Disclaimer: I do not, in no way own Naruto or Yu Yu Hakusho. But if I did...well at least Naruto's son would not be named Boruto...or be alive today...seriously fuck that little bastard, the only characters that are even remotely interesting are his teammates.

"Talk" Character talking.

'Think' Character thinking.

"Talk" Jagan talking.

'Think' Jagan thinking.

"Talk" Tailed Beast talking.

"Think" Tailed Beast thinking.

By now Naruto feared that this would not be the last time he would be sitting in one of the many rooms within Konoha's Torture and Interrogation Force's walls. After being discovered by the Hokage and roughly a dozen members of the Anbu Black Ops along with Ibiki himself, beaten, bloodied, and the unconscious body of Kimimaro at his feet.

The next thing the former full blonde remembered was two of the masked shinobi touching his downed form and everything went black for a while. He then awoke in a bed, his injuries fully healed, free of any blemishes or scars. But Naruto was exhausted, if he was honest with himself this was the first time he went full out against a single opponent. This wasn't a spar against Sasuke, or hours of intense training with Gai and Lee, his fight against Kimimaro was a full battle where he had to tap into Kyuubi's chakra to win, and even then it was thanks to Jagan he wasn't pushing up daisies.

Even now, laying awake for a few hours he was still kicking himself over it. "It wasn't enough, I need more-"

"Hold it right there Blondie!" Ishikawa appeared in front of the former full blonde, his arms crossed and his face set in disapproval. "If you say 'I need more power' then I an gonna beat your ass black and blue."

"I-I wasn't. I was going to say more training! Geeze, relax Ishikawa I'm not gonna start brooding like Sasuke, I just need to berate myself a little bit I'm supposed to be better than this."

"Dude, you gotta chill out before you give yourself an ulcer." The ghostly Chunin leaned over to look at him better. "Seriously, talk man. I'm all ears."

"Do I even have a choice?"

"What else are you going to do, go to a Yamanaka? They're gonna try and pick your brain a little later after putting the screws to your manservant."

"Okay, one I did not ask for that to happen." Naruto gritted his teeth and slowly moved himself to sit on the uncomfortable bed. "And second fine, I'm just disappointed. I mean last mission I defeated-"

"Killed, don't sugarcoat it Blondie."

"Fine, killed thirty-four people. I didn't like it, but it was easy."

"I hate to break it to ya, but bandits are always easy. Fighting someone with no chakra while you have like a Kage's amount is unfair. And yes I know those two weirdos in green spandex are an exception, but they trained to be tough without it."

"Fine, but I killed that asshole Hachi Dokubora, he was Jonin-level." Naruto protested.

"You killed him before he could even ready himself to fight. Now props to you for doing that, but that does not prove you were stronger than him. Now I want you to listen to me." Ishikawa frowned and lightly bent his legs so his brown eyes could stare into the blue ones opposite of him. "Naruto, it is a big world out there. You have only left the village twice so far, and sure you encountered quite a bit within your age group, but that pales in comparison everything else out there."

"What exactly do you mean?" The former full blonde demanded, though his voice betrayed his surprise when the specter called him by his first name.

"What I mean is as good as you are, you are a insect compared to the world outside those gates. Hachi Dokubora was shit compared to the Tsuchikage. That old man would wipe him out with a flick of his finger. And Kimimaro, he may be the strongest opponent you have fought to date, but there are men and women out there just like him. Men and women from Mizugakure hardened by their bloody civil war, the people from Sunagakure, survived and thrived in such a harsh climate. You can't even beat your Jonin teacher, and frankly if it wasn't for a twist of fate you couldn't have even beaten me. So what I'm saying is, do not compare yourselves to other people, you're still a kid and have years to grow stronger. So grow on your own terms, got it?"

"Yea...yea I think I do." Naruto said. He was still uncertain, but Ishikawa did manage to help clear his mind, even if it was a little bit. "Thanks Ishikawa."

