isn't one-on-one fights, otherwise I'm gonna shove my foot so far up your ass that the next tomato you bite into will be with my toes!"

Sakura's hold over Naruto's hair slackened as a chortle escaped her, a chortle that quickly grew into a giggle fit. In contrast, Sasuke strangled a snort and kept his gaze forward to conceal the amusement washing over him at that absurd imagery. It was pointless to resist, however. Naruto knew he had won the battle, and even Sakura could tell that the joke was effective. Team 7's tsundere was finally emerging from his shell little by little.

Upon finally reaching the doors and entering the arena, Team 7 was understandably taken aback by its sheer size, so much so that even Sasuke had to mentally walk back his earlier dismissal of Naruto's observation of the tower. Beyond the confounding interior of the tower, the next thing they noticed was the stares being sent their way. Most were brief; Team 10's gazes were very, very brief, in fact. Some stares lingered, however, such as the gaze of their sensei standing beside the Sandaime when he set his eye on them.

Even from across the arena, Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura could see the tension evaporate from Kakashi's body upon their arrival. Moseying up to the rest of the present genin and saddling beside Team 8, they were able to get a better look at what was potentially going through their sensei's mind. There were a lot of brief flickers of emotion in his one visible eye when scanning over them, not the least of which were relief, pride, apprehension, and… was that regret? What could he possibly be regretful over?

Then, Sakura and Sasuke noticed that the regret was most prevalent when he looked at Naruto. The two shared a brief look that confirmed their shared confusion before they set their sights on an abnormally blank-looking Naruto. Sakura had a few ideas as to what might've been the cause of that, but it wasn't her place to prod or speculate. She knew that Naruto would ask those questions when he was ready… whatever that readiness possibly entailed given their new circumstances.

Naruto, meanwhile, was weathering three separate storms at once. The first and most pressing was the curiosity buried under a sea of bloodlust rolling off of Gaara to his left, as it was disturbing both of the creatures within him. He could practically feel the Jubi turn its grotesque head and bore a hole straight through Gaara with its red, rippled eye, almost as if it was staring at… something. Whatever that something was, Naruto couldn't tell, but he could actually feel the Kyubi trying to exercise some level of dominance over the seal to varying degrees of success, and it was causing faint wisps of the fox's chakra to leak from him at odd intervals. That only served to bring even more eyes on him, but he truly did not care about most of them.

What stuck in his craw was the Sandaime's gaze locked on him. That was the second storm. After the stuff Orochimaru revealed to him in the forest, Naruto did not know what to think regarding the old man, and he was content to not think about it at all, at least until he had a moment to himself to sort things out. He clearly wasn't going to get that right now, so he was left hyperaware of the differences in the Hokage's gaze toward him. The warmness in his aged countenance (which Naruto was starting to realize was inherent to all Konoha shinobi the old man presided over) wasn't present; in its place was an intense, searching blankness. It wasn't outwardly hostile, but it did feel distant, and Naruto couldn't help but return that measure of distance when he met the man's steely gaze.

The third storm, however, was the strangest one to parse. He could easily disregard most of the stares he was receiving; he didn't care about the faint but noticeable buzzing under Shino's coat to his right, nor did he care for the weirdo who looked like Hinata staring daggers at him and Sasuke. Instead, it was the second exam proctor that got his attention, but he didn't know what to make of what he was seeing. Her regard of him was intense, but it was also searching with flickers of concern and something that Naruto nearly didn't recognize: empathy. If nothing else, seeing any amount of empathy toward him in the eyes of anyone who wasn't his team, the Ichirakus, or Iruka-sensei was a surprise of the highest order. It didn't help matters that she was doing the same to Sasuke. Just what was her deal?

"First up, Sasuke Uchiha vs. Yoroi Akado!"

That announcement snapped Naruto out of his musings, and he saw most of the participants leaving the floor and heading towards the viewing platforms on either side of the arena. He caught a glimpse of Kakashi-sensei whispering something into Sasuke's ear before Sakura took his arm and led him up the stairs to one of the platforms.

"Are you okay, Naruto?" Sakura asked in a somewhat hushed voice as they took their place near the other Konoha teams. "You seem a little out of it."

"Yeah, yeah, I'm good," he quickly assured, though his tone was much dimmer than usual. "Just got a lot on my mind. Nothing to worry about."

She sent him a knowing look and rubbed his back to ensure that he knew she would be there for him whenever he needed, and he sent her a thankful smile in return. Just then, their sensei flickered beside them with a pleased eye smile.

"Congratulations on passing the second exam," he remarked, affectionately ruffling his charges' hair before his expression grew a touch more serious. "We'll talk about what happened in the forest after the preliminaries are done."

Naruto simply nodded before turning his gaze to the arena below, but his attention was elsewhere. The business with the old man wasn't going to leave his mind anytime soon, nor would the glances he was still receiving from the crazy snake lady. He still didn't understand why, but a shudder caused by the Kyubi's chakra fluctuating again brought his irritation inward.

'Hey, Kyubi, can you two keep it down? Your chakra is all over the place.'

"Well, excuse me for trying to keep the world in one piece for just a little longer, you ungrateful brat. I'll be sure to let the greatest force of destruction existence has ever witnessed out to wreak havoc next time."

'That's not what I-'

Naruto cut his train of thought before softly sighing.

'Ugh, you're right. I'm sorry. I'm a little messed up right now, and I shouldn't have taken that out on you.'

