Author's Note: I am finally back! I apologize for the late update since I was finishing exams, but here we are. The chunin exams arc in my story will be somewhat different from the original, so don't expect it to go the same way as the series. I also won't include everything because a large part of the story will occur after a time skip which will hopefully happen in the next couple chapters. Thank you to my lovely readers! I adore you all and hope that this story can bring you joy during these difficult times. Please read and review!
Chapter 5: An Unwelcome Gift
The blond trudged away from his two teammates as he gingerly rubbed his head from Sakura's punch. She had reprimanded him for almost relieving himself in front of her. He didn't think twice about manners when nature called, but his feisty teammate sure did.
Currently, they were several hours into the survival phase of the exam, and so far it sucked. The bump on his head only added to his frustration.
The objective of the second part of the test was to obtain an Earth scroll and a Heaven's scroll and get to the building in the center of the woods, all within five days. Each team was given one of the scrolls, so they were to obtain the other one from another team. Their team had received a heaven's scroll.
Aside from the fact that Team Seven was competing against hundreds of other nin for an earth scroll, the forest was filled with potential threats, starting with the monstrous bugs hidden in the shrubbery. In their few hours in the training ground, they had come across giant purple centipedes around tree trunks. The foliage was thick and all-consuming leaving little visible including other nin, so they needed to be on their guard. One of their safeguards was to give a password each time one of them left the group and returned in order to ensure someone wasn't posing as a teammate. Naruto had complained about the password's superfluous length, but Sasuke and Sakura argued that it would prevent someone from guessing it correctly. Reluctantly, he obliged.
His other two teammates were waiting for him at the makeshift camp where they stopped for water and sustenance. Sakura and Sasuke had come prepared with several rice balls, courtesy of their mothers. Naruto had not brought anything, but there was enough for all three to share.
"Sasuke-kun," the pink haired girl spoke. The boy in question lifted his eyes from the ground where he was performing calculations on how much provisions they would require for the next five days.
With his attention, she continued, "Do you think we'll make it? The first part of the exam was much more simple in comparison. Not only do we have to find a team with an earth scroll, we have to get to the building center within five days. This forest looks like it goes on forever! How are we going to…." Sasuke's sigh ceased her rambling. He had the same worries as her, but he found it unproductive to dwell on those thoughts.
"That's what I'm trying to figure out." His irritated tone caused Sakura to look away, embarrassed by her complaints. She got up and sat next to Sasuke.
"Let me help then. You shouldn't have to do this all on your own." She picked up a twig and began tracing letters in the dirt. The raven haired boy looked at his teammate, surprised that she had taken initiative. Usually, she was nervous and flustered when a non-academic challenge presented itself. However, now that he pondered the matter, she had changed since their C-rank mission. Watching her hand furiously scribble and calculate with confident precision, Sakura wasn't the same girl he remembered. She seemed more sure of herself and willing to participate in combat. Of course, she had a ways to go, but she was on her way.
"So, the longer we stay, the harder it will be to find an earth scroll, since less teams will be competing as time increases. We also have to procure more food the longer we stay in the forest. Best case scenario, we find an earth scroll today and travel to the building tomorrow." Absorbing her deductions, he nodded in comprehension.
"At minimum, we'll need food for the rest of the day and tomorrow. Finding an earth scroll shouldn't be too difficult if we do it today since every team should still be competing today, leaving half of the teams, twenty five, with an earth scroll. The problem is locating the building," he replied. She hummed and licked her lips as she tried to determine a solution. The harmless action had drawn Sasuke's attention in an unexpected way. Her pale pink lips looked soft and smooth; briefly, he wondered what it would feel like to touch them before he chastised himself for such inappropriate thoughts. Luckily, his partner was so lost in her thoughts that she hadn't noticed.
"You can sense chakra signatures with your sharingan, right?" she asked with her clear green eyes peering into his coal ones. A fleeting, unidentifiable emotion flickered in his gaze and then returned to serious and stoic.
"Yes, but I don't know how that would help us find the building." Sakura gave him a sly smile. "You may not be able to sense the building, but you could sense the people in it. If you feel a large group of chakra signatures heading in a similar direction or stationary in one area, it would likely mean that the building is in that area. We also know that the building is somewhat in the center of the forest, excluding any areas near the perimeter of the forest." His brow arched in surprise. Sakura was more clever than he gave her credit for.
