Naruto: The Uchiha Chronicles Re-Version:

Hey everyone, sorry for not posting yesterday, something came up. Anyways, enjoy the chapter, we get to see the beginning of the second exam.

Arc VI: Chunin Exams:

Chapter 36: Looming Danger, the Second Stage Begins!

-x-x-x-x-x-x- NTUC -x-x-x-x-x-x-

Sakura broke the stunned silence that followed Ibiki's announcement. "What do you mean we passed? We haven't even heard the question." She asked.

Ibiki gave them a cheesy grin. He was like a different person. The serious aura was gone, replaced by a jovial cheer. "There was no tenth question, well not a written one. Your decision to stay was the answer to the tenth question." He explained.

"Then what the hell were those other questions for?" Karui shouted in annoyance.

Temari nodded, agreeing with Karui. "Exactly! Why did we have to waste out time on them?"

"No, no, quite the opposite. The first nine questions had an important purpose. To test your ability to surreptitiously gather strategic information under adverse circumstances." Ibiki explained.

"Oh, well that clears up everything." Temari muttered snarkily.

"Let me explain. You see, my objective was to test you not only as individuals, but as a team, and how well you function as part of it. That's why we scored on a team basis. So you'd know that everything you did effected your teammates. I wanted to see how you'd handle the pressure. The first nine questions were intentionally difficult. Too difficult for the average shinobi. I'm sure most of you realized you'd have to cheat to succeed. Of course, that would be little good unless we provided a few people to copy off." The scarred man nodded at several of the supposed test-takers, one of them being a bespectacled man Naruto had copied from.

"Those who were caught, failed. After all, better not to cheat at all, than to do it clumsily …" Ibiki paused and removed his bandanna. Underneath was a bald head that was a ruin of scars. A lattice of burn scars, slash marks, and even drill holes marred the skin. Naruto's stomach churned. Somebody had tortured the man horribly.

Ignoring the shocked gasps, the scarred man continued speaking. "…Information can be the most valuable weapon in a battle. There'll be times you must risk your life to get it. Of course, you must always consider the source of your information. Intelligence gathered from the enemy isn't necessarily accurate. Always bear this in mind. Bad intel can be worse than no intel. The death of comrades, or the loss of a village. That's why I put you in that situation. Cheat to survive. It's why those who weren't good enough failed. That leaves the rest of you."

His words were powerful, ensnaring the participants and making them re-evaluate their jobs. Naruto himself felt the truth of Ibiki's words. He knew how powerful information could be.

"Still not getting the point of the tenth question." Temari remarked dryly.

"You're not? It was the entire point of the test. To test you not just as individuals, but as part of a squad. The final question gave two difficult choices. Reject the question, though it meant you and your teammates failed. Or accept, knowing that if you got it wrong, you'd lose the chance of ever being chunin. A no win situation. Just the sort chunin face every day." Ibiki had them enthralled, hanging on his every word. His passion burned brightly and lit a fire inside your stomach. "Let's say hypothetically you need to steal a document from an enemy stronghold, but you have no idea how many men the enemy has, or how sturdy their defenses are. Furthermore, you've reason to believe they know you're coming. You might be walking into a trap. Do you have the option of rejecting it, saying my comrades and I would rather live to see another day?

"The answer is no, you can't. There will be many missions that seem suicidal if you think about it, but the power to not think about it, to think only of the goal, of achieving it with courage and discipline. These are the qualities required of a chunin squad leader. Those who choose the safe route. Whose determination falters in the face of adversity, who would put their comrades lives in danger by worrying about themselves. Those who would save their own necks at the price of sacred honor, will never be chunin so long as I have anything to say about it." Ibiki said, finishing his speech with a powerful declaration.

'Huh, kinda like someone refusing to go all out just because they were scared of some coward in a mask they've never met.' The Nine-Tails commented snidely.

The words were a bath of ice water for the fire that Ibiki's words ignited in Naruto.'Shut up, fox.' He retorted. Deep inside he felt a pit of doubt. The parallel had merit, though Naruto would never admit that.

"So, for the rest of you, you've successfully answered all my questions. You've earned the right to continue to the next step. You've passed through the first gate. I hereby declare this part of the chunin selection exams finished. There's nothing left but to wish you all good luck." The scarred man told them with a grin.