He didn't register the sudden, surprised silence from the beast for what it actually was, simply assuming that the Kyubi was allowing him an opportunity to verbalize his turmoil.

'It's just… why is the old man always lying to me? He's been doing it my whole life; he lied about why the village hates me, he's lying about my parents, he lied about hijiki tasting good in ramen, and he even lied about what was in his pipe that one time. I know what tobacco smells like, and that wasn't it!'

"Your insignificant, human woes mean absolutely nothing to me."

Naruto grinned, which those on the outside took as him being pleased with Sasuke battling back from Yoroi's assault. 'Well, it's a good thing that you're a captive audience, huh?'

"I hate everything about you."

'Ugh, come on, Kyubi! You're already like the smartest guy I know! Even smarter than Sakura! You have to have some idea why the old man insists on lying to me all the time!'

Another silence followed those words, but this one was shorter than the last one.

"Because lying to you is far more convenient than the alternative."

'…What's the alternative?'

"Not lying to you, dumbass."

Naruto scowled, which was taken as displeasure at Sasuke's difficulty fighting back the cursed seal on the outside. 'You know what I meant, fuzzball! What's so bad about telling me the truth for once?!'

"Because showering you with falsehoods and feeding you honeyed words keeps you loyal. Steering you as far away from the truth as possible in favor of pushing you deeper into propaganda keeps you from achieving self-actualization. It isn't a shinobi's job to self-actualize. It's a shinobi's job to be a disposable tool to the ends of warmongers until you can no longer serve."

Naruto blinked, taking in the frank summation. '…Is that actually it?'

Naruto could practically hear the Kyubi shrug.

"That's what it boils down to."

"Oh…" Naruto muttered aloud, though it went unnoticed beside Sakura cheering at Sasuke's victory.

'…Do you think Orochimaru was lying to me, too?'

"He wouldn't be the first, and he won't be the last. You just have to find out how many of his words have merit, and then kill him for concocting this abomination beside me."

B̴̦̉ő̸͈y̵̭̐ê̵̪h̶͙̒ ̷̺̾m̶͈̕o̵̫͑ẙ̴͓a̷͈̽h̶͈̊ ̵̦͘m̴͕̎i̴̛̬ǹ̸͔,̸͖͗ ̴͓͊m̵̞̊ë̷͎́ ̵̘̚y̴̛̟o̴̟͗ẙ̷̲ ̸̤̍b̸͔̽í̴͔n̷̜͝ ̷̝̀ÿ̶̭́ȃ̴̖y̸̩̓ǎ̶͈ý̶̹ȧ̴̗

"Hurry up and retrieve my other half!"

"Naruto!"

He was yanked out of his mind once again, this time by Sakura waving her hand in front of his face. "What's up?"

"It's your turn," Kakashi pointed out, motioning to the electronic board:

Naruto Uzumaki vs. Kiba Inuzuka

"Oh, cool," Naruto muttered, trying (and failing) to drum up a modicum of excitement for his fight.

It didn't go unnoticed by Sakura, and she sent him a look of concern that he tried to assuage with as bright of a smile that he could bring himself to fabricate. Before he could go too far, though, Kakashi grabbed his shoulder and leaned to whisper in his ear.

"Don't use your cursed seal," he instructed with the utmost seriousness, and Naruto knew that his sensei meant business. He didn't know what would happen if he disobeyed, but he wasn't planning on finding out. He didn't want to use the cursed seal, anyway.

Still, that didn't mean that he was all that excited to fight. His mind was all over the place, and the Kyubi's chakra kept sparking from him in his tenant's attempts to keep the Jubi at bay so long as Gaara was still being Gaara. It was beginning to become very tiresome; all of it was.

"So, finally come down, huh?" Kiba mocked with an arrogant grin. "I just assumed you had done the smart thing and forfeited. There's no way a loser like you could stand a chance against me."

When Naruto didn't offer him any response, Kiba's grin faltered. "Oh, nothing to say? That's not like you. You were always the loud, talentless moron who acted first and thought later in the academy, and I know that hasn't changed so suddenly. Seriously, I don't know what miracle you got to even make it through the Forest of Death. How long were you planning on riding your teammates' coattails through this exam?"

Naruto still offered no response, and under closer scrutiny, Kiba realized that Naruto wasn't even all the way present. "Hey, asshole, are you fucking looking past me??"

Naruto, meanwhile, wasn't granting Kiba his full attention. His mind was so scattered across keeping a hold over the Kyubi's chakra that was simmering even more steadily now, trying to ignore the Sandaime's close examination of him, and trying to keep his irritation at both Gaara and the other Hyuga's piercing gaze from aggravating him into losing a grip over that chakra. Whatever Kiba was yapping about was going in one ear and out the other until the start of the match was officially called.

That was until…

"You really think a failure like you would ever become Hokage? Ha, what a fucking joke. As if an idiot with no talent, friends, or family would ever rise to the position of Hokage. In fact, I'll be Hokage, and I'll be a way better Hokage than you could ever dream of being!"

Now, Kiba had Naruto's full attention. Unfortunately, Kiba had Naruto's full attention.

"You know what, sit this one out, Akamaru," Kiba scoffed, blissfully unaware of the contents of the can he had just opened. "We won't even need to team up to take this loser down."

Looking back up at Naruto with a derisive grin, he vaguely registered the red haze that strongly smelled of foxes forming over him. He dismissed it, though, as Naruto always smelled of foxes, and he didn't think that there were any tricks in Naruto's bag that he couldn't handle.