"It's not a perfect method, but it will do. Once the idiot gets back, we can start looking for food and an earth scroll." He had never used sharingan to track people, but he would give it a try. In theory it should work, and he had heard of some of his clansmen using it for such purposes.
The next few minutes were spent discussing strategies for obtaining a scroll and food. When encountering another team, they would need to determine which scroll they possessed as soon as possible. If they didn't have an earth scroll, they would flee and continue their search. There was no point in fighting someone who didn't have what they needed. As for food, Sakura was familiar with some edible herbs and berries from a book she read, but they would need meat to keep their strength up. Once night fell, they would locate a body of water because it usually meant there was fish or other animals close by.
"Naruto has been gone a while. Did something happen to him? We should go look for him," the kunoichi stated.
"I'm right here!" a voice yelled from behind the hair. Sakura's eyes lit up at the sight of her blond teammate. Naruto approached them.
"Stop! What's the password?" the Uchiha demanded.
The blond rolled his eyes and perfectly recited the password. Then, Sasuke launched himself at the blond.
"Sasuke-kun! That was the right password!"
The sharingan wielder had the blond in a choke hold. "Exactly. That baka wouldn't have remembered it, and he has a scratch on his left cheek." Sakura gasped at the realization that someone was impersonating Naruto.
"Your henge could use some work." Sasuke squeezed the imposter whose body melted into a clear thick liquid. Meters in front of the pair, the nin revealed himself. He was covered in a cream suit and wore a strange mouth piece. From his headband, they could see that he was from the Mist village.
"Hand over the scroll," the mist nin said in a raspy voice. The strange looking nin rushed towards the pair. Sasuke looked at Sakura who nodded. It was time to test their strategy.
Sasuke leapt forward with his sharingan activated. He trapped the mist nin in a paralysis jutsu that Itachi showed him a week ago. Meanwhile, Sakura snuck up behind the nin and searched his form for a scroll. The mist nin grunted as he struggled in the genjutsu.
Sakura's hand grazed his left side and felt a scroll in his left pocket and took it out. The black seal and script indicated that it was an earth scroll, just what they were required.
" I got it! It's an earth scroll!" she exclaimed as she raised the object above her head.
His gaze remained unmoved to maintain the genjutsu. "Great. Now knock him out, and we'll find Naruto."
"Oh….right!" She moved behind their opponent and struck the area between the nape of his neck and shoulder. His body crumpled to the ground with a thud. Sakura couldn't help but feel proud of herself, and neither could Sasuke. When she wasn't fawning over him and flirting, they made a surprisingly good team.
He beckoned her to him while searching the area for the mist nin's partners, but he didn't detect anyone close by. "I'll take the scroll since you don't have pockets or room in your pouch." She handed over the scroll, and he tucked it away in his right pocket.
A thump resounded from a nearby tree. The pair looked up and saw their other teammate grinning with his arms crossed.
"So about that password… I forgot it." He laughed and jumped down to the ground.
"That was kind of the point," the Uchiha mumbled as he crossed his arms.
"You missed out Naruto! We just got an Earth scroll!" Sakura shot him a smug look and put her hands on her hips. The blond inhaled sharply and started to whine. "What?! I leave for ten minutes, and I miss all of the action!"
Sasuke shook his head and smirked. "That's what you get for having small bladder dobe." Naruto stomped over to him and started yelling at him. The raven-haired nin turned his nose up and started walking in the opposite direction while Sakura followed close behind.
"Hey where are you going?!" The blond chased after his friends.
"We're finding a body of water to hydrate and hopefully catch a few fish for dinner," Sakura informed him once he caught up.
Evening came and the group successfully located a pond. They were able to catch an ample amount of fish and set up a campfire and beds for the night. The rest of the evening was spent preparing for the next day. Their goal was to reach the building checkpoint by nightfall meaning they needed to travel the whole day and stock up on food and water beforehand.