Shoving aside his misgivings, Naruto smirked back at Ibiki. He was eager to see what the next test held. This was clearly a portion geared to the mental aspects of the job. The next one would probably involve a test of combat skills.

From nowhere, Naruto felt a large chakra signature approaching. It was powerful, like a blazing flame with an underlying firmness and an evil taint clinging to the rest. The window closest to the front shattered as a round ball of black cloth hurtled through. The ball hurtled through the air amidst a hail of glass shards. It began to unfurl in front of them, revealing itself to be a banner with a woman curled up inside. She spun, tossing four kunai to pin the banner in place. She landed on her feet, striking a pose proudly before the banner.

'Second exam proctor, Anko Mitarashi!' The banner read. The woman herself was as odd as her banner. She had a mischievous round face, with brown eyes and purple hair bound into a fanned ponytail and wore a tan trench coat over a provocative mesh body suit that accentuated her figure, and a short orange skirt.

"Listen up boys and girls, this is no time to be celebrating. I'll be your next proctor, Anko Mitarashi." The woman declared with a grin

Naruto felt his cheeks burn, trying not to let his eyes wander to the corded necklace with a fang that hung between her breasts. He'd never really seen a kunoichi dress as provocatively as this proctor. Wrestling his hormones under control, he felt the blush slowly die down. It was distracting enough he'd almost missed the woman thrusting her fist into the air enthusiastically.

"Ready for the second test, good let's go, follow me!" She shouted.

Ibiki pulled aside the banner and looked at Anko in annoyance. "You're early … again." He commented wryly.

'She's certainly … eccentric.' Naruto thought in amusement. Not that he had much room considering the company he kept.

Anko's cheeks flushed red in embarrassment. When she got over it, the woman raised an eyebrow and shot a side-eye at Ibiki. "How many are there? Ibiki, you let all these guys pass? Your test was too easy, you must be getting soft."

"Or, it could be this is a more impressive crop." He said with a challenging smirk. Anko rose an eyebrow and surveyed them. She looked unimpressed, giving them a condescending smirk.

"Hmm, they sure don't look it. Not that it matters much. Trust me, by the time I'm through with them they'll be cut in half." She said, an ominous and amused look on her face.

"More than half, really?" Omoi exclaimed with wide eyes. The boy began to mutter about doom scenarios for them.

If anything, Anko's grin widened at his worried mutterings. "This is gonna be fun. Alright, you maggots have had it easy so far. I'll let your squad leaders know where to meet me first thing in the morning. Dismissed~" she said, finishing in a singsong voice.

-x-x-x-x-x-x- NTUC -x-x-x-x-x-x-

That evening, Kakashi had found them as they enjoyed a bowl of ramen at Ichiraku. They were told to meet at Training Ground 44. He'd handed them a small map of the village with the site marked in red. He'd offered an ominous "Good luck" before departing.

Training Ground 44 stood amidst a landscape of jutting rock surfaces that reached to the sky like grasping fingers, surrounded by large sections of grassy plain. It was far from the bustle of the main village. Naruto and his teammates had set out bright and early. The sun already hung high in the sky. Though the air was still cool, just a hint of heat warned of the warm summer day that would follow.

Now they stood gathered with the other genin that passed the first stage. Before them a massive forest loomed behind a weather beaten chain-link fence three times the height of your average human. Caution signs were everywhere along the fences length, warning against entering the forest. It was somehow dwarfed by truly titanic trees. Branches as thick as carriages tangled together in a dark net. Despite the bright sunlight not a bit seemed to pierce the tree line. The air carried the musty scent of earth and decaying leaves. For Naruto it was worse than the others. He didn't just see the creepiness, he felt it. With his chakra senses he could feel hundreds, maybe even thousands of chakra signatures tinged with sensations he'd normally attribute to wild animals. But they were large, far too large. If the rumors were true, they belonged to terrible beasts. Anko Mitarashi stood in front of the gates to the fence with her hands on her hands on her hips, a sadistic smile threatened to break across her face at any second.

"Whoa, this place sure looks huge, and a bit creepy. What is it." Sakura asked in wonder.

"This is the Forty-Fourth Battle Training Ground. Also known as the Forest of Death. And soon enough you're gonna find out why." Anko said ominously.

A chill wind swept between the jutting rock faces that surrounded them, much colder than it should have been on such a warm morning. Naruto couldn't help but wonder whether it was a trick to enhance the eeriness of Anko's words. Or was there something truly off about this place?