"Uzumaki, who are you talking to?"

Minutes earlier Ibiki was asked to fetch Naruto for questioning because frankly many of them were at a loss for answers. Never before had the fence been breached by anyone or anything inside the forest, but then again never had they even been infiltrated before by parties unknown, nor had anyone like Naruto participated in the exams. When the scarred Special Jonin entered he heard talking and found Naruto talking to the air in front of him. It was truly strange, very, very, strange indeed.

"Uh," Naruto looked over, his eyes open in alarm from getting caught red-handed. "Classified?"

Ibiki snorted in response before crossing his arms. "Do you need another session with Inoichi?"

"I'm sure."

"Really? Because I don't think you're all there."

"Oh boy it had to be Ibiki that caught you. You gonna come clean with him Blondie?" Ishikawa asked.

'If I need to I will.' The former full blonde replied before answering Ibiki again. "Well first off I assume the Hokage wants to see me, and you want me to follow you and so on and so forth."

"Yea, pretty much." Pulling the keys out of his jacket the torturer unlocked his cell and opened it. "It's just going to be a few questions, some from me, some from Anko when she gets here, a few from Hokage-sama himself, and maybe some mind walking if it is needed. Then we'll see what happens from there."

"I really hate it when people say that, I have not done anything wrong yet." Naruto groused out in exasperation after he got off the bed and onto his feet.

"Keyword being yet. Come on there is no need to drag your feet. Eyes forward and follow me." Ibiki demanded.

With a reluctant sigh Naruto got out of his cell and followed the much bigger man. Once they exited the solitary confinement room, the twosome made their way down the concrete hallways. Nothing was labeled, the only color was grey, there was little light, and absolutely no sound.

"Man this place is super depressing." Naruto commented about halfway through their walk.

"Very much so Blondie." Ishikawa remarked, sitting cross legged in the air and floating behind his young ward.

"What do you expect? This is the place where there is absolutely no hope for traitors or captured combatants. I just hope you never have to experience it first hand." Ibiki gruffly said.

"Um, I kinda did. You all clipped my nails and strapped me into a chakra draining device and rooted around in my head." The former full blonde bitterly replied with a glare at Ibiki's back.

"That's tame compared to other countries brat." The larger man retorted. "Kirigakure will happily throw you into one of their underwater gulags and let you starve to death unless you give them what you want. Iwagakure will happily use their volcano to turn up the heat to make you talk, and don't get me started on Kusagakure with them pumping you full of poisons and chemicals in their infamous Blood Prison."

"Kami...that sounds horrifying." Naruto barely managed to squeak out.

"It is boy, I am not going to deny that we physically torture criminals for information, but at least we are as humane as we can be. And rarely do they die during it." That certainly did not inspire a lot of confidence in Naruto at all. "But enough of the gloom and doom stuff, we're here." Stopping in front of a iron-clad door, Ibiki placed his hand on the handle and opened it.

Stepping inside Naruto was greeted by the Hokage sitting at a plain metal table, Inoichi Yamanaka standing next to him, along with Anko Mitarashi the second proctor looking like she had seen a ghost standing on their village leaders other side.

Noticing the chair sitting opposite of them the Kuroshingan-user quietly took it and dully stared at the three in front of his and felt Ibiki standing next to him with his thick arms crossed across his chest. A minute of silence ticked by before he sighed out. "Okay, what do you want to know?"

"That is a good question Naruto, I honestly don't know where to even begin." Hiruzen said after a few heartbeats.

"Well one of you has to have something, go ahead I'll answer. I got an exam to finish."

"That's kind of...the issue Naruto." Inoichi lightly coughed into his hand. "I don't know if you will be let back into the exams."

"What!? Why not? Is it because of me tapping into Kyuubi's chakra, is it because of the devastation in the forest, or is it because we got a damn snake roving around!?" The former full blonde demanded.