On the other hand, Naruto only had one thing running through his mind:

"Don't use the cursed seal."

"And begin!" Hayate instructed, clearing away from the field but remaining ready to jump in at a moment's notice.

Kiba smirked at Naruto. "Because I'm so nice, I'll even give you one free shot so that you can see just how outclassed you are-"

Kiba didn't even see Naruto move before a glowing fist slammed into his cheek, rocketing him into the wall and slamming him straight into unconsciousness.

Naruto, meanwhile, glanced at Akamaru in his periphery who did the only logical thing and coughed up a white flag to wave his surrender. Then, Naruto glanced at the Sandaime who still hadn't taken his eyes off of him.

"Erm, winner," Hayate coughed through his surprise, "Naruto Uzumaki!"

Sparing no one any further glance, Naruto turned and walked away from the scene. He paid no attention to the silence of the arena that was half-dumbfounded and half-apprehensive. He paid no attention to the increased stares he was receiving from his former classmates, the jonin of Konoha, and even the team from Suna. He only paid attention to the eyes of his teammates after he climbed the stairs, and any apprehension he was feeling was washed away by the smiling face of Sakura and the approving nod of Sasuke. The look he was receiving from his sensei was less than ecstatic, however.

"What?" Naruto asked. "I didn't use the cursed seal."

Within an instant, Kakashi grabbed his and Sasuke's shoulders before flickering out of the arena.

Kurama sighed as the activity of the Jubi finally died down. His idiot vessel going into a rudimentary cloak did wonders in enforcing his will over the seal, pacifying the Jubi for the moment. With the blonde now on his mind, he couldn't help but think back to the two things that he had said that got under Kurama's pelt. A human apologizing for taking their misplaced anger out on him? What the hell was this, the Pure World? And then to later recognize that he was indeed the smartest being in all of existence even if it was just to seek his guidance for the boy's wholly insignificant issues…

Was his father sending echoes into random dunces or something? This was not typical human behavior. No one was ever more than a selfish, warmongering wretch to be devoured. Perhaps the blonde flesh bag wasn't so hopeless after all…

A passing memory of Kurama watching the idiot in question drink spoiled milk then came to mind, and he shook his head. Kurama wouldn't hold his breath on that.

Then, his red gaze landed on the unnaturally still Jubi bound outside of the bars of the seal. He didn't know how long that man's paltry seal would hold the Jubi, but he felt that the longer they waited, the greater the likelihood that it would break its bindings and escape. It needed to be purged before that could happen.

Almost as if it knew Kurama was thinking about it, the Jubi's neck twisted with a sickening crack, and its Rinne Sharingan was now staring at him directly.

"Me, Jubi. You, assimilate."

Kurama did not back away from the bars, nor did he nervously huddle into a protective ball with his wide eyes planted on the glowing reminder of the worst woman to ever exist.

He did not, and no one could prove otherwise.

Kakashi needed to know what deity he pissed off to wind up in this situation. All he wanted was a regular genin squad that understood the true meaning of teamwork and camaraderie, preferably with only a manageable level of emotional trauma to deal with as they aged. Whether or not he actually received the latter was still up for debate, but he at least achieved the former with his team, and he couldn't have been prouder to have them. They were wonderful little monsters that he was genuinely beginning to cherish, eccentricities and all, and after the hell they went through in Nami (especially on the bridge), he had the utmost confidence in their ability to pass the chunin exams. They'd be tested, certainly, but there were not very many threats that any genin could provide which would pose difficulty for Sasuke, Naruto, or even Sakura. Two of them were more than capable on their own, but when those three functioned as a unit, they were a sight to see.

So, naturally, he was floored when Anko and the Sandaime informed him of Orochimaru of the fucking Sannin attacking them in the Forest of Death.

Seriously, what the fuck??

Why in the bluest of hells was Orochi-fucking-maru going after his children? He initially assumed that he'd have to travel into the forest and scrape up their remains when he was first told of what happened, but Anko tried to assuage his concerns by recounting her encounter with Orochimaru.

Honestly, he would have preferred that Orochimaru just killed them instead of branding them with his cursed seal. He and Anko had a decent, if not peculiar, enough friendship for him to know the torment his taint caused her for a very long time. Orochimaru seeing fit to brand both Sasuke and Naruto with it only spelled the worst kind of trouble, and he truly did not want to think about what twisted machinations were working in his depraved mind.

With that in mind, he gladly drew up two fuinjutsu matrices in order to slap a containment seal on both Sasuke and Naruto, despite the difficulty of properly applying just one of them. It gave him the chance to get a good look at their respective seals as they were screaming in agony and falling into shirtless slumber. Curiously, Sasuke's cursed seal was nearly identical to Anko's, but Naruto's was different. He'd confer with her, the Sandaime, and (hopefully) Jiraiya if he returned to the village soon-

"You're missing one."

The ominous, silky intonation from the darkness behind him put Kakashi on high alert. Snapping around, he was faced with Orochimaru slowly approaching him with a casual yet very threatening smile.

"Orochimaru…" Kakashi growled.

"To think you'd be able to handle fuinjutsu of this level, Kakashi," Orochimaru lightly remarked, his dark smile remaining fixed and his posture completely unbothered. "Still, like I said, you're missing one."

"What do you mean?" Kakashi demanded, tense and ready to spring into action even if it meant giving his life to protect Naruto and Sasuke.

