Chapter 4 Forest of Death

On the day of the exams, Team 7 arrived at the academy where the first stage of the exam was being held. The team headed straight towards the staircase so they could reach the exam room on the third floor but were stopped by a weird looking genin who wore a green body suit, had shiny bowl cut hair, and bushy eyebrows. The genin had jumped down from the floor above and landed a few feet in front of Naruto. "What do you want," Naruto said. " My name is Rock Lee, I've heard of you, Crimson Blonde. You are said to be a prodigy and the strongest genin in the village, I challenge you to a spar. By defeating you, I'll prove that hard work-" Lee was cut off mid speech as a chakra chain shot out from Naruto and wrapped around Lee's torso. Lee tried to squeeze out and escape but more chains shot out from Naruto and began to wrap him tightly while lifting him off the ground. "I wasn't expecting to improve my chances of survival so soon but early bird gets the worm i guess," Naruto spoke with his emotionless expression and sounded kind of bored.

Lee was scared, he didn't think there was a genin faster than him in the world but this kid's chains were fast enough to catch him completely off guard. Naruto wasn't in the mood for "spars." He could already feel a few strong genin besides Gaara and he was barely holding back his need to prove his survival. Naruto felt like a wolf among sheep that wasn't allowed to eat yet but a meal had provided itself and he wouldn't mind a quick taste he thought. He felt a hand on his shoulder that he could sense was Hinata. "Naruto-kun, this isn't the time to improve your survival. If you do it now you won't have a chance to take on the rest of them. Ko told me the second stage and after that have no rules of engagement and you could improve your chances of survival as much as you want." Hinata spoke softly next to Naruto's ear "Naruto-san she is right and there's almost 50 teams this year. It would be illogical for you to lose out on more chances to improve your survival," Shino stoically added. Naruto frowned and released Lee who dropped to the ground not thinking to use his feet. A puff of smoke appeared between Lee and Naruto. Naruto had to take a step back to make room for a huge turtle wearing a leaf headband with an older looking copy of Lee. The man had the same bowl cut, bushy eyebrows, and green bodysuit. He was frowning when he spoke, "Don't worry Lee, Guy sensei is here. Naruto, that was a very unyouthful display. Would you actually kill a fellow leaf shinobi?"

Naruto just stared at the genin's sensei with his emotionless expression, not feeling the need to respond to such an obvious question. "Um, Guy sensei, we're sorry about our teammate, he's just um,'excited'," Hinata interjected. Naruto walked away when Guy started comforting Lee by telling him how they were going to add more youth to his youthfulness with his team following. The group encountered a genjutsu on the second floor and after a shared look and nod, the team made their way to the exam room on the third floor. They were all adequate sensors in their own way and a genjutsu on that level wouldn't fool anyone on their team so no words were needed. Once they entered the exam room all eyes turned to them, or more specifically Naruto.

Apparently, more than a few genin teams had seen his 'spar' with Lee. Some genin wouldn't make eye contact with Naruto, and some even tried to intimidate him with killing intent but Naruto just led his team to an open spot of the room as if oblivious to the attention he drew. Sasuke walked into the exam classroom with his new team, he had Kiba and Sai. They weren't horrible teammates to have, he could've had one of the fangirls or the fat kid that tries to roll over everyone. Sai talked about his dick too much for his liking and Kiba was always trying to prove he wasn't the weakest on the team but they would do as teammates until he made chunin. Sasuke thought he could probably beat Naruto after his latest training and with the new jutsu he'd gotten from Kakashi.

Kiba saw Shikamaru and his team standing near but not too close to team 7 and made his way over with his team in tow. The two groups of genin begin to talk but Sasuke eyed Naruto trying to guess how strong he is. Ino was whispering loudly, "Hey Shika go check on Hinata and Shino to make sure they're ok. That guy's hot but you just saw what he did to that freaky looking genin downstairs." "Exactly I did see it, that's why I'm not doing that, it's too troublesome." Ino scowled. "I bet that guy was weak, me and Akamaru would easily rip them chains apart right buddy?" Kiba spoke a little too loudly and Akamaru tucked his tail and barked the dog version of "that's not a tree you wanna piss on." "I doubt you could break a leash let alone Naruto Namikaze's chains." Sai taunted Kiba with a blank expression earning laughs and an angry outburst from Kiba.

A tall silver haired genin interrupted the fuss and introduced himself as kabuto Yakushi. "You know you really shouldn't be making a ruckus, there's a lot of genin teams this year and the exams can be nerve wracking." The genin looked around and saw everyone watching them so they quieted down and listened to Kabuto who gave them a devious smirk. "This year's the biggest chunin exam and perhaps the most talented in the last decade. There's 8 teams from Iwa, 6 teams from kumo, 12 teams from Konoha, 8 teams from tsuna, 4 teams from kiri, 4 teams from kusa, 4 teams from Ame, 2 team from taki, and 1 team from oto, a small village no one knows much about. See I have a hobby, I like to collect information and place them on trading cards like this."

Kabuto showed the group a stack of cards. "All I have to do is channel chakra and think of who I want and it'll show everything I have on them. Since you're fellow leaf shinobi, I'll help you out and give you information on any of the genin in here, I have most of them I'm pretty sure." Sai narrowed his eyes but said nothing. Naruto who was attempting to ignore the loud group less he felt the need to improve his chances of survival, began to pay attention to the silver haired leaf genin.

Sasuke figured there'd be strong people in these exams if so many teams entered from nearly every village and if this guy wasn't full of shit he could get information on the competition. "If you really have information like you claim, who are the 5 strongest in the exam and what do you have on them." Kabuto gave a thoughtful expression before returning a smirk to his face because he knew Sauke wouldn't like his answer. Everyone who could hear listened intently though most didn't show it. "I doubt you care about missions so I'll get to what you want to hear. Number 5 Hinata Hyuga, although she's a fresh genin her skill in taijutsu could give a jounin for a run and she uses a unique version of her clan's Jyuken. Her Byakugan is comparable to that of an experienced chunin and she's proficient in suiton ninjutsu. Her best physical attribute is her speed. Hinata is credited for killing B-rank jounin Aoi Rokushi along with one of her teammates.

Next in fourth, I would say is Kurotsuchi. She's the granddaughter of the third tsuchikage and descendant of the first tsuchikage. Kurotsuchi is well rounded but her strongest suit is ninjutsu as she has a strong doton affinity. She also has a kekkei genkai called lava release and is proficient in genjutsu while she excels in taijutsu. In third would be Yugitio Nii. While somewhat a chakra powerhouse, Yugit's taijutsu is strong and she can extend her nails that are sharp and strong enough to go against blades. She has a strong katon affinity and has special blue flames that earned her renown in kumo. Second would be either Gaara or Naruto, though I'll go with Gaara for second. As well as being the fourth Kazekage's son, Gaara is definitely a powerhouse in these exams, his chakra pool is comparable to Yugito's and he has a kekkei genkai that allows him to manipulate has never been known to get hurt even on missions and is said to have an unbreachable defense. He isn't known for much taijutsu or genjutsu but with the defense and attack power he possesses, he is in close competition for the strongest genin here.