"Alright, first things first. I'm gonna have to get you to sign something. A consent form." Anko reached into her coat an pulled out a stack of papers.

"What for?" Karui asked with an annoyed look.

"Well, some of you might not make it back. So I gotta get you to sign these saying you understand the risk. Can't have that falling on my shoulders. No form, no exam." The proctor explained cheerfully. "Now I'll explain what you'll be doing in this test. Here kid, pass these out."

Anko pointed at Naruto and held out the consent forms. Raising an eyebrow, he stepped forward a few paces and took them none the less. Falling back to his teammates, he took three, then handed them off to Kabuto. The stack slowly made its way through the gathered genin. Naruto glanced at his form curiously. It was straightforward. Your standard consent form with all the proper legalese that made your head spin.

While they were reading their forms, Anko started to explain the test. "The first thing you need to know is that this test is meant to test every one of your survival skills. First, I'll give you a look at the terrain of the battle ground." Anko pulled out a scroll, letting it unfurl to reveal a overhead drawing of the forest. "There are forty-four locked gates, with rivers and a forest inside. In the center is a locked tower located ten kilometers from each gate. It's in this confined area, that you'll undergo your test. The test consists of …" She put away the scroll, an excited gleam in her eyes. "… Anything goes battle to get these scrolls."

For a third time Anko reached into her coat. Naruto idly wondered how much exactly the kunoichi had stored in that coat. Was she using something like the storage seals on his armguards, or did it just have that many pocklets? Anko brought out two more scrolls, smaller than the map. One white with blue bands and the symbol for 'Heaven' on it, and the other blue with a white stripe with 'Earth' on it.

"Both of them?" Sasuki asked for clarification.

"Yeah, one of each. A heaven scroll, and an earth scroll. All together twenty-six teams will take part in the test. Half will be going after the heaven scroll, while the other half go after the earth. I'll hand over one kind of scroll to each team. And that's what you'll be vying for."

"So then how do we pass?" Samui inquired.

"You pass by bringing both a Heaven scroll and an Earth scroll." Anko replied simply.

"So looks like she's keeping her word, at least half will fail." Sakura said quietly.

Naruto nodded in silent agreement. At first, he thought it was a throw away comment, but it seems Anko really was intent on whitling down the competition to the third stage.

"Nobody ever said it would be easy." Anko grinned at Sakura's widened eyes. Apparently she wasn't quiet enough. "Oh yeah, one more thing, this test has a time limit. You have to finish within five days."

"Five days out there!" Ino gasped. Choji was quick to ask about what they'd do for food.

Anko waved a dismissive hand. "Just look around, the forest is full of things to eat."

"Yeah but, it's also full of man-eating beasts and poisonous plants." Kabuto replied dryly.

Neji, Lee's teammate, came to a realization. "That means, with those circumstances, most likely more than half will fail to pass the test."

Lee himself was quick to comment on the fact that the short nights meant less rest. "A challenge indeed." He concluded.

Naruto agreed with their sentiments. Between the animals, short nights, and all the other teams, it was going to be a grueling test for those that couldn't hack it. 'The most obvious solution is to get the scroll quick as possible and high-tail it for the tower.' He concluded.

"Exactly~, this test is meant to test your endurance behind enemy lines as well as survival skills to the max. It's supposed to be grueling, and I'm sure some of you won't be up to the challenge." Said Anko.

Shikamaru–ever the shirker–asked a question that was very typical of him, whether they could quite halfway through. It drew a scoff from Anko, and a chuckle from the rest of the rookies. "Of course not, you can't just quit in the middle of battle!" She paused, putting a thoughtful finger to her chin. "Well, I guess ya could but it's probably gonna get you killed." She said with an amused grin.

Naruto chuckled and threw a good-natured jab at Shikamaru. "I don't know, if you're not lazy like you, this place sounds like a good place to train. It might be fun."

His comment drew a chuckle from his teammates, and an annoyed sigh from Shikamaru. Though one person seemingly wasn't as amused by it. Anko got a dangerous gleam in her eyes.

"Fun, huh? Looks like we got a pretty boy that thinks he's tough." In the blink of an eye, she whipped out a kunai and threw it at him. On instinct, he reached out and stopped the kunai in its tracks. Anko vanished from sight. His senses screamed at him. He felt the trail of chakra as she tried to reappear. Quick as a flash he grabbed the kunai she'd thrown.