Orochimaru's smile deepened as if the question amused him. "Oh? Is your third student truly so insignificant that you don't even care that she bears one of my gifts, as well?"

Confusion quickly bled into realization, and that realization would shortly grow into panic. "You didn't…"

Orochimaru's sickening chuckle filled the room, bouncing off the walls to create a ghastly cacophony of depravity. "You didn't even realize it, did you? How delicious!"

His already dark smile grew even more serpentine as he eyed the two unconscious boys behind Kakashi. "It seems I truly won't even have to lift a finger. You all are simply pushing them into my hands; it's only a matter of time until they finally realize that they're wasting away in this miserable village and will never reach their true potential."

"What are you even after?" Kakashi pressed. "Why are you targeting these three?"

"My goals are beyond your understanding," Orochimaru mocked, and then his smile became a smirk. "However, one aspect of it is already in your eye socket."

"So, it's the Sharingan you want…" Kakashi muttered. "What the hell does that have to do with Naruto and Sakura, then?"

"Like I said, the Sharingan is simply one aspect of it. I need various pieces to put my ultimate plans into place, and I just so happened to stumble onto the king, the rook, and the bishop in the Forest of Death."

Orochimaru's face grew thoughtful, and one of his hands left his pocket to cup his chin. "Though, the bishop might be more of a silver general as of now. I haven't really gotten a great feel for her yet."

Orochimaru's gaze fell back onto Kakashi, and his threatening smirk remained as he began strolling towards Kakashi and his two unconscious genin. "It doesn't really matter in the end. They'll all be under my thumb soon enough."

A Raikiri flared to life in Kakashi's palm. "Don't you dare take another step! If you threaten my students, neither of us will leave this room!"

All he received was derisive laughter for his efforts. "What's so funny?"

"Now, why would I threaten what's already mine?" was all Orochimaru said before he slowly turned around to return to the darkness. "They'll find their way to me in time. Sasuke is an avenger, and Naruto will break free of the chains Sarutobi has him in eventually. They'll have nowhere else to turn to once the true stench of this village hits their nostrils."

Then, he stopped, but he did not turn to look back at Kakashi. "Oh, and that bit about neither of us leaving this room… well, here I am: leaving. Aren't you going to stop me?"

Kakashi did not move a muscle. The last encounter they had was nearly a decade prior, the day Orochimaru fled the village. He had a duty to stop him, but when a teenaged Kakashi was finally face to face with Orochimaru of the Sannin, he was petrified. Orochimaru barely even spared him a glance back then, and he was still rooted in place, just like he was right now.

"Just as I thought," Orochimaru chuckled. "Frozen, like a bitch. Like sensei, like precious pupil."

Orochimaru slowly disappeared into the darkness, and Kakashi's soul nearly fell out of his body once he was gone. What the hell was he thinking challenging Orochimaru like that? The man never lifted both hands out of his pockets at once, and somehow, little ol' Kakashi Hatake was supposed to be a threat to him? What a joke.

He sighed. He seriously needed to get back into top form. Zabuza shouldn't have been an issue for him, and he wouldn't have been had Kakashi not let his depression get the better of him and started slacking off. He was nowhere near the level he needed to be to keep his kids safe if monsters like Orochimaru had them in their sights, but that was going to change. It needed to change.

Still, Kakashi would allow himself this singular moment's respite. Gazing at the two unconscious boys in the concrete, he idly wondered if Sakura had her match yet. He treasured the fact that at least one of his charges was somewhat well-adjusted.

"So, what, you think coming from an illustrious clan, being its heiress, and having parents that love you makes you better than me?!" Sakura furiously shouted as she leveled Ino with brutal punch after punch, holding tightly to Ino's collar with her other hand to prevent her from escaping the onslaught.

"No!" Ino wailed while getting wailed on by her former best friend.

"Wrong answer!"

Naruto blearily peeled his eyes open when the shock of the sealing finally wore off. Running a hand along his aching head, he noticed that his shirt and jacket were back on.

"About time you woke up, loser."

Naruto turned to his right to see Sasuke sitting on the ground beside him, obviously still recovering his energy, as well. Before he could levy a joking insult back at him, a large hand ruffled his hair.

"Glad to see you're awake, Naruto," Kakashi remarked from behind, sending the two of them an eye-smile. "How are you feeling?"

Naruto took a moment to think about that. He felt around his body, and everything seemed to be in working order. Then, he felt around the seal and didn't notice anything that wasn't already present, nor did he find anything amiss with his chakra.

"…Not very different, to be honest," he finally answered with a shrug. "What's this containment thingy supposed to do anyway?"

"It'll isolate the cursed seal and hopefully prevent it from forcefully imposing its will on you," Kakashi replied.

"Hopefully?" Sasuke questioned with a quirked eyebrow, and even Naruto shared in his inquisition.

Kakashi sheepishly scratched the back of his head. "Well, the containment seal is less of a wall and more of a curtain. It functions entirely on your willpower to not use the cursed seal. So long as you don't peel back the curtain, you'll never get the compulsion to tap into its power."

"Out of sight, out of mind?" Sasuke deadpanned at their nervously chuckling sensei. "Seriously?"

"Look, this was the best I could do, okay?" Kakashi huffed, and both boys could tell that he was pouting under the mask. "I'm nowhere near a fuinjutsu expert, so I couldn't outright remove the cursed seals no matter how badly I wanted to. Hell, I'm not sure that anyone short of my sensei could do it at this point…"

That bit of info grasped their attention, and it was Naruto who inevitably asked. "Who was your sensei?"