Having some knowledge of edible plants, Sakura ventured a few meters outside of their little gathering to see if she could collect some food. Meanwhile, Sasuke and Naruto set up traps and devised a guard schedule for the night. Each of them would have a two and a half hour shift starting with Naruto, then Sakura, and finally Sasuke.
Once Sakura returned and recited their password, they told her the plan and they discussed further scenarios for tomorrow.
"Guys, I had an idea. Would we be able to put a henge on the scrolls or somehow disguise them in case someone tries to take it?" Naruto asked. His teammates turned to him with wide eyes. It was an inventive idea, and they hadn't expected it to come from their knucklehead teammate.
"That's actually a good idea," Sakura replied.
"Hey! Is it that difficult to believe that I came up with it?" the blond demanded indignantly.
"Yes," the Uchiha replied simply. "Do either of you have any scrolls?" Sakura shook her head no, and the blond riffled through his backpack to retrieve five scrolls. Three were sticker seals, while the others had cloth seals secured with leather ties.
Examining the scrolls, Sasuke removed the cloth scroll seals. He took out the Heaven's scroll and placed the purple wrapping around it.
"Sasuke-kun! What are you doing?" The girl was horrified that he was tampering with the scrolls that they were tasked to guard with their lives. Messing with the sacred objects could possibly result in them failing out of the exam.
The blond chuckled as Sasuke proceeded to remove the other cloth seal and placed it on the Earth scroll.
"I got it! We can disguise the scrolls without damaging or opening them because the cloth won't stick and can be easily removed."
"Oh! Then, all we have to do is remove the fake seals when we get to the checkpoint! What a great idea Sasuke-kun!" The girl clasped her hands and smiled at her crush.
"Sakura-chan!" the blond whined. He had originally suggested it, but here Sasuke was getting all of the credit as usual. With his thunder stolen and missing the acquisition of the Earth scroll, it was just not his day.
X
The man growled. He hadn't expected those brats to progress so much on the first day, and an unexpected run in with some Anbu scouts had delayed him. His target was miles ahead of his prediction, so he had been unable to confront them. There was no other option but to travel through the night and attack them on sight.
X
Halfway through his shift, he heard a rustle from the camp. Sasuke glanced over his shoulder and saw his blond friend push aside his blankets and stand up.
"I gotta take a leak. Be back in five." Ten minutes passed, and Naruto had yet to return to the camp. The Uchiha activated his sharingan to locate his friend, but he wasn't within range. He briefly contemplated rousing Sakura and going to search for Naruto together.
A cool breeze passed through and ruffled his spiky black locks. He sensed an eerie but familiar chakra signature.
"Sakura! Get up," Sasuke yelled. Instantly, Sakura shot up from her sleeping grab with a kunai in hand.
"Sasuke-kun, what is it? Where's Naruto?" she asked, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. She scrambled their items together and rushed towards him.
"I sense an unfamiliar chakra," he spoke softly. Getting into a defensive formation, the pair surveyed the landscape for an enemy.
Grey smog flowed around the area and soon dissipated to reveal three Amegakure nin. The one in the center of three, presumably the leader, had long black hair and black eyes.
"I can take care of these two on my own," the leader ordered. His teammates nodded and disappeared into the mist.
Not one to take chances, Sasuke quickly executed a fireball jutsu. Fierce flames engulfed the foe, but when the fire cleared the man's face appeared to have melted off. His real face was pale as snow, and his golden eyes were shaped like a snake's eyes. Instantly, the Uchiha recognized the nin as Orochimaru, the man who tried to kidnap him years ago. Fear and terrible memories of that cursed night washed over him. Sakura gasped at the horrible sight, but the man merely smiled.
"Long time no see Sasuke-kun," he said, licking his lips. Sasuke needed to get out of there as soon as possible, but he couldn't move. Fear had frozen him in place. Orochimaru decided to have some fun with his prey before he carried out his true objective.
Sakura and Sasuke's visions were filled with images of kunai piercing their skulls and pools of blood. They gasped for air as if suffocated by the terrifying visions of their deaths. Sasuke tried to regain his composure and looked over to Sakura, who was trembling.
"Sakura!" he shouted to get her attention. She didn't acknowledge his call, and her body continued to shake. It was up to Sasuke to take control of the situation with Sakura out of it and Naruto gone.