Last but not least is Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze. Naruto's another powerhouse in these exams, he has the most chakra hands down and can perform futon and raiton ninjutsu. Naruto has one or possibly multiple bloodlines as well as an inherited chakra trait that allows him to manipulate his chains into extremely strong chakra chains. His bloodline allows him to absorb chakra and it was recently revealed to have a doujutsu that may or not be the cause of his chakra absorption although the doujutsu hasn't been confirmed. His kenjutsu is easily chunin rank or higher and he incorporates his chains into his kenjutsu style for a vicious attack. Naruto earned the moniker 'the demon who chained the sky' when he was around 7 after killing a jounin that tried to assassinate him. In the land of wave he's known as the crimson blonde after painting a bridge with the blood of hundreds of thugs and ex samurai that he'd killed viscously. And finally Naruto's credited for killing 2 b-rank jounin, one alone and one with the assistance of his teammate. It's safe to assume he's the strongest genin here."

Sasuke was furious but wouldn't lower himself to throw a fit so he settled with a scowl and a grunt. While Kabuto was talking the genin from otto were making their way towards him intending to attack. Naruto, who was keeping track of everyone with his senses,noticed the otto team moving as if they were going to attack someone in the group of konoha genin near him. Naruto didn't care about the konoha genin and definitely not about the one that knew too much about him but if he couldn't improve his chances of survival, no one could. As one otto genin took out kunai the other prepared to launch at Kabuto but stopped when they felt a bone chilling killing intent that stopped them in their tracks.

The otto genins looked towards Naruto who was looking at them and they decided they could make the gray haired genin pay for his disrespect to otto later. Naruto released his KI moments before Morino Ibiki entered the room and introduced himself as the proctor of the first exams. Ibiki then explained the rules of his exam as everyone was seated. In the end the test was simply to see if they could cheat without being caught and if the team had the balls to risk their ninja career. Hinata had copied a hidden chunin's test and used ice mirrors positioned in the right places to give the answers to her team.

For the next stage of the exam they were instructed to meet at the gates in front of the forest of death. Team 7 made their way to the forest via shunshin and began waiting for the rest of the genin. As a Kusa team arrived, Naruto noticed that they were all one person. He activated his seigan to boost his sensory skills while he looked another direction. He could sense that two of the kusa genin were shadow clones using a sort of physical transformation jutsu, Naruto doubted that even Hinata's byakugan wouldn't be able to see through it.

The third Kusa genin had a heavily concealed chakra presence but chakra couldn't be hidden to Naruto so he focused his senses solely on the Kusa genin and felt chakra reserves as dense and large as the hokage's. Naruto could tell by the complexity of the genin's chakra that he was an s-rank shinobi. The Kusa genin team had to be a cover up for some s-rank shinobi to sneak into the exams for a reason that Naruto didn't know. Naruto used a half ram to create a shadow clone who disappeared in a shunshin as quickly as it had appeared. Hinata and Shino looked at Naruto with questioning gazes. Naruto spoke quietly enough that even his teammates could barely hear. "The Kusa team that arrived a minute ago is really one person and his clones. There's only one real shinobi and he's definitely an s-rank. He's stronger than Yamato or Kakashi sensei, there's something wrong about this so I sent a clone to Hokage-sama." Shino and Hinata gave slight nods and went back to acting as if nothing had happened.

Naruto dent his head to the left, barely missing a scratch on his cheek when a busty woman wearing a tan trench coat over seemingly only a fishnet bodysuit and pants appeared behind Naruto with a kunai near his neck. "It seems like I'm boring you, although I'm impressed you dodged that kunai. It kind of turns me on, too bad you're a green genin. So what was more important than my instructions?" Anko said. This was the same woman who'd crashed through the exam room's window with a big poster proclaiming the amazing Anko Mitorashi would be the proctor of the second exam so Naruto knew who she was. And more importantly, that he couldn't use her to improve his chances of survival.

Naruto turned his head to whisper closer to her ear causing Anko to raise a curious eyebrow. "There's an s-rank shinobi and two clones masquerading as a kusa genin team, I've already alerted the hokage but you should hold off on allowing everyone into the forest until someone arrives. I don't want any interruptions while I'm improving my chances of survival." Anko's eyes almost widened at this because she knew this genin was perhaps the strongest sensor in the village, the Hokage had given the proctors the files on all the genin. Anko felt a tingle go down her back and turned around holding her Kunai. A creepy female kusa genin was behind her holding the previously thrown kunai with an extremely long tongue. "Genin that sneak up on me, might just get killed in my surprise, you know," Anko said.

She felt something off about this genin but kept in character. "I'm sorry but seeing kanai's flying just gets me a little excited." The genin replied in a smooth tone. "Well thanks for the kunai, go get back to your team, now what was I saying." Anko then continued explaining the exam rules. Each team will get either a heaven or earth scroll to enter the forest with. They would then have 5 days to reach the tower in the middle of the forest with both a heaven and an earth scroll. There were no rules of engagement but if any member of the team dies, they all fail whether they get scrolls or not.

Anko then had a chunin direct the genin teams to concealed tents to receive their scrolls and sign a waiver that released the village in any liability if they died while anko disappeared in a shunshin leaving leaves behind. Orochimaru who was disguised as the Kusa genin was sensing something off about the situation. He'd seen the blonde genin Naruto Namikaze create a shadow clone that used a shunsin to leave and he'd seen the little impromptu conversation with his former student, Anko. He attempted to get a reaction out of her but she showed little to no change that he could see but he'd trained Anko and knew she was good. When Anko used a shunshin to leave the grounds as well he was alert, when something seemed off it probably was.

Orichimaru, the disguised kusa-nin, began planning his possible escape and hoped that hiruzen or jiraiya themselves weren't around. They'd have plenty of help in the middle of their village. Anko returned and saw that the genin had almost all gotten their scrolls. There were a total of 36 teams who made it to the second stage, 6 teams from Iwa, 5 teams from kumo, 8 teams from Konoha, 5 teams from tsuna, 4 teams from kiri, 3 teams from kusa, 2 teams from Ame, 2 team from taki, and 1 team from oto. She thought it would take more time to get them all their scrolls.

Anko had sent messages to the anbu headquarters to send teams and to the hokage to say she would believe naruto's suspicions as she had a feeling about the genin she'd met even though she couldn't sense anything abnormal for a genin's chakra. The assembled genin waited for almost ten minutes after they were all ready and were getting a little antsy. Anko was about to give a speech to buy more time when a regular chunin appeared next to her and told her the teams were there, all Anko had to do was point out the target. Anko assumed this chunin was an anbu attempting to blend in and gave a description of the Kusa genin.

She then began directing genin to different gates around the forest of death. There were a total of 25 gates surrounding the forest which had a diameter of 10 kilometers so it'd take time, enough for the anbu to get into position around the target. Orocimaru could sense almost three teams of anbu moving into position and was sure he'd been identified. It had to have been the Namikaze brat Orochimaru thought. Orochimaru wasn't going to wait until he was alone with the anbu and the hokage who'd be on his way so he went through hand seals for summoning jutsu and summoned a big snake. There were still plenty of genin teams around waiting for their gate number including team 7.