"A story for another time," Kakashi quickly dismissed before clapping his hands. "Now, let's get back to the arena and check up on Sakura, shall we?"

"Oh, right, I wonder how she did!" Naruto exclaimed as he hopped to his feet and stretched the kinks out of his body. "I hope she didn't go up against someone like Bushy Brows… or Gaara."

"You seem concerned," Kakashi mused in curiosity.

"He's…" Naruto began, but he paused before looking toward Sasuke who was also looking at him quizzically. "He gives me a really bad feeling."

Sasuke took note of the quick glance Naruto shot him before he gave his vague response, but he opted not to speak up about it just yet. Instead, he simply sidled beside Kakashi so that they could be transported back to the arena. When they arrived, they flickered beside Sakura, causing her to jump in far more surprise than any of the trio thought necessary. Only moments later did they realize why, and they were not prepared for what they were greeted with upon their arrival.

"I'LL KILL YOU!" a frothing Kurenai spat at a bleeding Neji while fighting her hardest both against the snakes coming out of Anko's sleeves and Asuma doing his very best to restrain her from the front. "I'LL RIP YOUR FUCKING EYES OUT OF YOUR SKULL, YOU REPUGNANT PIECE OF FUCKING GARBAGE!"

"Kurenai, you need to calm down!" Asuma implored as he and Anko did everything in their power to keep any more genin from dying today.

The object of her rage, Neji, was currently locked in Might Guy's tight grasp to prevent him from moving, both to keep him from doing anything stupid or aggravating the deep gash trailing along his brow. A little ways behind them were Ibiki holding an unconscious Kiba, Hayate holding a blade to Shino's throat, and the Hokage with his head in his hands. Then, looking back behind Anko was the clear precipice of all of this: there laid Hinata, dead as a doornail in a pool of her own blood. It looked like she had been mercilessly brutalized every which way, and it wasn't difficult to connect the dots as to who was responsible.

"Hinata…" Naruto uttered in quiet shock. He hadn't had much of a relationship with her (or any relationship at all for that matter) in the academy, but she was one of the few people who were generally pleasant to him in the sparse interactions the two would have. To see her having been beaten and killed so brutally…

"Uh, what happened?" Kakashi questioned a frazzled Sakura.

Sakura took a moment to collect herself before answering. "Hinata fought her cousin…"

"Wait, her cousin??" Naruto asked, his incredulity only growing exponentially, and Sakura nodded.

"Same guy?" Sasuke asked, his eyes narrowing.

"Yeah, him," Sakura confirmed, knowing he was referring to their tense encounter in the Forest of Death.

As the Hokage finally stood and approached the devolving situation, Kakashi took this chance to gather more info. "Give us a rundown of what happened while we were gone."

Sakura nodded. "Well, right after you guys left, Rock Lee and Gaara fought. Gaara was insatiable, but Rock Lee pulled some really dangerous jutsu to battle him back. Guy-sensei called it the Eight Inner Gates."

"He used the Eight Gates??" Kakashi interrupted, aghast at the sheer audacity of the prospect.

"Mhm," she confirmed. "It sounded really dangerous, but he was pumping out so much chakra and moving so fast that I thought for sure that he was going to win."

"Did he?" Naruto asked.

"No, Gaara crushed his limbs and crippled him," Sakura shot the thought down. "Guy-sensei stepped in before it could go any further."

"Oh…"

"What else happened?" Kakashi pressed.

Sakura stroked her chin, "Well, I think that performance might have really upset Neji because he'd been festering in the corner since that match. The other boy from the Suna team killed Kabuto's other teammate with a puppet, Choji forfeited to Shikamaru, and the girl from Suna beat Tenten. She might've broken Tenten's back against her big fan, though."

"And your match?" Kakashi questioned.

Sakura immediately paled and shrank into herself. "Oh, um… I beat Ino, I guess."

Kakashi quirked his visible eyebrow at her. "You don't sound too excited about that."

"It's whatever," she shrugged, hoping to move on from the subject. She really didn't want to talk about how she nearly gave into the cursed seal's influence mid-fight.

"Ahem," Hayate loudly cleared his throat to get the room's attention. The floor had been cleared of Hinata's body (though not her blood), and Kurenai, Kiba, Neji, and Might Guy were now gone. "Now, for the final bout: Shino Aburame vs. Kabuto Yakushi!"

"I forfeit!" Kabuto wasted no time declaring from the other platform.

Hayate blinked in surprise at the suddenness of the decision. "Um, why?"

"I don't really like my chances of survival against him in his current state," Kabuto responded, motioning to Shino already on the battlefield. The low buzzing emanating from beneath his coat was like a continuous death nell for all foolish enough to trifle with him, meanwhile, he was projecting an aura of concentrated homicide so palpable that even Kisame Hoshigake the next country over was compelled to pause and grin toward the horizon.

"…Understandable," Hayate conceded. "Winner by forfeit, Shino Aburame."

Not a single word was uttered as Shino turned to leave the battlefield, but he was stopped by the voice of the Hokage.

"Do not leave just yet, Shino," the Sandaime called out. "Now, the winners of each match, assemble on the field!"