Orochimaru cackled with glee as he took in the sight of the frightened genin. They looked like little rabbits about to be captured by a snake. He unfurled his tongue and slipped it into Sasuke's left pocket and took out a scroll. However, the scroll had a purple seal, so it couldn't be an earth or heaven's scroll. He contemplated searching his person for another scroll, but he didn't see an outline of a scroll in any of Sasuke's remaining pockets. Dropping the scroll, he retracted his tongue.
"Hm, what a pity. I would have thought that the great Sasuke Uchiha would have at least one scroll. However, if your blond friend has them, it won't matter, anyway." Sasuke's eyes narrowed.
"What did you do to Naruto?" he questioned. The snake man smirked. "I gave him to my pet as a snack."
Infuriated by the mention of his teammate's possible demise, Sasuke wracked his brain for a way to escape. His top priority had to be getting Sakura out of there and finding Naruto. If his brother's battle with the man ended in a draw, Sasuke didn't stand a chance against him.
The sannin bared his teeth and looked poised to strike.
Move! Sasuke thought. He slammed a kunai into his leg and grabbed Sakura and leapt away. Not to let his prey escape, Orochimaru's neck stretched and caught up with Sasuke. Sharp fangs punctured Sasuke's neck which forced him to fall to the ground with Sakura. He screamed in agony. It felt as if he had been poisoned. Orchochimaru's head returned to his body.
"I have to go, but I'll be seeing you soon, Sasuke-kun. Next time, you will seek me." With his ominous words, the nin fled.
Due to the fall, Sakura snapped out of her panic-induced stupor and moved to help Sasuke.
"Sasuke-kun! Your neck! Are you alright?" She saw the wound on his neck. The injury closed up and was replaced by three black commas. Sasuke was hunched over the ground and hyperventilating. He responded with a groan and keeled over. She dragged his body over to a nearby tree and fetched their disguised earth scroll. Now, she was especially thankful for Sasuke and Naruto's smart thinking. Speaking of Naruto, the knucklehead stumbled onto the scene and collapsed when he saw Sakura and Sasuke before she could ask him about his encounter with the pet the strange nin spoke of. She couldn't help but think to herself how horrible Naruto's timing was, but she was grateful that the three of them were together. She lifted him up and laid him under the tree next to Sasuke. She fished around in his pocket and retrieved the heaven's scroll.
Without her teammates, she didn't know what to do. Usually one of them or Kakashi would guide her, but they weren't here. It was just her, all alone, in this creepy forest. She'd have to take care of them and protect the scrolls herself. She fished both the scrolls out of the boys' pockets and hid them on her person.
Hours passed without any sign of Naruto or Sasuke awakening. As time passed, Sasuke's groans continued. He was covered in a sheen of sweat and trembled every so often in pain. With no idea how to help him or understanding of his condition, Sakura resigned to watch over him and Naruto and change their cold compresses every hour or so. She had put up a few traps including a genjutsu. She hoped it was enough to shield them until one of her teammates recovered.
A brown bunny came bounding across the forest floor, but Sakura was able to throw a kunai to ward it off before it set off the trap. She sighed in relief, but more movement followed. A squad off three nin landed with unfamiliar headbands. The female member easily dispelled the genjutsu while the other two set off and successfully evaded Sakura's other traps. The black spiky haired nin came charging towards the pink-haired kunoichi.
"You're clever, but you don't deserve to call yourself a kunoichi!" he roared. With no choice but to defend her comrade, Sakura grabbed her kunai and leapt forward to meet her attackers.
X
Blurry figures came into focus when he opened his eyes. He groaned and sat up to scan the area. Sakura was several feet away with Ino who was trimming her hair. He found it odd that Sakura, who treasured her long hair, had parted with it and was letting her sworn rival Ino help her. Adding to the peculiarity of the situation, the rest of Team 10 was situated behind the pair watching over an unconscious boy who had challenged Sasuke to a fight earlier back at the testing site. Naruto had coined the nickname Bushy Brows for him given the genin's thick black eyebrows that resembled caterpillars. He looked behind him and saw his other teammate pacing back and forth under a large tree with a brooding expression. With the collection of strange familiar faces, the blond got up and sought his less moody teammate to fill him in on what happened.
