Teams scattered themselves throughout the entire Forest of Death, all ten kilometers were covered in dense vegetation. It didn't take long for teams to find, or simple run into, opposing teams, the fight for life had commenced.

-With Team 8-

Kiba, Hinata, and Shino had stopped a good distance into the forest to formulate a plan. All the while another team of Konoha genin watched them from above in the trees.

"So, setting traps is the way to go since everyone one is basically headed for the tower in the center of the forest, right?"

"Once they take the other scroll from another team. Why you ask? Because those are the terms to advance to the next stage."

The Konoha genin that watched Team 8 couldn't believe that they were just standing there out in the open like that.

"These kids don't realize they're being watched by us yet. Standing out in the open like that, do they want to be found?"

Suddenly, the genin gasped in pain as the blood drained from his face and he begin to turn blue. His teammate was about to ask if he was alright, but he noticed a giant slug attached to the back of his neck.

"What the hell is that?!"

He and his other teammate looked up to see a large group of the same slug falling onto them and then leaching on them. All three screamed as they fell down to the forest floor, right in front of Team 8. They all groaned in pain, trying to get their bearings back. It was then all three of the genin saw they had landed in a net hidden by scattered leaves, and one of the genin had just put their hand down on a wire to trigger the trap. All three screamed again as they dangled in the air inside the net with the slugs.

"Konoha's infamous jumping leaches. They sense life forms and attack in large groups from above. Five minutes of being sucked by one of those things and you'll die of blood loss. We realized they have a nest up in one of those trees and set a trap accordingly. One team down!"

The genin let out one more blood curdling scream that echoed throughout the entire forest, making it all the way back to the proctor for the second stage. It made her smile.

-With Team 7-

Team 7 heard the scream and it made them stop in their tracks. Naruto and Sasuke weren't fazed by it but Sakura trembled when the scream echoed off the trees.

"Was that…a human scream?"

"Probably, yeah." Naruto said nonchalantly.

"And that doesn't bother either one of you?"

"It just means there is one less team to deal with. That's a good thing for us." Sasuke added.

Sakura stared at both her teammates. 'I'm not sure that's how normal people react to that sort of thing…'

Naruto looked up to the trees, seemingly looking for something. Sasuke noticed this and looked up as well.

"What's up, see anything up there?"

Naruto shook his head. "No, I don't like not having the high ground in a situation like this. That'll be key when we come across another team."

Sasuke nodded in agreement. "Good idea. We'll stick to the trees from now on."

Sakura stayed quiet and simply followed her teammates lead. While she was clearly had the brains and was the smartest of the three, her two teammates had more battle experience therefore having a better chance of formulating a plan. But that didn't simply mean she'd just follow them blindly.

"What's the plan of action?"

Sasuke glanced back to his pink-haired teammate. "Find another team with the Earth scroll and take it."

Sakura rolled her eyes. "This is a pretty much a search and destroy mission. We should scout out the area about half way to the tower and see if we can trap anyone. There are only thirteen teams with the scroll we need. I have a feeling teams will head straight for the tower and set up ambushes."

Naruto nodded in agreement. "I'll use my shadow clones to cover larger areas. And you can set up the traps, Sakura."

"And I'll use my Sharingan to look for anything that might be a trap or if any teams get to close to us."

Naruto landed on a large branch, as did his two teammates along with him. "Alright. We'll stay here until we get a better of the idea of the terrain." The blonde made a cross with his fingers.

"Kage Bushin no Jutsu!"

A mass of clones appeared around Team 7, already having the knowledge of what they needed to do they all took off in different directions. They barely left a trace they were ever there.

"Your stealth abilities will never cease to surprise me, dobe."

Naruto shrugged. "It's not that hard. Just always be aware of your surroundings, that's the key."

"So now what do we do?"

"Well, I don't expect for my clones to find a team with the Earth scroll for a while. This would be a good time to get some rest- "

Naruto couldn't finish his sentence as a strong gust of wind whipped through the trees, stripping them of bark and leaves, and blasted Naruto off the branch.