Cold steel was pressed to his neck. Anko leaned her upper body against his back.

"Ya know, cool guys like you are usually the first to get killed, spilling all that delicious blood~" She whispered. Naruto shivered as her breath tickled his ear. His pulse quickened with an odd combination of weariness and arousal as the feeling of her chest squishing against him warred with his awareness of the kunai at his neck..

"I don't know. Considering you tried to sneak up on a wind user, I'd say you're closest to bleeding." Naruto whispered back, poking her own kunai into her thigh. It was right over the femoral artery. With the slightest application of wind chakra, he could slice open her leg with ease.

The kunoichi stilled, her eyes darting to the kunai jabbed into her thigh. She smirked in amusement. "I guess so."

Anko stood up straight and walked back to the front of the gathered genin where she continued her instructions as though nothing had happened. Naruto shook his head at the woman's odd behavior.

"There are also a couple ways to get disqualified, so listen up." She held up a hand, and began ticking off the ways. "The first is pretty straightforward, if you can't make it to the tower with all three members and both scrolls by the time five days is up, you'll fail. Number two, if a team loses a member or they become incapacitated so bad they can't finish, they're disqualified. Most importantly, three, none of you. I mean absolutely none of you can look at the contents of the scrolls until you reach the tower."

An unspoken threat hung with the last method. Naruto couldn't help but wonder what that was. The memory of his last mission sprang to mind. "What exactly happens if we do?"

"Let me put it this way. You. Don't. Want. To. Know." She replied. Speaking to the rest of the genin, she said "There are times when you'll be asked to deliver secret documents. The scroll rule is to test your integrity, Okay, we're done. Each team take your consent forms and exchange them over there for your scrolls." Anko pointed to a weathered wooden stand with a couple chunin behind it.

Naruto rolled his eyes and nudged Sasuki. He joked. "Great, another mystery scroll." Sasuki grunted, cracking a small smile. He sobered up and thought of the exam. It would be a lot easier with more information on who had what scrolls. An idea started to form. The idea was slightly reckless, he might get in trouble if caught. But there hadn't been any rules against gaining information over the other competitors.

He looked at both his teammates. "Come on, let's turn these in." Naruto said, shaking his consent form.

Team 7 quickly made their way to the desk before the other teams, just as they'd drawn a curtain across the back side to prevent anyone from seeing what scroll was given out. Noticing some pens in front of the chunin, Naruto motioned towards them. "May I?"

"That's what they're for kid." One of the chunin said with an amused smile.

He smiled back and quickly signed his name on the form. As he went to hand the pen off to Sakura Naruto fumbled it and the pen dropped to the ground. "Sorry about that, let me get it." He muttered. Kneeling, he grasped the pen. He created a clone transformed into a fly, just like he had during the first exam. Naruto stood and handed the pen to Sakura, trying not to pay attention as a fly whizzed through the air and perched in a corner of the ceiling for the stand.

Very quickly Sakura and Sasuki signed their forms. In return, they were handed a Heaven. After sealing the scroll in his armguard, Naruto followed Sasuki and Sakura who went to sit in the shade of a large pine tree. They needed to know his plan.

First, Naruto made sure nobody was spying. He regarded the other competitors carefully, using his chakra sensing to feel for anything off. While nobody was using any jutsu, his attention was gripped by the signature of one of the competitors. It was off. Like there was a veil over it. He couldn't grasp how strong it was. There was a taint to it he didn't like. A sense of decay.

His gaze snapped to a team of grass ninja, specifically the woman with pale skin and lank black hair. Her face was shadowed by a conical hat made of reeds. Sasuki noticed his change in behavior. "Something wrong?" She asked, following his gaze.

"… not sure." He spoke in a mutter. "Let's avoid that Grass team. There's something off with the girl's chakra. Something dangerous."

Sasuki and Sakura looked at the woman, sizing her up. "She looks a bit creepy; I'll give you that." Sakura commented.

Shaking his head and pushing the odd woman from his mind, Naruto got to why he'd done the scan in the first place. "Don't but mad but I left a clone to see who get's what scroll. Should make the test easy."

"Pulling a lesson from the first exam, I see. Smart. Better than getting answers yourself cause you don't realize you had to cheat." Sasuki commented with amusement.