"Naruto please calm yourself." Ibiki placed his right fingers on the bridge of his nose and repressed a sigh from escaping his mouth. "The reason this is even a consideration is because you literally blasted through the fence separating the forest. I got at least ten operatives securing the site to repair and make sure nothing gets out."

"Seriously? When has that ever happened?" No one spoke up, in fact many turned their heads to the side. "Really? I'm the only one who was stupid enough to do that? Come on you can't kick me out for breaking a rule that doesn't exist. I mean does it say anything in the manual of any Genin during the exams breaking out of The Forest of Death?"

"Um," Anko had the decency to look embarrassed, scratching the back of her head before stepping away. "Hokage-sama, should I get the rule book?"

"Go ahead Anko," Hiruzen waved her away before turning back to his surrogate grandson. "While we wait for her to come back, would you mind telling me about these disturbing reports?"

"More specifically this Kabuto Yukushi character." Ibiki reached into his trench coat, pulling out a vanilla folder and slapping it in front of Naruto. "This is all the information we have on him." Opening the folder the Special Jonin pointed out everything about Kabuto, how that he was found by Nono Yukushi - a captain of Konoha's Medic Corps - after the Battle of Kikyo Pass near the end of the Third Great Shinobi War and was adopted as her son. Naruto was shown that he graduated the Academy at the age of twelve like him, worked at the hospital to continue his medical training, his adoptive mother dying when he was young, the six previous times he took the Chunin Exams, and even the one-hundred and sixty-three D-rank and twenty-eight C-rank missions he had done for the village.

"Geeze it all looks legit." Naruto replied after absorbing the information.

"This is why I find both yours and Sasuke Uchiha's accusations disturbing." Hiruzen said after Ibiki took the folder back. "Are you sure you're not overrating?"

"Hokage-sama, he knows about Zabuza and the others." Naruto said, not using the affectionately well earned nickname for the Hokage, he was serious now. There was no humor in his voice. "The only people who know about them are my team, yourself, Inoichi, and a handful of other people that I assume knows how to keep their mouths shut. So my question is, how did he find out about there being three infamous people in Konoha, and more importantly, is there a leak?"

"Uzumaki I have my men looking into this, but we cannot know for sure until we either bring him in, or find damning evidence." Ibiki said after stuffing the folder into his coat. "Because while there are no rules in the Chunin Exams during the five days in Area Forty-four, the Anbu Black Ops are forbidden from interfering with the exams. It could very well cause an actual war if they were the cause of preventing a foreign Genin team from advancing."

"Bureaucratic nonsense is what it is, but I do understand what they are saying. Keep your fingers crossed kid, maybe that four-eyed jerk made it to that tower, or will fail and get captured later. Who knows?"

"All right I can accept this." Naruto sighed out tiredly.

"I am glad you understand. Now I personally have a question regarding your test." Pulling out the paper Naruto completed not even half a day ago Ibiki pointed at the single question. "You were doing really well, but then you said 'fuck it'. Why did you botch it?"

"Because when the forty-five minute maker hit I was only halfway done." Naruto crossed his arms and huffed in reply.

Ibiki laughed in response to that, but Inoichi had a follow up question. "Then what about your body? Naruto, you're no longer wounded. Your scars have all healed up...well other than..." The Yamanaka lightly tapped his forehead.

"You can thank Kyuubi for that. When I was fighting Kimimaro I used a lot of his chakra, it completely flooded my body and healed everything. But uh..." He lightly placed his hand on his forehead. "Old man, should I...you know?"

"Lets wait until Anko come back. And also Kimimaro is his name huh?" The Sandaime leaned back against his chair and stroked his goatee. "You know Ibiki, Anko and Inoichi interrogated him for three hours, and they got nothing out of him. I don't even think the boy blinked the entire time."

"That was due to my...unique situation." Naruto lamely confessed.

"Unique situation? Hokage-sama why am I out of the loop here?" Ibiki demanded.