They'd seen a huge snake appear in a poof of smoke and it was immediately attacked by what looked like a few teams of anbu. Naruto watched as the fake Kusa genin used more hand seals and retreated underground, probably attempting to escape the village. The anbu took time dispelling the giant summon because they had genin to protect and watch out for. They'd seen Orochimaru retreat and went on chase after they were done with his summon. They could deduce that it was orochimaru because there weren't many shinobi with s-rank reserves and could summon snakes, in fact there was only one. Some of the genin teams were freaking out but calmed down when the Hogake arrived and instructed Anko to continue the exams while he stayed around the area. Team 7 made their way to their gate and casually walked in after receiving the signal. Naruto made a cross hand seal and created 50 shadow clones to spread out and track the location of teams within a 3 kilometer radius. The clones would either lead the teams to him or dispel if they could sense him close enough.

"Naruto-san do you plan on improving your survival with konoha genin? It would be logical for you to only target foreign teams," Shino offered his opinion. "Naruto-kun, Shino is right, it wouldn't be good if we went around killing Konoha teams. I'll even help Haku cook you ramen if you don't kill any Konoha teams." Hinata gave her attempt at persuading the blond. Naruto's stoic expression slipped into a devious smirk as he ignored his teammates' words and lept into a tree. Hinata gave Shino a look and they both shook their heads and jumped into the trees following Naruto. Naruto's clones found a close team that'd probably entered in the gate next to theirs. Naruto's clone had seen an Iwagakure, hidden stone village, headband on the genin and Naruto made his way to their location. His teammates assumed a triangle formation while following Naruto since they knew he was going directly to another team. After a couple minutes of tree travel Hinata saw three iwa genin standing between a patch of trees looking at a scroll.

"Three genin standing over a scroll 20 meters north east, are we going with a planned ambush or just backing you up from the shadows Naruto-Kun." "They will improve my chances of survival" Naruto replied to Hinata with what seemed like glee in his voice. Hinata giggled and gave a look to shino that meant they were backing up Naruto. Shino had a single sweat drop roll down his forehead but expected as much from both of them. Naruto began to jolt through the trees to move fast enough to completely surprise the genin while his teammates separated to surround the genin. Naruto spotted the three iwa genin and removed his Furaijin and enhanced it with futon chakra making it glow white. With another jolt step he appeared in front of the closest iwa genin and beheaded him. Naruto marveled at the flash of white his sword produced when he swung it.

The remaining two genin were stunned and by the time they attempted to make distance between them and the now recognized Namikaze, they had a chain wrapped around their torso. The chain tightened and began to coil around their entire bodies while lifting them above Naruto. The genin started screaming in fear and pain. Naruto raised his right hand and slowly began to close it into a fist. The genin began to beg for their lives and after a sickening crunch followed by the raining of blood they died. Naruto took a moment to take in the rain of blood he'd created and by extension his village.

His village was responsible for creating the rain of blood that would see the forest of death, just as much as he was. Once again his hair was dyed red with blood and the crimson blonde had returned. Hinata and Shino joined Naruto under his rain of blood via shunshin and interrupted his train of thought. "We're with you Naruto-san, I've decided to follow you even through the rain. It would not be the most logical but I will do it." "Naruto-kun if we're going to be this bloody we might as well make it to the tower by morning." Naruto gave a slight smile.

Hinata searched the genin who was beheaded and luckily he had their earth scroll while team 7 had a heaven scroll. She then looked at the scroll they'd dropped and although it was covered with blood she could tell it had seals around the edge. "Naruto-kun check out the seals on this scroll." Naruto activated his seigan and analyzed the seals on the scroll until he found out the scroll's function. "The scroll had a mass location seal, I'm assuming all the Iwa teams have one so they can track each other's location and team up in the forest."

"The most logical decision would be to avoid such a conglomerate of genin teams but I assume we're going to look for them, right Naruto-san" Naruto gave shino a nod, he was already expanding his senses to see if he could find them. Naruto got another memory from a clone and jumped into the trees followed by his team. His team had found a genin team from konoha but Naruto didn't like the Kabuto guy, he knew too much and was strong enough to be a jounin but wasn't. "I will improve my chances of survival with this Konoha team, but only this one. The gray haired genin who had so much information on us is not who he seemed to be, it's his team. He's fair game."

Naruto stopped on a branch and looked over at his teammates for a reaction. Hinata sighed but nodded. Shino was more hesitant but he knew it was legal and Naruto was right his bugs told him there was something off about Kabuto. Shino nodded and added, "Naruto-san I will not kill any of our classmates from the academy but I am with you on this." Naruto nodded with his stoic expression on his face. Hinata once again announced their exact location and the team headed to ambush Kabuto's team. Kabuto sensed incoming ninja and alerted his team with a whistle.

They only had a moment to prepare when three wind slashes came from Naruto on a nearby tree. Kabuto's team scattered to dodge but it was a hasty effort. One of Kabuto's teammates was too slow and received a deep slice through his right leg. Immediately following up, Naruto blurred into view and attempted to slice Kabuto's head off but Kabuto ducked under his sword attempting to cut Naruto's arm tendon with chakra scalpels that he'd created on the fly. Naruto released chains to impale Kabuto as he spun around following the momentum of his swing and Kabuto was forced to jump back for space, neither able to land the hit. Kabuto's teammate who'd been sliced on the leg started going through hand seals for a jutsu aimed at Naruto when a swarm of bugs made him stop the jutsu and jump backwards. Shino dropped down from a tree above him and sliced his throat open as soon as the ninja moved into position. Shino disappeared in a bug shunsin right after to return to the shadows.

Hinata used the distraction to attack Kabuto's other teammate and engaged him in taijutsu. During a short exchange, Hinata noticed him trying to grab onto her and she purposely left herself open to bait the genin in. When the genin took the bait, Hinata jyuken struck his hand before repositioning herself closer with a pivot and delivered a powerful jyuken to the side of the genin's chest, collapsing one of his lungs. Then, with two quick hand seals, Hinata created an ice blade on her arm and slashed the genin's throat before he could recover.

Naruto sized up Kabuto with his seigan noting his doton affinity and strange chakra that Naruto didn't have the time or attention to fully analyze. Kabuto was surveying the situation as his teammates were both killed quickly and efficiently by a team of genin drenched in fresh blood. He knew the abilities of these three genin, or at least he thought he did. Kabuto knew nothing about Naruto's glowing white sword or the jutsu he'd just used. He also didn't know the hyuga girl could use hyoton which really shouldn't be possible. Kabuto knew there were strong genin but didn't think any teams would be a problem for him but he was getting a different feeling from this team. When the gray haired spy thought about it, Orochimaru was somehow discovered and he was no longer needed in Konoha so he could end the genin disguise.

"Tch, tch, tch. It's going to be a shame to see such promising genin die because they got in over their heads. Hm, I wonder, was it you and your abnormal sensory abilities that discovered orochimaru-sama? You did send a clone away after all. Ah it doesn't matter anyway, it seems you do have a doujutsu. I can work with that. I guess I'll have to kill the three of you after I pluck those eyes out and hand them to orochimaru-sama." Kabyto said with a shrug. Naruto gazed at Kabuto with an emotionless expression.