"Naruto!" Sakura shouted as she watched her teammate be blown away.

Sasuke quickly activated his Sharingan and scanned the area for any threats. Nothing was out there from what he eyes could see.

"That wasn't natural wind." Sakura quickly deduced.

"It was a jutsu, and a strong one at that if Naruto couldn't withstand it."

"But we did?"

"That's because I wasn't aiming for you two. Especially not you, Sasuke."

The voice was high, like a woman's, yet icy and filled is despair as it came from the shadows. Sasuke and Sakura watched silently as a tall, dark haired woman, with the hitaiate held the symbol for Kusagakure, rose from the shadows in front of them. The woman's skin was as pale as a corpse and the predatory gleam in her, snake like, yellow eyes send shivers down Sakura and Sasuke's spine, especially Sasuke because of how the woman had said his name.

"W-Who are you? And what do you want?" Sasuke inwardly cursed that he couldn't help the quiver in his voice.

The woman giggled and licked her lips with the longest tongue either of the two genin had ever seen. "Oh don't worry Sasuke, we will get to that in due time. But first, you need to pass my test."

Sasuke couldn't muster up any words, he was too scared to even breath. Both he and Sakura felt a debilitating, crushing cold surround and force them to their knees as the air was stolen from their lungs. It was as if someone had reached into their bodies and was slowly crushing their hearts and lungs with their hands. The two genin looked into the tall woman's eyes and gasped as visions of kunai flying passed them, mercilessly cutting them and piercing their skulls.

'Genjutsu?!'

Sasuke hunched over and puked out the contents of his stomach while Sakura just stared off in the distance, she was trembling uncontrollably and had tears streaming down her face.

'No, that was just fear…that killing intent from his eyes alone was beyond anything Zabuza could've had. Just who the hell is this guy?!'

"Sakura…we need to get out of here…"

Sakura was frozen in fear, Sasuke wasn't even sure the poor girl had heard him.

'This is bad! We need to leave otherwise this guy is going to kill us!'

"It's a pity, one would think that being his brother you would show more promise and skill. Oh well, the weak never survive." The woman drew a pair of kunai and threw them at Sakura and Sasuke with ease and deadly accuracy.

'Move!'

The woman watched curiously as Sasuke drew his own kunai and stabbed himself in the leg. He, then, used the rush of adrenaline to grab his teammate and make a run for it. The two kunai sank into the tree branch behind where the two had just been kneeling.

"Interesting. He injured himself to overcome his fear. As I thought, he isn't so ordinary."

-With Naruto-

'Well, if I'm honest, I didn't think this is where I'd be a year ago today.' Naruto couldn't help his sarcastic thought as he struggled to break free from the intestines of the giant snake he was in.

Naruto wasn't able to recover fast enough from the huge blast of wind that separated him from his teammates and was swallowed whole by a massive snake.

'But seriously, where the hell did this snake come from?! Snakes of this size aren't indigenous to the Land of Fire, or anywhere for that matter! This has to be a summon, but who's? The only person I know of who has a summoning contract with the snakes is…'

Naruto's stomach turned and twisted itself into knots at the thought of him going after Sasuke and Sakura. He needed to get back to them now!

The blonde wiggled his hands up to his chest and held hand sign.

"Tajū Kage Bushin no Jutsu!" (Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu)

The snake's stomach was filled with clones and the snake burst in two from just the sheer number of clones it had in it's body. The clones dispersed in clouds of smoke, leaving the real Naruto covered in the snake's blood. The blonde didn't care. He needed to get to Sakura and Sasuke now!

-With Sasuke and Sakura-

"Sakura! Sakura!"

The pinkette was still entranced with fear, tears still fell freely down her cheeks and her trembling hadn't slowed. The poor girl was still in shock.

SLAP!

A pinkish tinge formed on Sakura's face from where Sasuke had just hit her with his hand. That seemed to do the trick. Sakura blinked a few times and snapped out of her slump. She wiped her cheeks free of her tears.

"Sasuke? W-What happened Where are we?"

"We're in the Forest of Death, remember? The second stage of the Chunin Exams."