Before the village leader could fill him in, or Naruto could say 'classified' Anko barged in with a very large book in hand. "Sorry for the intrusion, but I honestly cannot find anything regarding a Genin breaking out of the forest during the second part of the exams." She then placed the book in front of her village leader and took his side again. "I think the brat might get a free pass because no one has ever done that before."

"Let me see that." The Professor then cracked open the book and began to speed read through it. To Naruto it was a surprise seeing someone read through a book so fast, not even he nor his clones had been able to do that, and they had their Kuroshingan active to drink up the information.

Ten minutes passed before the Sandaime set the book down and rubbed his eyes. "Well, that took a little longer than expected. But Naruto there is no rule about breaking out of the forest, so you are going to get a pass. But next time the exams are hosted here there will be a rule against it."

"Well lets hope I pass this first time so it does not apply to me." Naruto lightly replied with a light smile before dropping it. "This however does." And without any warning his forehead opened up to reveal the crimson pupil of the Jagan Eye.

As expected both the Hokage and Inoichi didn't react to it, minus a slight wince. Ibiki and Anko however were completely unprepared. Anko jumped back with a loud yelp, Ibiki blinked several times to make sure he was not seeing things.

"H-Hokage-sama, what the hell is that!?" Anko yelled out.

"Anko, Ibiki, this is Jagan. Say hi Jagan." They were only greeted with silence, causing Naruto to raise an eyebrow. "Huh, guess you all can only hear him if you're in my head. Eh, no matter. So any questions?"

When both hands flew up, it was the Sandaime who filled in what he knew to two of his most loyal shinobi, what happened to Naruto during his mission in Wave Country, the meeting of the Shinigami, the Kuroshingan, and everything else the Shinigami said to him when both Inoichi and himself had an unfortunate run in with him. (1)

"So...what you're saying is Naruto is not only the Jinchuriki of the Nine-Tailed Fox, but also the Avatar of Death with not one but two Kekkei Genkai's?" Ibiki calmly said.

"I don't think Jagan counts as a Kekkei Genkai." Naruto corrected him. "He's just a demonic, sentient eyeball that'll allow me to do all sort of nifty stuff once I get past the migraines."

"And don't you forget it ningen."

"Love you too Jagan." Naruto said out loud, and then chuckled in embarrassment when he realized he said that out loud. "Sorry, usually I'm alone when I talk to them."

"And by them you also mean a ghost of an Iwagakure Chunin?" Anko skeptically asked.

"Yea, he's all right." Naruto's right eyebrow then began to violently tremble. Why you ask? Because the dead Kamizuru Clan member was absolutely ogling Anko's perky chest. "Except that he abuses being a ghost way too much. He's ogling your breasts."

"Oh really now? Where is he?" The Special Jonin asked.

"To your right, but I doubt there is anything you can do about it."

"Oh come on Blondie! Not cool, don't cockblock a bro dude!" Ishikawa screamed out in indignation.

"Ishikawa, you and I both know that while I am a healthy male, ogling someone for far too long is a no-no." Naruto chided the much older man.

"Oh so you have been noticing too?" Anko slyly said, and moving her arms behind her back and leaned forward in a teasing manner. "Well what to you think brat?"

"I-I uh, dammit woman I'm not even thirteen yet!" Naruto closed his eyes and turned his head away.

"Anko, please don't molest the Genin. Do it when he's few years older, but not during an interrogation." Ibiki sighed out, once again his fingers pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Relax, you know I like teasing people. Besides he is not my type." Anko stuck her tongue out in response.

"Back to the topic on hand. Naruto, your opponent was called Kimimaro, correct? What can you tell us about him?" The Sandaime said to get them back on topic.

"Thank you." Naruto said in relief, giving Anko a half-heated glare. "Truthfully I don't know much about him. All I know is that is is strong and as fast as Gai, and that he is the very last member of the Kaguya Clan and was loyal to Orochimaru before Jagan wiped his mind of the snake's brainwashing and made him loyal to me."

"You're welcome by the way."