"Hey Sakura! What the hell happened here? Why is Bushy Brows here?" Before the Uchiha could answer, Sakura got up and punched the blond on the head.
"Baka! You better not say anything bad about Lee!" Naruto whined and gripped his head.
"Ok! Ok! Sorry! What happened and what are they doing here?" He pointed at Team 10 accusingly.
Sakura's expression softened. "They came to help us."
"We're going to head out. See you on the other side," Shikamaru said. The lazy nin saluted and left the area with his teammates in tow.
"We're not going to see if they have a scroll?" the large and stout teammate whispered. The blond female grabbed him by the ear and pulled him away. Before the team decided to help Sakura defend herself from her attackers, Shikamaru quietly decided not to take a scroll off of Team 7. Before the exam, his father had instructed him to stay clear of the Uchiha. The Uchiha had a reputation for being brutal and politically controversial which was something the Nara wanted to avoid, especially after witnessing Sasuke's strange new power. He wasn't stupid enough to steal a scroll from the second heir to the strongest clan in Konoha. He valued his life.
"Sasuke! Hey, over here," Naruto yelled. The sharingan wielder came over to his teammates and sat down with them. He grinned as his stoic friend.
"Good thing we're all together now!" Sakura smiled and pushed a strand of hair behind her ear. Reminded of the change in her appearance, Naruto inquired about it.
"What happened to your hair?" He and Sasuke turned to their female teammate who gently touched the ends of her pink locks.
"I just needed a change," she answered. Sasuke nodded in agreement and added, "Much more practical for the environment." She blushed and thanked Kami that Sasuke seemed to be tolerant of her new hair style. Years ago, there was a rumor going around the academy that Sasuke liked girls with long hair. Naturally, most of the girls in their grade grew out their hair, including Sakura. In the heat of her battle, she hadn't considered the impact on her future with Sasuke after her hair loss. All she could think of was protecting her friends.
"Ugh….ok," Naruto was clearly still confused and missing something.
"Do you have a problem with it?" Sakura demanded as she turned accusing eyes onto her blond teammate.
"No! No! It's like teme said, um, more practical. Yeah! More practical," Naruto gave Sakura his more sincere smile hoping that she wouldn't hit him again. Instead she shrugged.
"It was getting difficult to maintain without a brush and hair dryer on hand."
The group turned their gazes to Lee, or Bushy Brows. A girl with two twin brown buns atop her head appeared by his side.
"I'm his teammate. I got him." She heaved the green spandex clad nin over her shoulder and ran off into the forest.
With no one else around but her teammates, Sakura took the two scrolls out and laid them in the center of their circle.
"Luckily, we still have both scrolls. I think you two should take one each since I had to guard both of them while you were both out of commission." Naruto took the heaven's scroll, and Sasuke took the earth scroll.
"We need to find some food before we continue to the building. It might also be good for us to rest somewhere for the night," she further instructed.
"Do we have any water?" Sasuke inquired. Sakura took out several canteens of water from her pack.
"I filled them up at the lake. We should have enough for tonight and tomorrow." The boys each grabbed a bottle and drank while Sakura proceeded to explain to Naruto what had happened with Orochimaru and their later ambush, with Sasuke filling in extra details.
"So do you have any idea who this creep was?" the blond questioned. She shook her head no. Sasuke activated his sharingan and quickly scanned the area for other chakra signatures. With none detected, his eyes became black and met the confusion of his teammates.
"What I'm about to tell you is technically a village secret, so you better keep quiet." He glared at Naruto, a known blabbermouth, for emphasis.
"I'm telling this for your own safety, but that man was the person who tried to kidnap me years ago. His name is Orochimaru, and he's one of the legendary sannin who deserted Konoha a while ago." The two genin were completely astonished. They knew of the attempted kidnapping, but they were told that it was a missing nin from an enemy village.
"That would explain why he was so powerful. We're lucky to be alive," the kunoichi added.
"What's a sannin?" Naruto asked sheepishly. Sasuke tossed him a disbelieving look, but then he reminded himself that the blond was dead last for a reason.