Sakura's memory clicked instantly. She stiffed when the vision she saw and the fear she felt reentered her mind. "Where's that woman? How did we get away?"

"She put us under some type of trance or something. I was able to break myself free and get us away."

Sakura was about to question how Sasuke broke the trance but she saw the kunai that was still stuck in his leg. "Where's Naruto?"

"I'm not sure. And keep your voice down, we can't give our position away in a situation like this."

Sakura nodded in agreement. "We need to find Naruto. If that woman finds us, we'll need him to have a chance."

Sasuke hated to admit it but Sakura was right. Sasuke may have closed the gap between the two of them with the awaken of his Sharingan and all the extra training he had been doing, but that would mean nothing fighting against this woman. Besides, Kakashi's main teaching was teamwork, they were stronger together.

"You two really need to work on keeping up your guard."

Sasuke jumped back and put himself in between the voice of the woman and Sakura. The woman was standing about ten feet away from them on an opposing branch.

"When in the presence of a predator, one must never let down their guard."

Sasuke was at a loss, he had no idea what to do. The pure killing intent that this woman was emitting was enough to render a person in a state of fear they had never known. Was this the end? All the training he had done, for nothing?

The memory of that night appeared in Sasuke's mind, his entire clan lying dead in their own blood. He remembered running through the compound, trying to find any sign of life as tears ran down his face. Then he found the very thing he was begging whatever entity was out there not to see. His mother and father dead on the floor of his home. And his older brother standing over their lifeless bodies.

"Foolish little brother. If you want to kill me, harbor that hate towards me. Grow stronger and try to survive like the pathetic weakling you are!"

It was like a light switch in the Uchiha's brain. The fear was turned into anger, a red-hot boiling anger that was filled with hatred and it manifested into the Sharingan. Sasuke reached into his weapons pouch and pulled out four kunai, holding them in between his fingers, and a smaller version of the windmill shuriken.

'I must survive in order to kill my brother!'

The woman smirked. "There we go, Sasuke. Show me your potential!"

Sasuke threw all four kunai at the woman, but she zig-zagged her way through the objects. Sasuke grabbed a tree and used it to turn himself in midair. Then threw the mini windmill shuriken right where the woman was about to be. The woman jumped over the shuriken to dodge it.

Sasuke glued himself to the tree with his chakra and drew one more kunai. He threw the kunai at the woman the second she landed. She dodged it like all the other weapons but failed to notice that was Sasuke's plan all along.

Sasuke pulled on the wires he had attached to certain kunai and the windmill shuriken with his hands and mouth. Sasuke, and Sakura for that matter, thought he had won the battle with the shuriken hit the woman's face, but he was sadly mistaken when the woman turned her head to reveal she had caught the shuriken in her mouth.

"Hehe, not bad Sasuke." Somehow, the woman was able to speak clearly with the shuriken in her mouth. "The Windmill Triple Blade technique was a nice touch. Reading my movements to trap me like this is very impressive."

Sasuke held a hand seal over the wire he held with his mouth.

'Katon: Ryūka no Jutsu!' (Fire style: Dragon Flame Jutsu)

Fire traveled down the wire and straight to the woman's face. The smell of scorched flesh that filled the air told Sasuke and Sakura it was a direct hit.

"To use the Sharingan this well at your age is truly amazing, Sasuke. You two really are brothers."

The woman looked up and the two genin were frozen in fear once more. The woman ripped off the burnt flesh, like a snake ridding itself of its old skin, and tossed it aside. The face underneath was far paler than the one before. And his golden, snake like eyes were surrounded by purple markings.

"Just who the hell are you?!"

"My name is Orochimaru. And this is my parting gift to you, Sasuke."

Sasuke and Sakura, still frozen from fear, watched in horror as Orochimaru's neck extended and sunk his teeth into Sasuke's neck. The Uchiha wasn't sure what the man did but he neck exploded in pain beyond anything we had ever felt before. He let out a bloodcurdling scream and clutched where the man had bit him.

"What did you do to Sasuke?!"