"So is his mind broken or something? Because I know Anko stuck his nerve points and he didn't even blink. And Inoichi had absolutely no luck in diving into his mind." Ibiki lightly asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I honestly do not know. If you all will let me see him, maybe I can get his mind or more specifically have Jagan fix him. And maybe we can get some information regarding why Orochimaru is here. If you will allow me that is."

"Naruto that is out of the question, this is an enemy of the state. We cannot allow a rookie Genin to interact with him, especially when he just finished fighting him." Inoichi immediately protested.

"That's nonsense Inoichi, listen the brat brought us something that could possibly take that snake out once and for all." Anko strongly protested. "We have been searching for him high and low for well over a decade and I fear this is the closest we can get to cutting his head off!"

"Not so fast Anko." Ibiki raised his hand to stop the useless fighting. "This is not our decision. That is for Hokage-sama himself to decide. And if he says yay, or nay, then we are to respect it."

"Thank you Ibiki." The Sandaime nodded at the larger man. He then clasped his hands together and settled his chin on top of them. Now it was no secret to most of the populace that Orochimaru was a former student of his, and candidate for Hokage. But what they did not know was his weakness for his former student, how he let him go without so much as a fight, one of the many regrets he had to date in his long life. Now was the time to correct that mistake, just like what he was doing with the Civilian Council.

"Naruto, I will allow you to interact with the prisoner, on the condition that Anko is in the room with you." Hiruzen Sarutobi finally said after a few minutes of inner debate.

"Anko? Why her?" Naruto curiously asked after looking up at the woman.

"Because, she has a connection to Orochimaru. I fully believe this will help give her closure, or at the very least help in any facts she's willing to give." The Hokage slowly got to his feet and stretched his back with a sigh.

"Well if you say so."

Unlike with Naruto it took fifteen minutes to reach where Kimimaro was. This was the maximum security area where only the most dangerous of suspects were held in the most thickest of chains and chakra draining areas. The group of five made it to the deepest level they had, Ibiki opening the door and swinging it open.

The room was stagnant of any life. Cold steel and concrete, there was nothing more than a two-way mirror and a chair that Kimimaro was strapped in. His hands, feet, and neck were strapped into the chair by special bindings, and thick chains were tightened around his chest with explosive tags slapped to arms, legs, torso and even his face. Despite all that though he had a very vacant stare in his unblinking eyes.

Naruto gave the party of adults a dull stare. "You put exploding tags on him?"

"It's standard safety." Ibiki protested.

"I blew him up with thirty clones and he still didn't die." The former full blonde replied before full stepping into the room. He made his way over to the captured Kaguya with Anko in tow, the doors behind them closed and the remaining three went behind the two-way mirror to observe.

Naruto got in front of Kimimaro and spoke. "Kimimaro, can you hear me?"

From the sound of his voice, Kimimaro's vacant gaze vanished and his eyes brightened in recognition. "Naruto-sama." He greeted his former opponent in a pleased tone.

"Hey Kimimaro, how are you doing?"

"I'm doing well now that you're here." He replied in a dreamy voice.

'Okay, that is super creepy. Jagan mind doing something about this?'

"Yea, give me one second. I want loyalty but not creepy snake devotion loyalty."

'Whoa, hold it. I do not want loyalty, I just want the guy to be normal.'

"You moron, do you want another fight on your hands? Listen, what do you want done with him?"

'I dunno. How about him not only being my um, ally, loyal to Konoha like me. How does that sound?'

'All I heard was blah, blah, blah I'm an idiotic ningen who is too stupid to see the value in a devoted servant.' Jagan mentally grumbled to himself. 'Well I got a surprise for you then boy.'

Without a word the Jagan Eye wen to work in undoing some of the damage from earlier. But unknown to Naruto himself the sentient eyeball implanted fierce loyalty into Kimmimaro's mind towards his user, but not to the zealot degree from when he was under Orochimaru's command. He also imparted greater self-preservation, and of course loyalty towards Konohagakure like Naruto wanted. And just for shits and giggles Jagan stated the reasoning for his defection was because the Kuroshingan-user made him see the "light" or some other nonsense. (2)

"There we go, try again you ugly ningen."