Team 7, sent off with a proud thumbs-up from Kakashi, descended the stairs and approached the Hokage and assembled proctors. True to Sakura's word, the Suna team and Shikamaru joined them and Shino on the arena floor, as well. Naruto's gaze was drawn to the Hokage's once again, and he couldn't help but notice that while it was still analytical of him, it had softened minutely since his return with Kakashi. He didn't get much time to ruminate on that before a stone-faced Might Guy appeared alongside them with Neji noticeably absent.

The thought of Neji brought a frown to Naruto's face, one that very quickly deepened into a downright venomous scowl. What kind of cold, twisted monster would murder their own family, especially someone as seemingly kind and nonthreatening as Hinata?? Sure, she was a little bit weird, but she didn't deserve to be put down like a fucking wild animal by her own fucking flesh and blood, no less-

"Naruto," Sasuke curtly whispered, snagging his attention. "The hell's with your eyes? You have a kekkei genkai or something?"

That shocked Naruto out of his deteriorating train of thought, and he shook off the red haze he was beginning to notice overtaking him. "Sorry, just deep in thought. What did they look like?"

"…They were red, and your pupils were slitted," Sasuke carefully replied. "Just like in the forest when we fought Orochimaru."

That was exactly what Naruto feared, but he couldn't yet let Sasuke in on the secret that somehow only he and the rest of the people his age were unaware of. He wasn't ready.

"…Yeah, they do that sometimes," Naruto evasively responded. "It's something I've had since birth."

Sasuke merely shot him a deadpan look at the horrendously obvious evasion, but he wouldn't push the issue. He could ring it out of him after these formalities were settled.

"Whatever it is, my Sharingan is better," Sasuke dismissed with a smirk as a box was held in front of him for him to draw a lot.

"Bite me," Naruto huffed as he drew a number, as well, and then Might Guy did the same.

"Now, one by one, please state the number you drew," Hayate instructed.

"Eight," Gaara spoke up from the other end of the mine.

"Six," Temari said from beside him.

"Three," Kankuro followed up.

"Two," Shino curtly stated.

"What a drag," Shikamaru sighed. "One."

"Seven," Sakura said next.

"Four," Sasuke answered.

"Nine," said Naruto.

"Five," Might Guy rounded them off.

Then, Anko spoke into a headset, and a tournament bracket appeared on the screen.

Hayate cleared his throat again. "The bracket is as follows: Match One is Shino Aburame vs. Kankuro, Match Two is Sasuke Uchiha vs. Neji Hyuga, Match Three is Temari vs. Sakura Haruno, and Match Four is Gaara vs. Naruto Uzumaki. Shikamaru Nara receives a bye and will face the winner of Match One at the end of the first round."

Hayate then turned to the Sandaime. "They're all yours, Lord Hokage."

"Excellent," he nodded. "I shall begin explaining the final round of the chunin exams."

'Hey, Kyubi.'

"What?"

'What is it about Gaara that riles the Jubi up?'

Naruto heard a deep hum rumble through his mind before the fox spoke. "If I had to guess, I'd say that it is because that boy is a jinchuriki like you, and the Jubi is sensing another biju's chakra that it wishes to consume and assimilate."

Naruto was taken aback for the umpteenth time that day by that revelation. He knew something was really off about him, but he certainly wasn't expecting that. 'Wait, seriously? Which one?'

"The Ichibi. The smell of bitch permeates through that boy, and I only know of one creature who smells of bitch so strongly."

'I… don't really know how to respond to that.'

"Simply be grateful that you were bestowed the honor to contain the power of the mightiest entity in existence. Bask in my glory, human."

"Well then, good work, all!" the Sandaime congratulated in conclusion. "You are all dismissed until one month from now!"

The collection of genin began to disperse, and Team 7 made to rendezvous with their sensei. However, they were stopped when Gaara appeared before them, or rather, he appeared before Naruto.

"Uzumaki," Gaara coldly addressed, sending a faint shiver up both Naruto and Sakura's spines. "I don't know why Mother is so afraid of you, but I'm going to enjoy tearing you limb from limb and gifting her your blood. Make our bout entertaining; I want to feel alive."

Without further preamble, he turned and walked away with his two teammates scrambling in tow. Temari briefly turned and shot Naruto a pitiful glance before she continued on her way toward their own sensei.

"That guy is seriously freaky," Sakura shuddered. "Do you think you can beat him?"

"…I don't know," Naruto admitted, his gaze casting downward before his hand hovered above his abdomen. "Maybe if…"

"No," Sasuke emphatically denied, snatching Naruto's wrist into his grasp. "If you're about to say what I think you are, then forget it. We will be better than resorting to that."

Naruto squinted in confusion until he finally caught up to what Sasuke had assumed he was referring to, and he blanched. "What? No, that's not what I meant! There's no way in hell I'm using that! I meant…"

He trailed off, wilting under the expectant looks of both Sasuke and Sakura.

"…something else," he lamely finished.

"But it is something?" Sakura probed.

The weary sigh that Naruto unleashed took both of his teammates aback. Naruto knew that the secret would come out at some point; if not by him, someone else in the know with malicious intentions would spill the beans to them, sorta like Mizuki had. He didn't know who in the village he could trust anymore after their encounter with Orochimaru. He didn't know if he could even trust anyone…

Well, perhaps there were two people he could.

"Would you two come with me to my apartment?" Naruto finally asked in a voice far too small for Sasuke and Sakura's comfort. "I'll tell you guys everything. Not here, though."