"I gave him a gift, like I said I would. I can give you the power you desire to kill Itachi. One day you'll leave this village and come to me. Seek me out Sasuke, I have faith you'll survive everything to come. Good-bye for now, remember our meet- "

Orochimaru was ceremoniously cut off by a massive kick to the face that sent him a good distance away. The man was surprised that he didn't sense or even see it coming. Whoever this person was had amazing stealth skills.

"Naruto!" Sakura cried in joy.

The blonde-haired genin rushed to his teammates side. He immediately noticed something on Sasuke's neck. It was a black seal of three tomoe.

"What the hell happened Sakura?"

Sakura shook her head. "I don't know. This guy just bit Sasuke's neck and he screamed."

Naruto couldn't believe the state of his two teammates. Sakura was obviously fearing for her life and Sasuke was in unimaginable pain that he probably couldn't begin to describe. They needed to get out of here and quickly.

"My, my, what a pleasant surprise. And here I thought my snake had swallowed you whole, Nine Tails."

Naruto growled in growing anger as he looked over his shoulder. "The Snake Sannin, Orochimaru."

"Y-You know this guy?" Sakura stammered.

"In a matter of speaking."

Orochimaru held a wicked smirk. "I'm glad you're here, Nine Tails. I've always wanted to tame a fox as a pet!"

Naruto turned fully around and eyed the Sannin. He wasn't sure why but looking at him feel anger that he had never felt before. He was completely distracted by his anger that he clenched his fists so hard that his fingernails pierced his skin and drew blood.

"Naruto…" Sasuke was somehow able to speak through his pain. "You need to run, get out of here. This guy is way too strong for us."

Sasuke had finally succumbed to the pain and passed out. Sakura was close enough to the Uchiha to catch him before he hit the ground. The jinchuriki was silent for a few moments, contemplating his thoughts.

"Naruto…?"

"Sakura…take Sasuke and get far away from here as fast as you can. I'll hold him off while you guys escape. Go get help, go hide, I really don't care. Just get the hell away and stay safe."

"Are you insane, baka?! There's no way you can fight him alone if he really is a Sannin!"

"Think about it Sakura. This is Orochimaru, the Sannin who betrayed the village. Only the other two Sannin and Ojiisan can rival him in power. He's too smart to use his full power this close to the village. Ojiisan would sense it instantly and come here."

"You are very perceptive, Nine Tails brat, more than I gave you credit for. It seems Jiraiya wasn't as bad of a teacher than I would've thought. I guess third time is the charm."

"That does it!"

Naruto snapped his wrists down to the ground which resulted in two small craters from the sheer weight of the white chakra bracelets he wore. He did the same with each leg and another two craters were formed when the chakra weights hit the ground. The blonde was too focused on the Sannin to notice Sakura's stunned expression.

In the blink of an eye, Naruto had already thrown a barrage of punches and kicks at Orochimaru. The Sannin was greatly impressed by the jinchuriki's speed and strength. He wasn't able to dodge all of the attacks so he blocked with his arms, but even blocking those strikes caused the Sannin to wonder how strong this boy really was.

'Those weights were easily three hundred pounds apiece. He was carrying over one thousand pounds like it was nothing!'

Naruto finally landed back by his team to create some distance between him and Orochimaru. Those strikes were to gauge himself against the Sannin's very limited form, he was surprised to see that the gap between their power wasn't that far.

Sakura was shocked, no, utterly floored. Naruto was, not only, exchanging blows with a Legendary Sannin but he wasn't affected by his enormous killing intent. She knew Naruto was strong but, honestly, what kind of genin is this strong?!

"What did you do to Sasuke, Orochimaru? What's that seal on his neck all about?"

The pale Sannin chuckled. "You're smarter than you look as well, Naruto. You are correct, that is a seal. A cursed seal."

"Cursed seal? What the hell is that?"

Orochimaru chuckled again. "I'm sure you'll learn in time. But now, let us continue."

The blonde immediately appeared in front of the Sannin and they exchanged blows once more. The speed of their strikes and their dashing in between trees was too much for Sakura to follow. She simply blinked and their battle had changed locations.