'Gee, thanks Jagan.'

"Lets try this again, how are you doing buddy?" Naruto tried again.

"I'm doing okay, Naruto-sama." Kimimaro respectfully answered.

"Oh dammit Jagan, he's still calling me master and shit like that." Anko heard him say and raised an eyebrow in quiet response. "What do you mean it's embedded in him? Come on can't you fix that?"

"Brat, you're beginning to weird me out." She bordly said before her neck flared up and she gripped it out of reflex. "Ah, dammit! That snake bastard isn't anywhere near here. Why is my Curse Seal flaring up?"

"Curse Seal? What the hell are you talking about?" Naruto asked.

"She is referencing the Curse Seal of Heaven on her neck." Kimimaro simply replied. "I recall Orochimaru saying he managed to brand a former student but didn't go into great specifics."

"Oh really now. Tell me more." Naruto crossed his arms, expecting an explanation.

"No need brat I know exactly what it is." Anko stopped Kimimaro from continuing with a strained hiss coming from her mouth. "It's an advanced sealing jutsu that literally binds that snake to your very body. You get a major power boost, but the more you use it, your mind deteriorates until you are no more than a puppet for that snake-faced bastard."

"Kimimaro, is that true?" The former full blonde demanded.

"I think a puppet is an exaggeration Naruto-sama, but she is more or less correct. But as you experienced there is more to it."

"Just write down what you know since I figure you got one of those Curse Seal...thingies." Naruto pointed at the Kaguya's bare chest, indicating the markings on it. "But now if have a real question, why is Orochimaru in these exams?"

"To brand Sasuke Uchiha, and destroy the village." Kimimaro simply said.

A dead silence fell over the entire room. Naruto's eyes widened, Anko already knew from her encounter with her former teacher, but had the decency to look nervous. And even though the three in the room couldn't see it, the Hokage, Ibiki and Inoichi had baffled gazes.

"Mind running that by me again?"

Without blinking Kimimaro more or less spilled the beans about his former masters plan. About how he would brand Sasuke for him to get a taste of power and come crawling on his hands and knees for more. He also mentioned that after branding the Uchiha, both him and Shiin; if he survived that is, were to regroup with him and head to Sunagakure, though for what purpose he couldn't exactly say.

Naruto only had one thing to say about that. "This sucks."

"More like typical Blondie. Something exciting happens and then a giant pile of wet shit falls onto your head."

"You freaking said it Ishikawa." Naruto sighed in annoyance as he palmed his pinched the bridge of his nose in irritation. "Then what is the purpose of that Sound team, how do they fit into destroying Konoha?"

"Nothing at all Naruto-sama. The Sound team are nothing more than sacrificial pawns to test out the Uchiha's Curse Seal if he survives it, if they survive their usefulness has come to an end. What Orochimaru will do with them is beyond even me." Kimimaro honestly replied.

"All right then, you heard the man everyone. Orochimaru is a bastard and is gonna do some bad stuff. Old man is there a way to keep him somewhere safe?"

As soon as he asked that an intercom from the other room blared to life. "Naruto you are beginning to have a bad habit of bringing strays home."

"They aren't strays, and they are useful and will become vital to the village. Besides he is not going to betray me, are you Kimimaro?"

"Never Naruto-sama." The Kaguya replied.

"Ya see? People are always telling me to think with my head and not with my gut. And my head is telling me to keep Kimimaro in the village and have him join it." Naruto pointed at his temple, sharply digging his nail into it to prove his point.

"Are you sure it isn't Kyuubi, the eyeball, or the perverted ghost?" Anko crossed her arms under her impressive bust, and looked at the Genin skeptically.

"Nope this is all me. What do you say Kimimaro, do you wanna join us?" Naruto grinned at his former opponent, bringing his hand out for the last Kaguya to shake.