"Of course," Sakura quickly assured, placing a hand on his shoulder in support. "You can tell us anything you need. We're always here for you and each other, right, Sasuke?"

Sasuke looked away, wanting no business with this overt display of sharing vulnerability. Sakura would have none of it.

"Right, Sasuke?" she growled, snatching his ear into her iron grip and wrenching his head downward.

"Goddamnit, ow!" Sasuke yelped. "Fine, whatever! We're here for you, loser!"

Sakura beamed, and a smile broke through Naruto's unnatural show of diffidence.

"Thanks, guys," Naruto said, flecks of his familiar bluster returning. "I'll pick you guys up some instant ramen on the way!"

Sakura giggled and followed behind Naruto as he made his way to the exit, and Sasuke grumbled about him choosing the snacks next time before meandering after them.

All the while, Kakashi watched the scene from atop the viewing platform with an unseen smile. Ignoring the storm clouds hovering over them, it was fantastic to see them truly bonding into a real team. Unfortunately, ignoring those storm clouds was simply wishful thinking and a recipe for disaster.

"Kakashi," Anko called out to him as she approached, also gazing at the three genin depart the arena into the unending expanse of the tower.

"Anko," he addressed, already knowing what this would be about.

"What are you planning on doing with your brats?" she asked, getting straight to the point.

"I plan on taking the three of them out into the wilderness and training them into the ground for the month," he lightly responded.

"You know that's not what I meant," she said with a scowl.

"No, I know exactly what you meant," Kakashi countered. "It keeps them out of the village and away from Orochimaru… or any other potentially prying eyes."

Anko didn't need him to elaborate on that. She had a few ANBU watching her when she was initially brought back to the village after Orochimaru abandoned her. While she became familiar with a few of them, she did always notice one or two strangely blank signatures that typically stayed nearly out of reach of her senses. Kakashi's scant recounts of his brief time working under Danzo silently confirmed her suspicions.

"You think they'll have more eyes on them than just Orochimaru?" she asked.

"Maybe not all of them, but definitely Naruto in particular," Kakashi grimly replied. "A jinchuriki with a cursed seal is going to have some people asking uncomfortable questions, questions I'm going to do my best to shield them from."

"Right," Anko sighed. "Kid has it hard enough already. He doesn't need this, too."

She brought her gaze back up to Kakashi. "So, how are you planning on training them?"

"They each have kinks that need to be ironed out before they can go any further, some more than others," Kakashi began. "I'm going to address those, then refine their physical capabilities and taijutsu before immersing them into elemental ninjutsu."

Anko quirked an eyebrow at him. "You sure you're gonna be able to handle all of that on your own?"

"Whether I can or not is irrelevant at this point," Kakashi shrugged. "They need to be ready for whatever is to come, far more ready than they are right now."

"True," she conceded the point, but she wasn't entirely convinced. "Still, won't you be divvying yourself up too much to properly focus on the three of them? Their opponents aren't pushovers even if they're still punk ass genin, and your team is…"

For a brief moment, Kakashi thought that Anko was going to spare him her unfiltered opinion about his team, and he internally sighed.

"…really fucking ass as they are right now," she finished.

Kakashi thought wrong, it seemed.

"Granted, they're not as putrid as some of the other genin, but come on," she continued, ignoring Kakashi's growing slump. "It's pretty clear that the formula was last Uchiha, walking nuke, and a no-name straggler to round out the bunch. Individually, any competent genin with more experience than them would probably tear them apart."

"I'm well aware," Kakashi muttered from his spot on the ground with his knees to his chest and a rain cloud overhead.

"Oh, quit your damn crying," she exasperatedly sighed before hoisting him back to his feet and smacking him a few good times. "Look, I'm just leveling with you. If you're gonna turn these brats into world-beaters, you're gonna need help."

Kakashi immediately perked up at that. "Why, Anko, are you extending your services in training my cute, little genin for the finals?"

Anko immediately opened her mouth to shoot the thought down, but she paused, considered the thought, and slowly closed her mouth. She scowled to the side before sighing in concession. "I guess someone should be there to guide those two idiots of yours in resisting the cursed seal when it's still fresh. Keeping it at bay while using large portions of your chakra isn't as simple as it sounds."

"Three," Kakashi corrected.

Anko blinked. "Come again?"

"He marked all three of them with a cursed seal, apparently," Kakashi casually reiterated. "He told me so himself after I placed containment seals on Naruto and Sasuke."

Anko's brown, pupil-less gaze bore through Kakashi with so much incredulity that a passing observer would assume that Kakashi had threatened to cut her off from dango.

"And you just fucking let them wander on their own?!" she finally snapped in alarm.

"Of course not," Kakashi waved off her concern. "I'm just a shadow clone. The real me is breaking into Naruto's apartment ahead of them as we speak."

Anko's skeptical glare was soon followed by a kunai flying out of her sleeve and slamming into Kakashi's gut. The kunai hitting a non-vital area didn't matter, as "Kakashi" popped into a cloud have smoke.

"That son of a bitch…"

The silence within Naruto's apartment was suffocating to our blonde doofus. He anxiously sat in a chair in his living room, twiddling his thumbs and staring at the floorboards as Sasuke and Sakura sat on the couch in front of him. Four empty cups of instant ramen sit discarded around him in his earlier fruitless attempt to stall. He needed to just come right out with it, and that's exactly what he did… eventually.