Naruto slid back a few feet and went through a series of hand seals.

"Katon: Karyūdan!" (Fire Style: Dragon Flame Bullets)

Naruto gathered chakra in his mouth and shot a bullet of fire towards Orochimaru. The Sannin had foreseen the attack coming and jumped to avoid it, but Naruto had already jumped into the air and placed a well-aimed kick to the ribs that sent the snake Sannin crashing through a branch. Orochimaru was able to land on his feet and just barely blocked another punch to his stomach. The two struggled for dominance.

'Damn…he's stronger than I thought. I could easily quash him but if I use any more of my power I'll run the risk of being discovered. I need to stay hidden for my plan to work.'

Naruto threw a punch with his other hand but Orochimaru was able to catch it.

'I have no choice but to mark him as well. I'm not sure how it'll affect him as a jinchuriki but he's too strong for my limited state to handle. But if giving him the Curse Mark doesn't work I'll just seal him off from the Kyuubi, that should even the odds enough for me to escape.'

Orochimaru was snapped out of his thoughts when he noticed Naruto had a smile on his face.

"You're done, Orochimaru!"

Coming up from the ground were four large rock walls that boxed the two of them in with only the top being left open. Three clones of Naruto stood on three of the rock walls.

"Impossible! I never saw you create any clones!"

"I didn't. These clones are from before you hit me with that wind jutsu. A few close by had heard the commotion and came back to help. They transformed themselves into rocks and waited for the right time to help."

This boy continued to truly impress the Sannin. It seemed the rumors that surrounded him weren't just rumors, Naruto Uzumaki was a true prodigy and genius in the art of battle. Jiraiya obviously did something very right in raising and training him.

Two of the clones went through a different series of hand seals while the third one held the Doton hand seal. The real Naruto kneed Orochimaru in the stomach and jumped on top of one of the rock walls.

"Katon: Karyūdan!"

"Fūton: Tatsumaki!" (Wind Style: Dashing Tornado Jutsu)

A tornado funneled itself into existence around Orochimaru and the bullet of fire hit the tornado and ignited into a fire tornado of epic proportions. The flames were fueled by the power of the tornado that burned everything between the walls.

A massive burst of white smoke covered the flame tornado and a large area. Naruto was thrown from the cloud and into a tree, hitting the back of his head hard against it and dazing him. Where the rock wall prison once stood was now a massive purple snake with Orochimaru standing on top of it's head.

The Sannin wasted no time and wrapped his extended tongue around Naruto's neck. He brought the blonde closer to him and gripped his throat with his hand.

"I can't believe how strong you are, Naruto. A mere genin pushing me to summon Manda, the snake's leader, wasn't something I ever thought possible. I must give you a reward for doing so well against me."

Orochimaru bit Naruto's neck like he had done to Sasuke. The blonde screamed out in pain as the same seal appeared on his neck. But Orochimaru instantly saw something wasn't right, the seal only had one tomoe and was struggling to create a second tomoe.

'I know the Nine Tails would resist the mark but it should be two tomoe, at least. I guess this kid wore me down more than I thought. No matter, I planned for this.'

Orochimaru brought his hand up to eye level while his other hand lifted Naruto's shirt, exposing his stomach and a seal already on the boy's stomach.

"Interesting. Emotions trigger the Kyuubi's chakra and cause the seal to appear on your stomach. That makes it much easier for me to disturb it and separate you two."

Five small purple flames appeared on Orochimaru's fingertips. "Gogyō Fūin!" (Five-Pronged Seal)

The Sannin thrusted his hand forward to Naruto's stomach, only to be caught a mere inch away from the seal by the blonde himself. A deep growl came from his throat as he glared with scarlet red eyes.

"You...will not…separate us!"

The blonde's voice changed midsentence and extremely caught the Sannin off guard. This boy continued to shock and amaze him further. Naruto quickly reached into his pouch, pulled out an explosive tag and placed on Orochimaru's arm. The explosion was instant and Naruto was thrown from the dark cloud of smoke.