Despite having some, er, lets say fine tuning from Jagan Kimimaro gave Naruto a deadpan stare. He gestured to his bound hands showing that it was impossible for him to shake his hand even if he tried. In fact in the back of his mind he labeled his master somewhat of an idiot.

"Er, right, well we can roll the welcome mat out later. Listen I need to go back to the exams, but I will be back. I'm leaving you in the capable hands of...well everyone you probably have seen since you've been here."

"Instructions, Naruto-sama?"

"Um, just tell them what you think they need to know. If they go into specifics, just answer them. We want to get back at Orochimaru don't we?" With that Naruto was escorted out by a bewildered, and slightly irritated Anko.

That left Kimimaro alone with one of the most powerful men in history, one of the infamous torturers of his generation, and the current Yamanaka Clan head.

Neither of the three were even remotely prepared for what came out of Kimimaro's mouth.

(The Forest of Death)

A few hours after branding Sasuke and threatening Anko, Orochimaru finally made it to the rendezvous point. The place was pretty nondescript, a total ruin truth be told. It was one of his old hideouts that he was forced to abandon after the Sandaime caught him experimenting on human subjects.

Of course he was not going to enter it, for all he knew it was contaminated by giant mutant lizard people, or maybe that half-man, half-bear, half-pig creature he was working on a long time ago. Who's to say, the place certainly looked like something broke out of it. (3)

"You're late." The Snake Sannin announced several minutes later.

"I apologize Orochimaru-sama, but we also need to retrieve our own scrolls." The voice of Kabuto apologized as he stepped out of the wood work with his two teammates in tow.

The first was easily the tallest of the group. His appearance was greatly concealed by the purple mask he wore around his mouth that hung to around his neck, sunglasses that obscured his eyes and Leaf Hitai-ate which he wore like a bandanna. He also wore what appeared to be the standard attire of his team consisting of a high-collared, sleeveless, purple shirt with a short-sleeved, white one underneath, a simple obi around his waist, purple pants, blue sandals and purple fingerless gloves.

The second one was around Kabuto's height. Like his teammate his appearance was greatly concealed by a mask he wore around his mouth that hung to around his neck and Leaf Hitai-ate which he wore like a bandanna. He also wore the exact same thing as the taller teammate, except he had a pair of round framed glasses.

"Yoroi-kun, Misumi-kun." Orochimaru greeted his right-hand man's teammates.

"Orochimaru-sama." The both of them bowed before the Snake Sannin.

"Kabuto I want a report. What do you have for me?"

"I can personally say that at least five teams have been knocked out of the exams. One was killed by leeches, Team Shigure was killed by that red-head from Sunagakure. Of course Team Shiore didn't even make it past the gates thanks to Kimimaro." Kabuto paused and searched the area, his ash-gray eyebrow raised in confusion. "Say, where is Kimimaro?"

"I was hoping you would tell me." Orochimaru bit out in irritation. "I felt him use my Curse Seal, I also felt some foul chakra earlier. There was a fight, but now I cannot feel him."

"He could very well have perished." Kabuto dared to say.

Kabuto's teammates, Yoroi Akado and Misumi Tsurugi flinched back, both fully expecting Kabuto to become nothing more that red goo from the Snake Sannin's wrath at even insisting that Kimimaro could have died. He was one of the strongest members in Otogakure for Kami's sake!

Orochimaru frowned, but didn't lash out like expected. The pale man only sighed wistfully as he crossed his arms across his chest. "That is such a shame. The Shikotsumyaku would have made my body nearly indestructible, and when the time came to absorb Sasuke I would of had the perfect body." He then turned to the three of them. "Try and find his body, it still could hold some value to me. If not, then continue with your assignment."

"Of course Orochimaru-sama!" Both Yoroi and Misumi bowed and departed.