"You will improve my chances of survival, spy." Naruto didn't understand the whole situation but would get Hinata to explain it later after he drained all of Kabuto's chakra to examine later. "He's a jounin level shinobi. Stay back and wait for an opportunity." Naruto gave his team the game plan and he knew both would hear and comply. Kabuto coated his hands in a green chakra to activate his chakra scalpels and charged at Naruto and the blonde followed suit. Naruto slashed his sword diagonally attempting to cut across Kabuto's chest but the silver haired spy sidestepped the slash and attempted to cut the tendons on Naruto's arm but Naruto's chains shot out and attempted to impale Kabuto. Kabuto jumped back to avoid the chains and Naruto followed with a jolt step and attempted a horizontal slash to behead Kabuto. Kabuto ducked under the blade and lounged at Naruto.

Naruto spun around following his momentum and lashed out with his chains while his back was turned. Kabuto was able to dodge 4 of six chains but one impaled his thigh and another left a small cut on his side. As Naruto completed his spin he jumped and slashed downward attempting to split Kabuto in half. Kabuto used a substitution with a log in the nearby brush.

The fake genin attempted to hide but jumped from the bush, ignoring the pain from his injury, when he heard a buzzing sound and barely avoided a swarm of shino's insects. Kabuto landed and had less than a second to avoid a barrage of Naruto's chains forcing Kabuto to flip backwards a few times to get out of harm's way. Kabuto couldn't find any openings with Naruto's style and, all-out, close-range combat wasn't his strongest suit, he'd have to try something else Kabuto thought. Naruto charged at Kabuto and began another attack. While dodging, Kabuto took out a kunai in each hand to try blocking and parrying to create an opening. He raised his now chakra enhanced kunai in reverse grip to parry Naruto's sword in a heavy downward strike, but the white blade cut right through the kunai and left a nasty slice in kabuto's arm.

Kabuto threw both kunai and broken kunai at Naruto before jumping back to create space and throwing a smoke bomb on the ground. Hidden in the smoke, Kabuto went through hand seals for, doton hiding like a mole jutsu, to travel deep underground and recover. Kabuto activated his kekkei genkai, old blood, which allowed him to heal quickly and enhanced his physical abilities. There was one drawback to old blood, the more of the special chakra he used, the more he was lost to a bloodlust. If Kabuto used too much of his old blood chakra, he'd turn into pretty much a berserker. He had many injuries to fix but it wouldn't push him too far and after a moment he was ready to resume the fight and this time enhanced by his kekkei genkai.

Naruto had easily blocked the kunai with his chains and had watched Kabuto's chakra through the smoke as Kabuto went underground and molded a special chakra. The chakra was a mix of yang chakra with a little bit of yin but naruto couldn't exactly tell what it did without having the time to analyze it fully. Naruto saw Kabuto position himself under naruto a few meters underground and when Kabuto began to rise to the surface, Naruto jumped away and sent a wind slash at the ground. Kabuto had just enough time to to prevent his arm being cut off but he received a deep slash in the arm he'd just healed.

As Naruto fell back to the ground he took in how fast Kabuto had just moved, and after further observation he saw his previous wounds were healed. Naruto started putting together what Kabuto's special chakra did but needed more information. Kabuto charged at Naruto at a speed Naruto wasn't expecting and he barely had time to attack with his chains. Kabuto saw the chain's he'd expected and changed direction with a bust of chakra appearing on Naruto's back left side. Naruto saw Kabuto speed to his left side with a burst of chakra and Naruto swung the furaijin but had the tendons and muscles in his left arm cut before Kabuto jumped away. Naruto then noticed that his last injury to Kabuto had already healed.

Kabuto's special chakra granted him faster recovery and enhanced physical abilities, the blonde with red hair caked with blood deduced. Kabuto charged at Naruto again who let his left arm hang limp as he sent a wind slash at Kabuto. Kabuto dodged and continued his charge. Naruto infused raiton chakra into his chains and met him in the middle. Naruto began what looked like a dance with furaijin and his chains. He jumped and slashed while sending random raiton enhanced chains in Kabuto's direction, he would change up his strikes and attempt twisting and flipping cuts while his chains wreaked havoc whenever his sword wasn't. Kabuto was having a hard time avoiding all the attacks the blonde could send and couldn't avoid them all. He had small cuts from Naruto's sword and bruises from the chains that battered him if they didn't impale him.

Kabuto had to mold extra old blood chakra to combat the shocks of electricity he got whenever he brushed the chains. Kabuto saw an opening and took it attempting to strike at naruto's weak side and cut his jugular with his chakra scalpels. He was surprised when Naruto caught his wrist with his left hand that should be unusable, and swung his blade trying to cut Kabuto in half but the spy was able to jump away by cutting the tendons in Naruto's wrist but still received a deep cut on his abdomen that almost cut open his intestines.

Naruto had begun healing and tried to use Kabuto's misconception that his arm would remain useless but had underestimated how much damage was done to his arm. It was nearly healed but still weak. Kabuto pumped more old blood chakra and charged at Naruto losing his concentration for his chakra scalpels and attacking viciously only dodging enough to avoid fatal hits. Naruto was put on the defensive and received a few nasty kicks and punches before he jumped back and sent a wind slash at Kabuto. Kabuto dodged and charged at Naruto who had been waiting for it. Naruto hadn't thought Kabuto's special chakra would enhance him this much. Even with his chains, Naruto was on the defensive. Naruto gave a hand sign signaling for Hinata to attack in tandem with him while shino looked for a chance to end it. Naruto placed a seal on the ground with his hand and jumped back while activating it with the ram seal as the spy ran over it. Kabuto was able to get away with a substitution jutsu and once again charged at Naruto.

Kabuto was internally scolding himself as he launched another attack. He'd played around too much, he should've used his old blood kekkei genkai from the beginning so he wouldn't have taken so many injuries. Who would've known a fresh genin would be this strong. The gray haired shinobi had just begun to believe the more ludicrous information about the blonde that he'd categorized as rumors. He could still use some ninjutsu but his chakra scalpels took too much control and focus. In his bloodlusted state, it was just too much. His bloodline was never meant to be pooled in the body after racking up a bunch of injuries. Naruto met kabuto with a series of slashes from his sword which Kabuto narrowly dodged while landing a kick in Naruto's chest before his chains retaliated. Kabuto was about to follow up on the attack on Naruto when he felt a few light taps on his right arm. He turned and began dodging the hyuga girl and her quick strikes but Kabuto was able to slap her wrist to the side and land a strong right to her face. Kabuto's senses went haywire and he jumped and rolled to the side but received a cut down his back. When Kabuto came out of his roll, he immediately went through the hand seals for doton, tearing earth turning palm. Kabuto slammed his hands on the ground and the ground in a radius of 5 meters around him began to break up and churn into a spiral.

Naruto and Hinata were initially caught up in it until Naruto used the snake seal and created two branchless trees that steadied and raised Naruto and Hinata above the ground. Naruto and Hinata jumped down as Kabuto finished his jutsu and began a combination attack. Naruto only used 4 chains to better work with Hinata as they attacked from both sides of Kabuto. Kabuto dodged Naruto's sword but received more jyuken strikes on his right arm that nearly cut the chakra flow. Kabuto redirected Hinata's next blow to strike at her abdomen but received a chain slashing through his left leg nearly impaling it before his attack could land.