"Ugh, I'm not living that down any time soon am I?" Sakura groaned in annoyance. She received a quick "No." from he and Sasuki.

Naruto grinned, remembering the night before at Ichiraku's. they'd shared how they cheated. Both he and Sasuki were amused to learn Sakura had simply answered the questions herself without realizing they had to cheat. It was sure impressive. There was no way he could have answered them in forty-five minutes himself.

They spent their time waiting for the exam chatting. It was possible this would be their last chance to relax for a while. Eventually, one of the chunin, a man in his early twenties with shaggy brown hair, interrupted them.

"Hey, you three, we're gathering all the competitors. In a couple minutes we're going to take you to your gates so get back with the rest please." He ordered.

"Sure thing." Naruto replied.

-x-x-x-x-x-x- NTUC -x-x-x-x-x-x-

To place the teams at their starting gates, extra chunin had been brought in to escort them One chunin to a team, and they escorted teams in groups of five teams. The only exception was Team 10, who were placed at the first gate under Anko's watchful eyes. Amusingly enough, Team 7's escort was the spiky-haired chunin with the bandage across his nose that had tried to deceive the candidates the day before. He'd introduced himself as Izumo Kotetsu. Naruto was sure he'd seen the man before, on guard duty at the main gate.

He'd received the memory of his clone already, and knew two of the four teams they were grouped with had the Earth scroll. Unfortunately one of them was out of the question. Naruto's eyes slid to the Hidden Grass kunoichi. Why did they have to be in the same group as them? Two other teams–one from the Hidden Sand and an older Leaf Team–had a Heaven Scroll. That made going after them a pointless endeavor. 'Which just leaves these guys.' Naruto subtly surveyed the last team from the Hidden Rain. They wore tan wetsuits, with rebreathers over their mouths and noses. Perhaps the most notable feature was the white sashes they wore over their eyes. One had holes for his eyes, another had only a single eye showing. The third was completely blindfolded. From what he could tell they weren't that impressive chakra wise.

The first team to split off and stay at a gate were the Hidden Grass team. He was certainly glad to be out of their presence. That woman's chakra made his skin crawl. Next to go were the Sand team, and then the Rain team that they were targeting. Naruto withheld a grin when Izumo called to them at the next gate.

"Team 7, this is your gate." Izumo told them.

Naruto and his teammates stopped in front of the gate, allowing the final team of their group to continue to the next gate alone. From the position of the sun Naruto could tell they were somewhere along the North-West quadrant of the forest.

"Yo, how long until the test begins?" Naruto asked Izumo.

The man shrugged and pulled out a watch from his pocket. "We're opening the gates at eight o'clock on the dot. It's seven forty-five now."

Perfect, that was just enough time for one last measure to ensure success. "Sakura, Sasuki, come here." Though confused, his teammates obliged. With a puff of smoke Naruto unsealed a pot of sealing ink and a brush. With quick, precise strokes he drew the symbol for 'seven' on the inner forearm of his right hand. He placed a finger to the still-drying ink and pulse his chakra, setting it in place. He motioned for Sasuki to give him her arm. With a raised eyebrow, she proffered her arm.

"What's that you're doing, some kind of sealing jutsu?" Izumo asked curiously.

Sasuki scoffed. "That was going to be my question."

"In a sense, yeah." Naruto replied, tongue poking out in concentration. "These won't do anything except be there as a mark. I figured we can wrap this in bandages and use it as a way to tell each other for impostors. Just ask to see the proof and if someone doesn't remove the bandage and show the mark, we know they're a fake."

With Sasuki done, he quickly made the mark on Sakura's arm. She giggled as the brush tickled her skin. Once her mark was set, he unsealed a roll of medical bandages and covered the mark on his arm, before handing the roll off to Sasuki.

"Huh, that's pretty clever." Izumo commented.

Sakura finished taping her arm and tossed the bandages back to Naruto. He caught them deftly and re-sealed them. Closing his eyes, he extended his chakra senses and sought out the signatures of the Hidden Rain team. He'd gotten enough of a feel earlier to recognize them. Once he felt the three signatures, he locked onto them and made sure that he kept his attention on them.

"Well, it's about time to kick things off." Izumo moved forwards and picked up the padlock barring the gate. Taking a key from his pocket he slid it in the lock. It opened with a click and the heavy chain clinked to the ground. Naruto took a steadying breath. The chunin placed a hand to the earpiece he wore. "Go!"