"So, let me get this straight," Sasuke finally broke the silence, placing his empty cup of ramen down to steeple his fingers in thought. "The Kyubi, the giant, monstrously powerful creature of legend that stomped a mud hole into the village when we were babies, wasn't actually killed by the Yondaime like we were constantly told, but it was instead sealed inside of you?"

"…Yeah," Naruto sighed, his expression darkening ever so slightly. "I was the precious sacrifice that night."

The apartment was silent again as Sasuke considered the new information and the many, many implications it carried. Then, he brought his onyx eyes up to meet Naruto's cerulean once more. "…Is that where the whiskers come from?"

"I-" Naruto began before his annoyed squawk died in his throat. He had to stop and genuinely consider the question that he had never truly thought all that hard about. "…Maybe?"

Then, he vigorously shook his head, casting the distraction away. "Hold on, that's your takeaway from all this??"

Sasuke shrugged. "Well, it's obvious that this is why the villagers treat you the way they do, so it seemed pointless to ask."

Naruto wanted to rebut, but he was again struck silent and forced to concede the point. "Whatever."

Sasuke took the victory and turned to Sakura. "You haven't said anything at all. I'm surprised you're not freaking out about everything."

"…I might have already known," Sakura sheepishly admitted.

Sasuke and Sakura could have sworn that the sound of something falling to the ground and a muffled, "shit," echoed from somewhere within the apartment, but Naruto ignored that completely as he hopped to his feet.

"You knew??" he nearly shouted.

"Orochimaru let some info slip in the forest," she nervously explained, a bit of shame entering her expression as she minutely retreated inward.

"Why didn't you say anything?!" Naruto demanded.

Suddenly, a bout of conviction erupted from Sakura's core, and she met Naruto's gaze directly with a resolute expression. "Because it was your secret to tell, and I didn't want to bring it up if you weren't ready to talk about it yet."

Unseen was the mild pulsing of the Cursed Seal of Earth hidden under the neck of her qipao reacting to her instinctual distress. Cursed seal or not, however, the point was solid enough to pacify Naruto. In fact, more than just pacifying, it struck Naruto deeply in a manner he simply wasn't prepared for. He went into this endeavor with a healthy amount of dread that the only two people he might be able to trust would totally reject him once they learned the truth about him. Not only was that not the case, but one of his teammates was already aware and cared enough for him to wait for him to cross that bridge at his own pace. It filled him with a sort of warmth that he had only ever felt when he was given his very first hot meal at Ichiraku and when he was presented with his headband after the Forbidden Scroll incident.

"Thank you," he genuinely choked out, doing his best to strangle any tears that were chomping at the bit to spill.

"Of course, Naruto," Sakura replied, standing up to wrap him in a hug. "Like I said, we're always going to be there for each other."

For Naruto, this was wonderful. This was exactly what he needed. Now, he knew who he could trust implicitly.

"It warms my heart to see you all genuinely bonding," an adult voice from the hallway intoned, immediately capturing the attention of the three.

Right as Sasuke activated his Sharingan and produced a handful of shuriken, out stepped their sensei shooting them an innocuous eye smile.

"Yo," Kakashi greeted, completely ignoring his students falling to the ground in shock at his sudden appearance.

"Kakashi-sensei??" Sakura balked when she regained her bearings. "When the hell did you get here??"

"How the hell did you get in here?!" Naruto followed up.

"I broke in shortly before you all arrived," he gladly answered with a carefree tone. "Picking a lock is child's play for a seasoned jonin like myself, as is disabling all of the tripwires and explosive tags you have set up as a security system. Great selection by the way, Naruto, but I'd spring for something that would cause a touch less property damage to the other units of this building."

While Naruto filed that info away for later, it was Sasuke's turn to question him. "Why did you break in? And why were you eavesdropping on our conversation when you could've just come out at any moment?"

"To make a point," Kakashi answered, his tone losing its joviality and growing serious. "Anyone of my caliber or higher could have broken in and gotten the drop on you at any time, and you wouldn't have been able to do a thing about it. That's a problem, one that you cannot afford to have with someone like Orochimaru setting their sights on you."

That revelation made the three grow just as serious as their sensei; he was right. If he was a hostile invader, he could have killed them all before they even knew what hit them. Hell, Orochimaru could have done just that in the forest if that was his goal.

"I'd rather not waste any time," Kakashi continued. "We have a month to train you three into top form for the final round of the chunin exams, and I intend to see that happen."

"You're training all of us for the finals??" Naruto asked, the only one of the three able to speak through their surprise.

"That's the plan," Kakashi confirmed. "I can freely admit that I've been far too lax with you three in regard to prepping you for the darkness of the shinobi world, and that ends now. First thing tomorrow morning, we're going on a training trip, hopefully the first of many more to follow in the future."

"Wait, so, like proper training?" Naruto questioned. "Like crazy jutsu and stuff, not just tree walking and teamwork?"

"Yes, Naruto, proper training," Kakashi confirmed, opting to keep the explanation simple for the moment. "I don't think you all need any more help in teamwork, which is good if you all want to be a force to be reckoned with sooner rather than later."

Before they could digest that, Kakashi switched gears. "Now, tell me everything that happened in the Forest of Death."

That invitation for people to take this premise and and do whatever they want with it wasn't just a formality, I genuinely wanna see people cook. I'm in need of new stuff to read anyway since I'm experiencing the familiar hell of being caught up with everything I'm currently reading. Shit's tough out here; maybe I should branch out to grimdark MLP battle shonen, idk

Thanks for reading.