Naruto's next slash cut cleanly through a mud clone but Hinata was already headed towards Kabuto. Kabuto was attempting to gain space but a cloud of bugs forced him right back to Hinata and Naruto. Naruto and Hinata were relentless and worked together to keep him boxed in as they attacked, slowly adding to his injuries. Kabuto knew he was in bad shape, once he healed his injuries he'd be close to a berserker and if Naruto could track him perfectly underground his chances of getting away was low. He doubted he'd win if he went full berserker mode so his only option was to retreat. Kabuto quickly took out three kunai in each hand and threw them and Naruto and Hinata, point blank range, to create some space. He then jumped into a nearby tree with the intention of using his time to mold a large amount of chakra and shunshin far away, very far away.

Before Kabuto could finish molding his chakra he had to jump into another tree to avoid a massive barrage of chains that maneuvered precisely around the branches. Kabuto landed on the trunk of a tree and saw an opening so he took it, dashing to his escape. Mid-jump, his senses told him to dodge but he wasn't quick enough. Shino had been waiting for a chance to strike when he saw Kabuto trying to escape, directly towards him. Almost as if it was coordinated, which it probably had been. Shino had stayed in the shadows hiding but staying as close as he could so when he saw Kabuto jump directly below him, he knew it was time.

Shino lunged intending to land above Kabuto and slice his head open with a downward slash. At the last second Kabuto had heard the whistle of steel and shifted to the side as much as he could in the air. Shino only managed to take off his left arm with his tanto but it was a decisive blow. Kabuto hadn't noticed the aburame in his bloodlust which was a near fatal mistake and in his shock of losing his arm he didn't even notice he was falling towards the blonde. Naruto jolted up to appear under the falling Kabuto after Shino's attack. He sliced off the spy's legs below the knee with furaijin. Kabuto screamed, his mind was raging from his old blood chakra and the pain of losing three limbs quickly got to him as a result.

He couldn't heal this, he was done, all he could do was scream. Hinata and Shino stood at naruto's side and they looked down at the screaming gray haired spy. "It would be most logical of me to expect a rain of blood from such a formidable foe would it not Hinata-san," Shino said stoically. "Mmhmm I think Naruto-kun will give us a warm shower when he's done admiring his 'food', '' Hinata replied with a giggle. Naruto looked down at the still screaming Kabuto with a devious smile. "Know that your death has improved our chances of survival."

After giving his short message naruto wrapped kabuto in his chains and raised him in the air. "Wha- what the fuck are yall crazy, ah-" Kabuto was cut off as the chaines coiled around him tightly and began to squeeze him. With a clenching of Naruto's hands, the chains juiced Kabuto like a fresh orange raining down blood onto the already drenched team 7. Naruto had taken Kabuto's chakra as he killed him and when he dropped Kabuto he sealed his chakra in a storage seal on his sleeve.

Naruto found the location of two more teams from clones who'd dispelled during his fight with Kabuto, and after notifying his team, they headed in the closest team's direction. Hinata spotted the team headed in their direction and revealed them to be a kumo team. They followed the same strategy of attack as with the Iwa team. Naruto charged ahead and was backed by Hinata with Shino covering their backs from the shadows. The Kumo team didn't last long because they tried their kenjutsu against Naruto's. They found out too late that it wasn't just a spar and that they hadn't trained like their life depended on it. Naruto had and with Hinata's timely interventions, Shino wasn't needed until the obligatory rain of blood.

Team 7 had no interest in any more scrolls so they just went to their next target that ended up being an Ame team hiding behind a genjutsu hoping to catch unaware genin teams. Team 7 snuck up and engaged one on one with each genin before almost killing them. They had poor combat skills, just good clones, genjutsu, and deception. Naruto gathered the bodies with his chains for his team's newfound ritual and added to the blood drenching the team. Shino didn't know how logical their actions were but was all-in with his team. Naruto had a few clones dispel giving him memories of three iwa teams who'd gathered less than half a kilometer away and he relayed the information to his team.

"Naruto-kun if we're going to do this we need to plan our attack, 3 against 9 isn't the best odds even with our team" "Naruto-san, Hinata-san is correct it would be illogical to attack recklessly this time." Naruto knew they were right and wouldn't argue. "Do you have anything in mind?" Naruto replied. Hinata activated her byakugan to observe their enemies movements. After a moment Hinata focussed on the group of iwa genin and spoke, "They're traveling northeast in a zipper formation with one trailing behind. I suggest we set up an ambush with hidden explosive seals and use a large scale jutsu to separate the group. From there we choose isolated targets and retreat if we're overwhelmed." Shino responded, "Will we be attacking individually, it may become a problem if they are able to reorganize before we're able to retreat."

Naruto spoke next, "I will draw their attention and separate their team after the seals go off. From there you two will work together to pick off isolated targets while I improve my chances of survival." Hinata knew that would happen, Naruto might agree to the plan but he probably wants to cause destruction. "Okay Naruto-kun but stay close to us you can keep track of our location at all times so don't go far." Naruto nodded and the team left to set up their trap with Naruto's chakra seals that can't be seen without infusing it with chakra or a doujutsu.

Team 7 was hidden a short distance away from the ambush point and were waiting until their hidden seals were in the middle of the group's formation but the leading genin stopped on a tree just a few feet away from the hidden seals with the rest following. Naruto knew that genin was a sensor and wouldn't allow them to continue so he set off the explosion with a ram hand seal. He'd placed a good amount of explosive seals so the resulting exploding was rather large. He'd seen at least two chakra signatures be extinguished with his seigan so the trap had done its job. Naruto jumped into the new clearing and went through a long set of hand seals. By the time the dust and debris had cleared the Iwa genin were beginning to reorganize their formation when Naruto finished his hand seals. Naruto muttered under his breath, "Mokuton nativity of a world of trees." Trees and other forestry began growing rapidly, reducing visibility in the already dense forest and scattering the large group of genin. The iwa genin tried to stay organized but the dense forestry physically separated and isolated them.

Naruto sensed a group of three iwa genin hidden behind a thick patch of trees to his left. Naruto created 15 bloody clones and they quickly surrounded the confused iwa genin hiding in the trees and shadows. One of the Iwa genin who had paint or makeup going from his eyes to his neck, saw movement and sent kunai to a couple of Naruto's clones, dispelling them and alerting his teammates of someone's arrival. The remaining naruto's went through hand seals in unison for futon air bullet jutsu and started sending barrages of air bullets at the genin who'd placed their backs to each other in a defensive formation. The genin went through hand seals for doton mud wall jutsu but one was too slow and was peppered with air bullets leaving him in a bloody, dead heap. The Iwa genin who'd sensed some of Naruto's clones was quick enough to raise another mud wall to cover the fallen genin's corner creating a triangle.

The clone's shot until they dispelled and the mud walls were beginning to crumble. Naruto sent a strong wind slash that cut straight through one side of the mud wall and out through the other side of the combined mud walls. Naruto saw through his seigan as the two genin burrowed underground. The genin with face paint positioned himself under naruto who was crouched in the shadows of a tree. Naruto had seen this before today, so he just positioned his sword and when the genin approached the surface of the ground Naruto drove the Furaijin no ken down into the ground and through the genin's head.

Naruto sensed the other genin who'd gone underground 6 meters to his right, coming out of the ground. Naruto closed the distance with a couple jolt steps while going through hand seals for raiton execution sphere. The Iwa genin came to the surface and observed his surroundings when he heard, "you should've improved your chances of survival first." Naruto was behind the iwa genin with a condensed ball of raiton chakra between his hands which he launched at the iwa genin burning a large hole through his torso and leaving the body smoking.