CLANG!

The gates were flung wide. Izumo stepped aside hastily. Naruto raced past, Sasuki and Sakura flanking him. Their surroundings blurred. Taking a flying leap, they latched onto the trunk of a massive tree and flung themselves into the foliage. Jumping from titanic limb to titanic limb, he led them in an intercepting course for the target.

"We're targeting the Hidden Rain team, they're the nearest and weakest team with an Earth Scroll." He explained.

"Hn, got it." Sasuki replied.

Sakura nodded in agreement, peering around at the eerie forest. The musty smell was overwhelming in the forest itself, a damp, dank smell that upset the stomach. A heavy feeling hung in the air. The enormous trees choked the light, letting only small shafts in here and there. "Sure thing, I'm not exactly eager to stay in here any longer than we need to."

With his senses strained as they were, Naruto felt the Hidden Rain team slow to a stop. They were only a hundred meters away at this point.

In the end, the team proved exactly why they'd chosen them. Team 7 surrounded the clearing silently, perching in the shadows of the trees. The Rain ninja were oblivious, discussing a plan of their own to split up. Naruto snorted quietly. If these three thought they were strong enough to go it alone against the teams here, they were sorely mistaken. His eyes widened when he saw the blindfolded one shift uneasily and glance to the trees. 'He knows, we have to strike!' With a quick flick of his headband to catch the light, he signaled for the assault to begin.

The ground under rain ninja groaned. Rock erupted in a spray of dirt and trapped them up to their necks. Only the blindfolded one managed to avoid caspture. He leapt into the air just as the spire of rocks erupted.. In a flash of silver steel Senbonzakura was unsheathed, and a wave of steel sand raced forth from it's glowing seals and snatched the rain genin from the air. He crashed to the ground in a cocoon of metal that cracked the earth, the crash resounded through the forest.

"What the hell!"

Sasuki darted from the tree line. With three swift, precise chops to the neck the Rain shinobi were rendered unconscious. Naruto was quick to join her. With a brief moment to judge the distance, he jumped down and landed in a silent crouch next to the one he'd trapped.

"That was close. What tipped them off?" Sakura asked as she rose from the ground. Naruto frowned as he regarded the blindfolded ninja. His chakra was similar to Sakura's, a firm unyielding nature.

"I'm pretty sure this one is a Earth nature, his chakra's got that feel." He said, nudging the cocoon with his foot. "Let's look for the scroll."

With a quick hand sign from Sakura and a flex of the hand from Naruto, the earth and steel trapping the Rain shinobi collapsed. He was quick to recall the steel sand. Together they rifled through the team's equipment pouches. Naruto let out a shout of triumph as his fingers closed around a scroll. Pulling his hand out of the equipment pouch, he saw the blue scroll they were looking for.

"Sweet, that was easy. This is gonna be some kind of record." He crowed, sealing the scroll up where he'd put the Heaven Scroll.

"Tch, let's get going." Sasuki commented.

To be nice, they left the shinobi unbound so they would have at least a shot of surviving if one of the forests animals happened upon them. They'd probably wake up within a half hour. By that time Team 7 would be far away.

They took to the trees once again. It took a few moments to figure out what direction the tower was in, but soon enough they were on their way. Naruto savored the feeling of the wind whipping through his hair. He felt a happy thrill in his stomach. They were probably only about an hour from passing the exam. Maybe less if they pushed it.

"We should get there before lunch. Think they'll have anything good in the cafeteria?" He joked.

"I'm just hoping they've got rooms for the ones that finished early." Sakura replied.

The mood was light as they traveled, even Sasuki was smiling and joking about her training plans. With such a happy high from getting the scroll so early, it was easy to lose your edge. Which is why Naruto almost didn't sense the attack coming. He'd let his senses retreat to a minimum distance to stay on the lookout, but nothing else.

He was blindsided by a massive concentration of wind chakra barreling towards them. His heart seized in his chest for just a moment. Then he snapped into action. Acting swiftly he grabbed hold of Sasuki and Sakura. He used a teleportation to appear behind one of the massive tree trunks.

A terrible, howling wind tore through the forest. The noise of it clawed at the ears and threatened to deafen you. Logs, rocks, everything was torn up and carried in the wind. While they were safe from the blast, debris slammed into the tree they hid behind, it's surface shuddering from the impacts. A cloud of dust and splinters engulfed the surrounding area.