Naruto fell freely towards another tree branch and prepared himself to hit it hard, but his fall was broken by Sasuke's unconscious body. The blonde weakly turned to see Sakura landing next to him. She used Sasuke's body as a cushion to break his fall.

"I hope Sasuke doesn't get mad I did that."

"I don't think he'll remember." The blonde broke into a coughing fit that caused blood to fall from his mouth. "Damn…I think that explosion burst a couple of organs."

Sakura placed her hands on the injured blonde's chest and her hands began to glow an emerald green, using everything she had to help her teammate. "Damnit! These healing jutsus aren't working!"

Naruto shook his head. "No, they wouldn't. They are used to treat small injuries. You'll need more advanced training to heal something like this."

Sakura looked at her teammate with shock and sadness in her eyes, sadness because she couldn't do anything for her injured friend. She nodded in understanding.

"Is he gone?"

Naruto shifted as he sat up a bit more, placing his hand over the seal on his neck. "I think I got him with that last attack- "

"Never assume you've killed anyone until you see the body."

Orochimaru walked out of the dark smoke cloud completely unharmed from the explosion. Sakura gasped as she gripped Naruto's arm tightly, but she did not cower away.

The blonde briefly drifted in and out of consciousness, it almost slipped by him that Orochimaru was unscathed by his last attack. He would've scoffed at the scene but he was simply in too much pain to do so.

"You've truly impressed me, Naruto. It appears I was wrong about who my next vessel should be, but I'll be able to control that beast of yours with the Sharingan regardless. I would have loved to see what your full potential could be but I cannot let my existence here be known. You two will die here and Sasuke will continue on with the Chunin Exams by himself."

The Sannin drew a kunai as he walked closer to Team Seven. Sakura prepared herself for the worst but Naruto had other plans. Naruto wiped his hand over his shirt, that was covered in his blood from his coughing, executed a series of hand signs, and placed his hand on the branch.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu…"

The puff of smoke was small and nothing to threatening to the Sannin, he honestly wasn't shocked that Naruto had a summoning contract. The white smoke cleared to reveal a small green toad with a white mohawk and a small goatee. He wore a simple black cloak over his back.

"Naruto-boy, I thought I told yer that summoning me was against the rules we set when ya signed the contract."

The blonde chuckled. "Sorry Grandpa Sage, I couldn't think of anything else."

Orochimaru stopped dead in his tracks, this was honestly the last thing he would have expected to see. Naruto, a genin, had just summoned the great toad sage, leader of the toad army, Fukasaku.

"Aye. Orochimaru, it has been a good while."

The snake Sannin growled. "The Grand leader of the toads, Fukasaku…"

This particular toad's strength wasn't anything to scoff at. He was one of the first to harness and master natural energy and create the ability to become a sage. He had seen, first hand, the powers of a toad sage from his time as Jiraiya's teammate. The Snake Sannin wasn't completely sure that he could defeat this summon and walk away, even at full power.

"I'll let this one slide Naruto-boy, seeing how yer in rough shape and fightin' a Sannin."

The blonde let out a small, dry chuckle. "Thanks gramps."

The elder toad hopped towards Orochimaru, who, in turn, took cautionary steps back onto his own summon's head. Sakura couldn't help but let her mouth hang wide open in disbelief. Just who was this frog and how strong was he?

"If you're here then that idiot isn't that far behind."

"Then I suggest ya get yerself up and gone before he shows up."

Orochimaru showed an uncharacteristic amount of frustration on his face. The Snake Sannin had spent too much time here as it was, he needed to leave and regroup. But there was still the problem of them knowing he was here, that could not be known to anyone. And the sudden appearance of Fukasaku was an unforeseen variable that threw an even bigger wrench into his plans. Orochimaru was prepared to face his old master but not his fellow Sannin, who was certainly not far behind the leader of the toads.

Granted, Orochimaru could deploy his inside man to take care of this annoyance. But that would change up his plans even more.

'Oh well. A necessary evil at this point.'

"That idiot will never be able to stop me. That need to save me has always made him weak."

"Jiraiya-boy has changed, Orochimaru. He isn't the same no more."