Hinata had used Naruto's jutsu to its full advantage. With her byakugan she located a lone iwa kunoichi in a tree looking around frantically for any of her allies. After a quick discussion with shino, they attacked the genin with a swarm of bugs that led the kunoichi to jump away. Hinata intercepted her in the air with a jyuken strike to the kunoichi's heart, instantly killing her. Hinata searched with her byakugan and found two iwa shinobi hiding in the foliage between two trees. After another quick plan with shino the two leaf genin disappeared in a shunshin and quietly appeared a few trees behind the hiding genin.

Hinata went through hand seals for hyoton thousand ice needles of death and sent a barrage of ice needles at the two genin. One of the iwa genin was able to sense the spike of chakra and get away with needles in his back while the other collapsed dead with needles littering his body. The iwa genin who managed to get out of harm's way, spotted Hinata and went through hand seals for, katon squawking furnace. The iwa genin sent 5 birds made of a deep red flame towards Hinata while holding the dragon seal. She used a substitution but the birds circled and followed her. "Burn you fucking freaks," the iwa genin shouted slightly in fear at the blood caking his opponent.

Hinata ran up a large tree and when the birds were close she jumped off doing a backflip and running the opposite direction. 2 of the birds exploded against the tree toppling it while the other three once again circled and followed Hinata. Hinata ran towards and then away from the iwa genin to place the birds in between them and went through hand seals for suiton water dragon bullet jutsu. Hinata pulled chakra from her arm guards and molded it in her stomach before expelling a large amount of water that shot towards the three remaining flame birds in the shape of a dragon. Hinata's jutsu dispelled the birds in a cloud of steam and continued to the iwa genin who barely dodged the crushing force of her water dragon.

The iwa genin was then swarmed with shino's bugs before he could recover and writhed in agony until he died from chakra loss. Shino appeared next to Hinata and gave her a nod for their flawless teamwork. Hinata searched the surrounding area thoroughly until she found Natuto who was heading to a lone iwa shinobi. She looked in the direction Naruto had come from.

Hinata discovered three dead bodies and with the three they killed along with the two who died in their trap, that only left the last iwa genin. After relaying the information to Shino, they jumped to the trees to join Naruto. Naruto had expanded his senses to check on their progress and only sensed his two teammates and one more iwa genin meaning that 8 were done and he headed to the last iwa genin. Naruto jumped into the path of the last iwa genin searching for his allies causing him to stop and assume a fighting stance from his place in the tree.

"You're the only one left, your allies have improved our chances of survival. And you're next." Naruto spoke emotionlessly but his eyes shone with joy. "Fuckin Namikaze what does that mean? We came here to kill you and I'll present your head to our village. The bloody red hair will just be a bonus." The iwa genin recognized Naruto as he was their main reason for sending so many teams to Konoha. The iwa genin went through a few hand seals and lounged at Naruto.

Naruto sent chains to impale or ensnare his opponent but the iwa genin put his hands together, palms facing naruto, and screamed explosion release Exploding Palm. The genin released a powerful explosion from his palms towards the incoming chains making them scatter and fly past him while he closed the distance. Naruto sent a horizontal slash at the genin as he landed but he allowed himself to fall down from the tree to avoid the strike and Naruto jumped down after him. The iwa genin saw Naruto following and waited, he sidestepped Naruto's downward slash and thrust his palm out toward Naruto's seemingly unprotected side and let off an explosion with his palm sending Naruto backwards. Naruto had formed a chain shield at the last minute but was still blown away since he was in the air.

When Naruto landed he saw the iwa genin closely approaching him and he sent a wind slash at the last second. The iwa genin sent an explosion from his palm that was able to dispel the slash. Naruto jolted to the genin's blind spot and sent three more wind slashes while he was hidden by the backlash of their jutsu. The iwa genin tried to dodge the wind slashes in a display of quick reaction speed but one still tore through his thigh.

Naruto pressed the attack and appeared behind the shinobi. The iwa shinobi tried to dodge but his leg buckled, and Naruto slashed through the side of his torso, nearly cutting him in half and severing his spine in the process. Hinata and Shino arrived at naruto's location just in time to see naruto standing over the mutilated iwa genin with a smile on his face. They used a shunsin to appear at his side and gave him a nod. Naruto was analyzing the dying genin's chakra when his team appeared next to him. Naruto absorbed the rest of the iwa genin's chakra and stored it in another seal on his sleeve. He coiled his chain around and raised the now silent genin above their heads and continued their ritual of raining blood over the forest of death.

By nightfall, team 7 had killed 3 more teams. One was another from iwa, they'd called Naruto their prize, one was from sunagakure, hidden sand village, and one was another from kumogakure, hidden cloud village. Naruto's team took a break for an hour by a stream to clean off the dried and fresh blood to prepare for their night hunt on their way to the tower. Naruto had sent clones to find the tower and they were only three kilometers away so they could hunt for a while before sunrise. Hinata and Shino convinced Naruto to attempt stealth kills to save time and energy.

Although Naruto could go all night, his teammates were tired despite having full reserves, courtesy of naruto. Before departing to improve their chances of survival, Team 7 was attacked by a weak taki team that Naruto killed with shadow clones. He'd sensed them and waited until they were in position for an ambush before creating 20 clones who handled the job easily and even had the honor of participating in team 7's baptism of blood. Naruto and his teammates arrived at the tower an hour before dawn.

They made it rain with 6 more teams on their way to the tower. They'd found two kiri teams together fighting a tsuna team and it didn't look good for suna. Against his teammates advice Naruto surrounded them all with 80 clones who'd gone through hand seals for his combination jutsu fuuton raiton firing squad. The clones had specific targets so only 3 kiri and 1 suna genin survived. The rest were picked off by team 7 swiftly in the confusion. This is when Shino started seeing the logic in their downpour of blood. The stunned reactions of the genin they'd fought and the way they hesitated with fear gave them an advantage. He guessed it was something about seeing an opponent soaked from head to toe with blood that made them freeze up.

They found an ame team camping for the night surrounded by traps with a single genin on guard who was dozing off. Hinata and Shino disabled the traps using Hinata's byakugan and shino's bugs to find them. Naruto sent a chain through the genin's throat from a tree and shino's bugs drained the life out of the sleeping genin who woke up when it was too late. They found their last and taki's last team hiding in the trees outside of the tower to ambush them and get their scrolls. Unluckily for them, Hinata was tired and told Naruto to finish it quickly so he used raiton chakra with his chains and made quick work of the team who were terrified at the blood drenched crimson blonde with a glowing white sword and cackling chains.

16 teams in total and it could've been more if they hadn't avoided konoha teams after the one they'd killed. Team 7 placed their two scrolls together and unrolled them to form a summoning circle that created a poof of smoke. Iruka appeared with a smile and began to talk but the words fell out of his mouth and the color drained from his face as he smelled and saw the blood drenching three kids he'd taught in the academy barely 6 months ago. Iruka looked over the genin and received two stoic expressions and a light smile from Hinata who didn't want to get blood in her mouth.