Eventually the wind died down and left the area terrifyingly silent.

"What the hell was that?" Sasuki exclaimed quietly.

"No idea." Naruto muttered. He was more concerned with tracking down their attacker. His heart nearly leapt into his throat when he sensed a familiar, dreadful chakra. "Shit, it's her. The Grass ninja!" He hissed.

He felt Sasuki stiffen next to him. It was fairly easy to guess what she might be thinking; were these grass ninja connected to Hiroshi? It wasn't an impossibility, but it was a long way to go for what had seemed like an unsanctioned grudge mission.

"Spread out into the forest and keep your eyes open." The woman ordered. Naruto felt her companions quickly depart. Their signatures swiftly slipped out of range.

Naruto silently motioned for Sakura and Sasuki to follow him. As quickly as possible while remaining silent they crept through the underbrush. With any luck they could get far enough away to make a break for it. His eyes wearily beheld the destruction he could see. The attack had dug a massive trench in the ground, clearing the fifty-meter area for at least a kilometer.

"And just where do you think you're going?" They spun around to the sight of the Grass kunoichi emerging from a tree.

She gave a creepy grin, an abnormally long pink tongue poking out to lick her lips. Her chakra was unnerved Naruto. It wasn't as restrained, and he was beginning to grasp just how much she had. Almost as much as he and Gaara. Maybe more. An unnatural amount for a genin,

"You're not normal, what do you want, is this about Hiroshi?" He asked.

She tilted her head, regarding them like they were an interesting science experiment. "Him, I couldn't care less. Though I'm curious that you can tell I'm not a regular shinobi. This should be very interesting." Taking off her hat, her tongue flicked out and dragged around the brim. "Though I wonder, how much do you want this?" She took out an Earth Scroll, giving them a creepy look, she took the scroll and swallowed it whole. Her throat bulged as it went down. Her hair shadowed her face as she glanced up with a terrifying gaze and pulled down one of her eyelids exposing the bloodshot sclera. "By the time this is over, one of us will have both scrolls, and the others will be dead!"

A wall of killing intent crashed down on them. Naruto's eyes widened. This was intense. More intense than almost any killing intent he'd ever felt. Images of his gruesome death flashed through his mind, though he pushed past it. Amid the killing intent, he could finally feel her chakra's full depths, and it terrified him. Deep, dark, and twisted beyond imaging. It wasn't just as large as his reserves while sealed, it was larger than Gramps, and his full unrestrained reserves. No genin could have this much.

'Nine, I need some of your chakra.' He requested.

'You got it kid. Careful this one is … sick.' The fox replied. Its chakra bubbled up around him, forming a faint aura. The dark aura of his tenant's chakra snapped him out of the killing intent, doing the same for Sasuki and Sakura.

Sasuki blinked, her eyes widening. "What the hell was that? I saw myself dying."

"Her killing intent. It's about the worst I've ever felt." Naruto answered. Only his grandfather Madara and the Nine-Tails surpassed it. "Listen up, hit her with Combo 12 and then we're making a break for it." He said seriously.

Normally prone to fighting her way through things, Sasuki nodded warily. Even she had been affected by that experience. As one, each member of Team 7 performed a different hand seal. Naruto unleashed a blast of wind, which fed the powerful fireball Sasuki produced to make a blazing white inferno. It scorched the tree branch from it's passing. The intense flames collided with a wave of mud from Sakura, turning it molten as it slowly hardened.

Before the attacks had even fully merged, they turned and ran. Naruto felt his every sense heightened by the Nine-Tails chakra. Out of the corner of his eye he caught movement. He reacted on instinct and unleashed Senbonzakura.

An enormous constrictor snake burst from between to trees, it's muted green and black scales blended in with the tree trunks. Mout stretched wide to reveal a set of gleaming fangs set to devour him, the snake was absolutely shredded by the tiny blades. Thick red blood rained down on the ground. He wasn't quite ready for the snake to disappear in a burst of jutsu smoke.

"Wha–" Naruto's eyes widened. "–a summoning?" He realized. His mind spun for answers. The snake contract was well known. Only one person he knew of had that contract. 'No. No, no, no. Not good.' He turned to his teammates urgently. "We need to leave now." He hissed.