"Honestly you baka, the sannin are the most powerful team to ever come out of our village. The particular one we encountered, Orochimaru, is known for his master of all different types of jutsu and affinity for snake summons. He was kicked out of the village a while ago for running illegal experiments on humans." She paused and bravely added, "We need to tell Kakashi-sensei about Orochimaru. He's dangerous and likely still in the village." Sasuke nodded in accord. He'd also alert his father. As head of the Uchiha clan, he had made it a priority to hunt down the snake sannin ever since his slight against his clan. He would be very interested in this information.
"I bet that snake that tried to eat me was his!" While Sasuke and Sakura were busy with the sannin, Naruto had been ambushed by a ridiculously gigantic snake.
"Probably. I was wondering what happened to you, dobe. You look worse for wear," Sasuke added with a smirk as he gave his friend a once over. His skin was covered in cuts and bruises, not to mention his torn clothing that was covered in an opaque slime.
"Hey! You try escaping the belly of a giant snake, and we'll see how good you look pretty boy." He continued to explain how the snake swallowed him, and he produced thousands of shadow clones causing the creature to expand until it exploded. His teammates were impressed, but Sakura had a hard time believing Naruto could make thousands of clones as a genin.
"Now it's your turn!" the blond exclaimed.
"When you two were knocked out, I tended to your wounds and watched over you. That was until another team attacked us. They said they were from the Sound Village, and they were brutal. I was almost done for until Lee arrived, and later Team 10 came to help as well. Sasuke-kun came to and was able to take out one of the Sound nin too. They saw that they were outnumbered and fled just before you woke up." Following Sakura's recanting of the attack, Team Seven foraged in the forest for dinner and later made a camp for the night. They turned in for any early night because they wanted to cover as much ground as they could tomorrow because they would have seven days left as of tomorrow.
During her watch shift, the pink-haired genin couldn't help but mull over her thoughts. Nothing she told Naruto was untrue, but she purposely left out a few details. First, Sasuke didn't just take out one of the nin. He broke both of his arms after discovering that the enemy nin was responsible for the purple bruises on Sakura's delicate face. Secondly, Sasuke had emitted a different type of chakra when he woke up. It was so powerful that one could see it visibly. This new chakra was purple and felt ominous. It made Sakura shiver just recalling it. His body also became covered in strange markings that vacillated between black and orange. This new form of Sasuke's scared Sakura because it felt as if he couldn't tell friend from foe.
Luckily, Sakura was able to calm him and get the marks to recede when she called out to him and hugged him from behind. Lastly, she left out the fact that Orochimaru had bit Sasuke and given him the strange mark. She deduced that Sasuke's new abilities had something to with it. Naruto would definitely freak out if he knew about the hug and Sasuke's new power. His thinly veiled crush on Sakura wasn't news to her, and he was always competing with Sasuke. With everything that had happened in the past 24 hours, she didn't want to be the cause of any teamwork issues over something as petty as jealousy.
X
After their run-in with Orochimaru's newest obsession, the team of sound nin rested in a small alcove. They hadn't expected Sasuke to master the curse seal, let alone survive it. The jutsu had a 10% success rate, and failure ensured an impending death. Of course, their master would be pleased to know that the Uchiha had lived through it, but their team was angry with the cost they paid to test the brat. Zaku had two of his arms broken. Kin had depleted most of her chakra and was passed out along with the multiple cuts and bruises she sported. Only Dosu had made it out relatively unscathed, but he couldn't carry the team through the rest of the exams alone.
The chunin exams were turning out to be more than he bargained for given his clandestine mission to test Sasuke Uchiha and acquire an extra set of scrolls. The kid's team was lucky that they had obtained the additional scrolls before their encounter. Otherwise, they would have taken some from Sasuke's team.
"Dosu. Nice to see you. I'll take those two scrolls now." The silver-haired man sat down next to him on the ground. He pushed up his glasses and flashed Dosu an innocent smile.
With a grunt, Dosu retrieved earth and heaven scrolls from his pouch and handed them over.
"Thank you Dosu! It's a shame that Kin and Zaku have such injuries, but you know what they say - you have to crack a few eggs to make an omelet." He rose from his seat and disappeared.
"Damn you Kabuto," Dosu growled.