It took him more than a few minutes to reign in his shock and form an articulable statement. They were still dripping blood and so much of it was already dried on their skin. Iruka tried to dispel the genjutsu but was horrified again to find he wasn't in one. "H-how many?" The chuunin instructor asked, afraid of the answer. Shino sighed and answered tiredly, "16 teams." Iruka gave his impression of a fish out of water before he threw up and only after another 5 minutes he asked with a pleading voice. "Please, at least tell me they weren't Konoha teams." "Only one konoha team improved our chances of survival," Naruto answered as if he was bored with the conversation. "But they were spies for this man called orochimaru, well one of them named Kabuto was we know that for sure." Hinata chimed in to lesson the bluntness in which Naruto had put it.

Iruka could take no more, he'd leave it up to the hokage. Iruka weakly gave them the rules and instructions on where their rooms would be for the next four days and where to shower before leaving in a shunshin. Before cleaning up and going to sleep, team 7 found a large digital board with the completion times and places of the genin competing in the exam. They were in second, with Gaara's team in first having arrived a few hours before they did. Only 4 more teams arrived at the tower by the end of the 5 day period. A Kumo team with Yugito kunoichi. team kakashi with sasuke sai and kiba. an iwa team with the kurotsuchi kunoichi, and another konoha team with Lee Neji and Tenten.

The hokage sent proctors and chunin into the forest and only found 8 more genin alive. There was team 8 with shikamaru ino and choji. The latter of whom was nearly dead. They'd been attacked by three teams of Iwa genin on day one and barely escaped but were too injured to continue so they stayed hidden away trying to keep choji alive. There was a kumo team alive who were spared after they were tortured and left in no condition to continue by two kiri teams that'd ambushed them. There was a kusa genin left after gaara had killed his team and he'd escaped. And lastly an otto kunoichi that was spared by team kakashi who'd killed the other members of her team.

Hiruzen had never expected such bloodshed from a chunin exam even after he'd heard from Iruka about team 7. Villages would be angry but they wouldn't be able to do anything about it with no proof of any interference from konoha. Konoha had also lost 4 teams as well, but while his anbu did a thorough investigation on exactly what happened in the forest, they had to complete the second stage of the chunin exams. There were so many genin teams entering the exam that they'd extended the usual 8 who would go to the third round to 12 and even though they expected more teams to pass, they'd still need to do preliminaries. The shinobi gathered the passing genin in the tower arena which was as large as a training field. The genin gathered in rows in front of the proctors and the Hokage, waiting for the Hokage to speak. The jonin senseis of the passing teams were already in the stands in their own section. Hiruzen Sarutobi the third hokage used all his considerable will power to repress a sigh before he spoke.

"First, I would like to graduate you all for passing the second stage and most of all surviving. I'm sure you've all seen the carnage in the forest to some extent but you should know this. Only 26 genin out of the 108 who made it to the second stage came out alive." The atmosphere became tense and somber. Most of the genin there knew many had died but with the amount who'd died their comrades from their assorted villages were most likely gone. Hiruzen continued, "I believe you will understand what I have to say next even more now.

The chunin exams were created for times of peace to replace war. A hidden village depends on missions and contracts for their survival and those seen as the strongest get the most. Instead of going to war with another village to prove a village's strength, the elemental nations have chunin exams where the best genin compete for the pride and prestige of their village. Daimyo's, wealthy businessmen, and other customers attend the final stage to assess the future strength of your villages. This exam has drawn the most attention I've seen in over a decade and I've never seen so much death in a chunin exam. You were truly in a war simulation but it was necessary for our little thread of peace.

Now, for the third stage we can only have 12 genin compete and we have 18 here." Genma, a jounin of the leaf and proctor of the third stage, appeared on a knee in front of the Hokage. "Hokage-sama, may I, as the proctor of the third stage." Hiruzen gestured for him to continue. Genma stood and turned to address the genin. He introduced himself and explained the rules of the preliminaries. He was met with a few groans and outbursts at having to fight again to get into the third stage. Genma explained that they could quit and it wouldn't affect their team, everything from then on would be individual. No one left and he continued to explain that there'd be 6 matches chosen at random that would eliminate at least 6 genin and the remaining 12 would compete at the konoha stadium in a month's time. After producing a bowl with all the genin's names written on individual slips of paper, Genma drew two and read them out loud. "Hinata Hyuga of Konoha vs Renji Godera of iwa."

Everyone but those two genin and genma went into the stands, Naruto had given hinata a nod before he made his way along with Shino. Renji Godera wore red shinobi pants, a black long sleeve shirt, kunai pouches and red gloves. He spoke through gritted teeth, "I hope you know I'm going to kill you for all the iwa genin who died in the forest. None of you Konoha genin should have made it out alive, let alone Namikaze and his team. We're gonna kill you and anyone else he's associated with, I swear it on the Karuzori clan." "I'm pretty sure all 5 iwa teams we killed said something along the same lines. Namikaze, as you call him, seems to be taking after his father in slaughtering iwa shinobi."

Hinata replied with a devious smile. She wanted to make this quick and it would be easier if the iwa genin was too angry to think straight. Genma almost dropped the senbon out of his mouth but decided it was time and gave the signal to start the match. Neji, who was watching, smirked because although she was inferior to him she was a respectable hyuga in his eyes. Renji had begun going through hand seals as soon as he heard Hinata's remarks before Genma had even given the signal to begin. Renji shouted, "doton thrown stones," and slammed his hands on the ground. Chunks of rocks from pebbles to the size of small boulders began to shoot out of the ground speeding towards Hinata. Hinata began to jolt-step away but Renji would continue shooting rocks in whatever direction she went. Hinata came to a stop and quickly ran through hand seals for suiton water wall. She shot out a large amount of water from her mouth that formed a wall of water blocking the rocks.

Renji ended his jutsu after a few moments of combating Hinata's defense and charged at the water wall while it was being released. He took out a kunai and slashed at the surprised genin who Renji didn't think would notice him close the distance from behind the water wall. Renji's kunai cut through Hinata's neck and she dispersed into water. Renji's eyes widened and he was beginning to look around when he felt a firm palm strike on his back and died. Hinata had left a water clone and used a shunshin to appear on the wall behind Renji. From there she waited until he attacked her water clone and used consecutive jolt steps to appear behind him, sending a condensed air palm right into his heart from his back. Genma didn't expect an instant kill like that so he wasn't able to stop it, he appeared next to Renji in a shunshin and called the match. "Shosha, Winner, Hinata Hyuga"

The on looking genin were surprised at Hinata's brutality, she'd always been a kind person but her ruthlessness made sense considering her teammate, they thought. Kurotsuchi and her remaining teammate were livid and charged into the arena but were stopped by their jounin sensei and konoha chunin proctors. Hinata used a shunshin to appear next to Naruto and Shino in the stands.

"Good match hina-hime," Naruto said. He secretly loved when she was ruthless. Hinata fought and failed to hide a blush from hearing her elusive nickname, she figured Naruto must be pleased with her performance to bring it out in public. Shino offered his congratulations as well with a quick nod. Hinata just gave her team a bright smile. Lee, who watched Hinata return to her team, commented something about their youthfulness even under such unyouthful circumstances. After things calmed down and the body was removed, genma produced two more names out of the bowl. "Tenten Higurashi vs Omoi" Naruto quickly grew bored of the match.