"Kukuku, Trying to leave so soon, that's no fun. How incredibly rude of you, Naruto Uzumaki." The woman chuckled as she emerged from the ground. There wasn't so much as a scratch on her.

This wasn't good. If he was right, she wasn't even a she. It was merely a disguise. There wasn't any option. Naruto instantly increased the amount of chakra he was drawing from the Nine-Tails. A bubbling cloak of crimson chakra formed around him, with three long tails writhing behind him. Before anyone could react, he blitzed the Grass kunoichi and slammed a fist into her face. He felt bone and flesh cave under his knuckles Not letting up, he followed her body as a swirling ball of purple-red chakra appeared in his hand. "Rasengan!"

Blood and flesh sprayed him as the jutsu tore into his enemy, launching her into a tree with a sick crunch. Seconds later all the viscera, as well as her body, turned to mud. An earth clone.

"My, how vicious of you." She chuckled as she emerged from a tree trunk just behind him.

Naruto darted back to where Sasuki and Sakura were giving him concerned looks. "What's going on, you look spooked?" Sasuki asked wearily.

Her comment went ignored. With a swipe of his hand, he sent a wave of blades at the kunoichi. "Combo 6." This time Naruto didn't bother to call his teammates names. Unnerved by his demeanor they still complied. His blades were coated in earth from Sakura, then set ablaze by Sasuki. The burning razors tore into their enemy, ripping flesh from bone and cauterizing the wounds.

For one moment, Naruto thought he might have succeeded. The charred, melted corpse remained still. Then the 'corpse' collapsed into a pile of mud. When she didn't immediately reappear, Sasuki took the chance to confront him. "Okay, seriously, what's up with you? I get she's terrifying but you're not even thinking."

"She uses snakes. There's only one person I know of who uses them: Orochimaru, of the Sannin. Either she's a direct disciple … or she's not a she." He replied.

"Kukuku, so you figured that much out, Naruto?" He watched grimly as the woman emerged from a tree, her body elongated, twisting and winding around the trike like a snake with a human torso attached. As the woman spoke, her voice shifted. Became lower and distinctly male. With a sick grin, she reached up and tore away her face as though it was a mask. Underneath was the face of a man, with bone white skin, and fang-like purple markings in the corners of his eyes. They were a snake-like yellow, with reptilian pupils that regarded them as prey. On his brow rested a gleaming headband with a sound note engraved on the metal plate.

Sasuki and Sakura stared at the man in fear, fully comprehending their situation for the first time. "Well, I've let you have your fun. It's my turn now." Orochimaru hissed.

The man slithered to the ground in an instant. He blitzed them faster than Naruto could even comprehend. Sasuki and Sakura were batted aside like trash, and Orochimaru seized him by the throat.

"Unfortunately, though I find you intriguing, I'm here to get a look at the Sharingan. So I'll remove you and that pesky beast from the equation." Before Naruto could even think to do anything, Orochimaru's fingertips glowed with purple flame, a different symbol on each tip. His tongue flicked down and pulled apart Naruto's kimono shirt to reveal the spiked wheel-like design of his seal. He slammed his hand into Naruto's exposed stomachstomach.

Naruto's eyes widened. His breath was driven from his lungs. He felt like he wante to puke, but only wheezing gurgles emerged. The purpose of the seal was obvious. Slowly, he felt the Nine-Tails chakra drain from his system. Naruto's eyelids became led. Against his wishes, they drifted closed as he struggled to stay awake. He felt something slam into his gut, then his back exploded with pain.

-x-x-x-x-x-x- NTUC -x-x-x-x-x-x-

Orochimaru has struck! How will Team 7 handle him? You'll have to wait to see, or subscribe to my Pa treon. Chapter 39 just went up there. You can find it by going to my AO3 profile with the same penname where there is a copiable link, or by entering the Pa treon web address and adding /rinnetaicho. Membership begins at just $1.

As always, thank you to my patrons for supporting me.

⸻ Patron Shoutout Wall ⸻

Odin Darkfeather, Chillz90, Kit Arashi, CrusaderMoya, MK3Kratos, MASTERCHEIF1229, SvWJan, Cody Lyle, Cory Toler, Carbonkenny, Tyler J Renshaw, Aneeq Moodaley, Edward Fisher, Kyle Alexandr, hunter jensen, Austin Pierce, Morgan C Williams, SIRDBZ.

Until Next Time,

RinneTaicho, Signing Off!