Orochimaru laughed wickedly. "I find that hard to believe. Nothing will stand in my way, you damn frog. Nothing!"

In a large explosion of white smoke, Orochimaru and his purple snake summon disappeared completely. Fukasaku let out a sigh of relief and hopped back to Team 7.

"I'm glad he still thinks I'm as strong as I used to be." The green frog chuckled.

"Wait what?"

"My best years are behind me, young one. I'm not as spry as I once was."

Sakura was, honestly, lost, so lost in fact she thought all the events of the past hour was a dream and she was about to wake up in her room. Sadly, she continued to live in this reality.

"Hey gramps, can you lo…" Naruto finally succumbed to his pain and exhaustion and passed out mid-sentence.

"Naruto!"

"It's quite alright, the lad will pull through."

"How can you be so sure? Him and Sasuke are both in rough shape, and it's only the first day of the exams…"

"The lad has always had a knack for defying the odds." The elder frog smirked. "I guess it's time for me to leave. Good luck with the rest of yer exams."

"Wait!"

"Hm?"

Sakura laid Naruto down next to Sasuke then turned to face the green toad. "Can you help me get them somewhere safe? I'm not strong enough to carry them both."

Fukasaku nodded. "No problem. I've missed the lad."

The green frog hopped back over and picked up the unconscious Naruto, greatly surprising Sakura that something so small could lift someone nearly ten times his size, while Sakura put Sasuke's arm around her shoulder. The two jumped off the branch towards the forest floor. With Sakura leading the way, they searched for anything that could be used for a safe place for Naruto and Sasuke to recuperate.

They searched for roughly fifteen minutes before Sakura spotted a small area where the roots of a tree came out above the ground and made a small bunker type area below it. Sakura laid Sasuke down and Fukasaku did the same with Naruto right next to the Uchiha.

"There yer go lad. Everythin' should be fine now."

Sakura nodded slowly but did not seem relieved.

"What's the matter girl?"

Tears formed in the young girl's jade eyes. "They're both really hurt and there isn't a thing I can do…I thought I might be able to do something but nothing's changed…"

"Now now, everythin' will be right- "

"How can you say that at a time like this?! My teammates are hurt and there isn't a damn thing I could've done to help them! How is everything okay?!"

Sakura sniffled and trembled for a few moments before wiping her eyes with her wrist.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have yelled like that."

Fukasaku laughed, yes laughed, at the pinkette's apology. This confused the girl. "Forgive my laughter, it's just ya reminded me of my wife. She's a bit of a firecracker too." The elder toad let out a small sigh. "Naruto-boy will never stay down for long. That's just not how the lad works. I've watched him grow from up close and from afar and he's got somethin' special that none else have."

"What's that?"

"The stubbornness to never give up. He's got the making of somethin' great in him."

Sakura looked at the unconscious blonde in amazement. Was that why he was so strong?

"You watched him grow up?"

"In a matter of speaking, yes. The lad was always on the move with Jiraiya-boy, I wouldn't see him for months at a time."

"Jiraiya? Of the legendary Sannin?!"

Fukasaku nodded. "The very one. He is the lad's godfather."

Sakura was shocked, and it showed on her face. "I had no idea…"

"Aye. I would reckon you wouldn't. Naruto-boy and Jiraiya-boy aren't exactly on good terms."

Sakura put two-and-two together instantly. "Why? What happened? Does it have to do with him being left in the village?"

Fukasaku was about to answer but it suddenly dawned on him that this girl was unaware of the boy's past. Naruto would be furious with him for telling his teammate what he apparently wanted kept a secret. "I'm afraid I've said too much, young one. Looks like Naruto-boy wants this kept a secret and I'll respect his privacy."

While Sakura was disappointed, she understood what the toad was saying. "I understand."

"He'll tell ya in due time lad, he's just a bit on the weary side of things. Doesn't know who to trust or how much."

Sakura remained silent as she watched the Fukasaku give a small wave before bursting into a plume of white smoke and disappearing completely. Leaving the pinkette alone to protect her teammates as night began to set in on the first night of the Chunin Exams.