Tenten was throwing every weapon known to mankind while Omoi dodged for dear life. The match ended when Omoi used a raiton jutsu to slow tenten's movements while he closed the distance and engaged her in Kenjutsu. Tenten fought back with a sword of her own but forfeited after Omoi disarmed her and placed his sword at her neck. Genma called the match and announced the next one. "Kiba Inuzuka vs Neji Hyuga." Hinata watched her cousin closely but the match ended quicker than she expected when Neji charged Kiba who didn't have time to prepare his clan jutsu for him and Akamaru. Neji engaged Kiba in taijutsu and quickly closed the tenketsu on his arms before knocking him out with a kick to his neck. Akamaru didn't even have an opportunity to help his partner. "Shosha Neji Hyuga. Next match, Kawaru Izuna vs Yugito Nii," said Genma Neji smirked and made his way to his teammates in the stands.

Naruto actually enjoyed the next match. Both genin were at least chunin level shinobi but Yugito had far superior taijutsu with her extended finger and toe nails. She ended the fight with a shower of blue fireballs that intrigued Naruto. He activated his seigan and attempted to analyze the chakra but couldn't see everything he needed with her so far away and moving. "Kit you won't be able to recreate that, she's the jinchuriki of the Nibi and used her biju's residual chakra to amplify her flames. Be careful with her, Nibi's a fuckin pyromaniac sex offender." Naruto was surprised to hear Kurama who rarely spoke to him but was glad for the explanation but was confused on one thing. "Sex offender?" Naruto replied questioningly. "She doesn't know how to take no for an answer Kit, that's all I'll say," Kurama spoke with a shudder in his voice and Naruto decided to drop it.

When he returned his attention to the arena he heard Genma announce the next match. "Karui Sawu vs Shino Aburame." The two genin arrived in the arena and assumed their fighting stances. Genma gave the signal to start but neither genin moved. "Kumo isn't weak like those Iwa genin your team killed, it won't be that easy this time," Karui said. Shino wanted to end things quickly like his teammate so he'd borrow her tactic. Shino had a lot to think about. "What about the two Kumo teams we killed? They were not very skilled. It would've been more logical of them to wait a couple more years before entering these exams," Shino said stoically. Karui's eyes widened in rage before she unsheathed the sword on her back and charged at Shino screaming. Shino sent a cloud of bugs to intercept Karui who jumped out of the way but still couldn't avoid them all.

Karui continued charging at Shino since the drain on her chakra she was feeling was minimal. I'm going to cut his head off and toss it to his team, Karui thought. Karui made it to Shino and slashed her sword horizontally to lop off his head. The head came off but dispersed into a cloud of bugs as Shino's whole body was revealed to be a bug clone. Karui attempted to jump back but felt hands around her ankles that pulled her under the ground up to her neck. Shino had used doton double suicide decapitation on Karui to drag her underground. Shino resurfaced from the ground and watched as his bugs swarmed Karui's head intended to drain the life out of the girl. Karui began screaming at the top of her lungs and Genma got the impression Shino wasn't leaving the girl alive. Genma used a shunshin to appear next to Karui and called the match. Shino was surprised to feel disappointed but recalled his bugs and used a bug shunshin to appear next to Naruto and Hinata.

"Good match Shino, though it's unfortunate you didn't get to improve your chances of survival,'' Naruto said sincerely. "You did great, Shino," Hinata added while giggling. Shino simply nodded his appreciation as Genma called the last match. "Sasuke Uchiha vs Kankuro." Once both genin were ready Genma called the match and Sasuke activated his sharingan. Kankuro quickly ran back to the arena wall and removed a strange bundle from his back and placed it on the wall. Sasuke watched and could tell that the bundle was Kankuro's original body but said nothing. After sitting down the bundle, Kankuro ran towards Sasuke. Sasuke smirked and went through hand seals for Katon, phoenix fire jutsu.

The fake Kankuro started dodging erratically when Sasuke sent dozens of compressed balls of fire towards it's direction. Kankuro figured Sasuke's aim was trash because the fake him, his puppet, easily dodged the jutsu. He started to panic, when he realized they were aimed at him, not his puppet. Kankuro burst out of the bundle of wrappings he was in and tried his best to dodge the fireball but he was burned badly on his right side. He saw sasuke charging him and used his puppet to intercept him. The puppet shot out blades from its wrists and lunged at Sasuke. Sasuke could see the poison dripping from the blade so he made sure to cleanly dodge the slashes from what now looked clearly like a puppet. As Sasuke was dodging, the puppet opened its mouth and shot out a few senbon that Sasuke narrowly avoided by backflipping.

He continued to flip until he gained enough distance and ran through hand seals for raiton lightning shuriken net. Sasuke threw raiton charged shuriken in precise locations towards the puppet and shot a large spark of electricity that jumped from one shuriken to the next weaving a net of raiton chakra. The puppet couldn't avoid jutsu and Kankuro didn't think it would need to since it was wood and couldn't be shocked. The net of lightning dissipated once the shuriken hit the arena wall and Kankuro's puppet was sliced into a pile of wooden blocks and pieces the size of the holes in Sasuke's jutsu. Kankuro was in shock, he spent more time with that puppet than with humans and Sasuke had just killed it. Kankuro didn't even notice Sasuke approaching until there was a Kunai next to his throat. "I could finish you off but that wouldn't look good since we're allies," Sasuke said with a smug but bored look on his face. Genma announced Sasuke as the winner and waited for Kankuro to wipe his tears and seal away the chunks of his beloved puppet. Genma then called all the remaining genin to the center of the arena for him to address him.

The genin all arrived, and the atmosphere was incredibly tense. Kurotsuchi was glaring at team 7, Gaara was staring at Naruto as if he saw a juicy steak. Yugito was giving team 7 her own glare and Omoi was muttering to himself. Lee was complaining about his youthfulness not being on display while Neji rubbed his temples. Sai made a comment about Sasuke winning despite being dickless, earning a glare from Sasuke. Team 7 simply waited with two stoic expressions and a smile. Genma had a drop of sweat roll down his forehead before clearing his throat loudly to get the genin's attention. "The 12 of you will be the finalists for the third stage of the exam and I want to remind you that the respect and reputations of your village are on the line. The third stage will be held at the Konoha stadium exactly 32 days from now and you should take the time to prepare yourself for the matches to come. The 6 of you who won today will be on one side of the bracket while the other six will be on another side of a tournament style bracket.

This way those who fought today will have a chance to see the abilities of those who didn't before any eventual matchup. So far, you've survived the bloodiest chunin exams up to date and if you wish to survive your matchups, I heed you take my warning. I give you my congratulations but you're not done yet. Do you have anything to add Hokage-sama," Genma finished and motioned towards the Hokage who'd appeared next to him. "Yes Genma, thank you. As you may know by now, most of the genin who entered the forest of death are no longer alive. Truly the most deadly chuunin exams i've ever seen. That being said, I'm greatly saddened at the loss of so many young lives, shinobi or not, but you've gotten a real taste of the realities of war. As shinobi, we kill, steal, lie and worse for the safety and betterment of our village and war is inevitable. We do what we must and sacrifice ourselves, sometimes even much more so that others may live in peace. We shinobi, are the monsters hiding in the dark. We're the demon in the night. We're killers and as you've seen in these exams we often have short lives. I see a very talented group of shinobi before me who will undoubtedly surpass their predecessors so remember to bring pride and prestige to your village. Speak to your Jounin senseis for further instructions, dismissed!" *