Kabuto however stayed behind and pulled out his Ninja Info Cards, channeled some chakra into them and handed them to his leader. "These might interest you, I can assure you the data is very...conclusive." Pushing his glasses up his nose Kabuto waited for his leader to go through them.

"Hmm..." The Snake Sannin looked at the entire deck and slowly began flipping through them. The data was indeed very conclusive, all the strengths and weaknesses of potential subjects, or those to watch out for in a few years time. He however stopped at the last two. "Is the data correct surrounding both Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha correct?"

"It is Orochimaru-sama. I triple checked it." Kabuto nodded in an affirmative.

"Interesting." Slowly reaching into his side pouch, the Snake Sannin produced a white scroll with the kanji symbol with the word "Heaven" written on it. "I stole this from Sasuke-kun's pouch when I gave him the Curse Seal. Take it Kabuto and put it to good use."

"You honor me Orochimaru-sama." Taking the scroll, Kabuto bowed and disappeared into the forest.

That left Orochimaru alone where he used to conduct his experiments, looking at the two cards that interested him the most. "Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha. My, my, things just got much more interesting."

At the same time dawn was breaking and Sakura was desperately trying to keep herself awake. After the fight with Orochimaru she dragged her crush to the spot he used to hide her, and kept watch all night. The pinkette alternated in between trying to break the high fever plaguing him, and keeping watch while mentally freaking out from the loss of their scroll and their teammate.

Once upon a time ago she would have cared less if Naruto up and vanished forever. She would have enjoyed it, in fact she would have reveled in it! But now she couldn't imagine Team Seven without him, as much as she hated to admit it, let alone report it to her mother, Naruto was essential to the team in more ways than one.

"Don't worry Naruto, once Sasuke-kun's fever breaks we will come looking for you." She said to herself. The pinkette of course felt guilty that she couldn't go out herself, but she knew Naruto could take care of himself, and it was suicide to go out by her lonesome self, not to mention Sasuke himself could perish without her overlooking the area.

A rustling broke her from her inner thoughts and immediately threw a kunai with all her might. The sharp weapon struck the ground in front of a brown squirrel that caused the critter to squeak out in terror before bounding away.

"Oh thank Kami that was close." Sakura sighed out in relief.

Hidden in the brush almost out of eye sight were the Sound Genin, the unknowing throwaway pawns of a treacherous Snake Sannin were looking at the action of their target.

"She's jumpy." Zaku commented.

"The stress must be getting to her." Kin seconded.

Their last teammate only scoffed in reply. Dosu narrowed his lone eye at the kunai embedded in the ground. "No...this is something else. We wait until dawn breaks, and then we will destroy her and Sasuke Uchiha."

And so they waited countless hours, listening to nothing more than the rustling of leaves in the wind, and watching the pink-haired Genin nodding in and out of consciousness. The was when the Sound Genin made their move, deliberately alerting her of their presence.

Sakura snapped awake right then and there when she saw her enemies.

The first was the hunched mummy man, living up to his appearance with bandages covering most of his face, leaving only his left eye uncovered and Sound Hitai-ate tied around his forehead. He was also wearing a large poncho with long sleeves, a snake patterned scarf around his neck, a straw raincoat protruding from the back of his scarf, he had a large grey device on his right arm that generated most of his attacks.

The second was the tallest member of the group with spiky, black hair and dark eyes. He wore a beige shirt with two black stripes and three prints of the kanji for "Death" down the front and black bands on his forearms. His Hitai-ate had an attached happuri under the cloth rather than connected to the metal plate, he also wore a snake-patterned scarf around his neck.

The last was the lone female of the group. She had very long black hair, almost reaching down to the ground, tied by a violet ribbon right near the end, and black eyes. She wore a her Hitai-ate on her forehead, a pale green vest somewhat similar to a flak jacket, and snake patterned pants and scarf, much like her teammates

"So she awakens. I'm honestly surprised we got this far in before we were noticed." Dosu commented. "That just shows how pathetic Konoha's kunoichi are these days."

"I know, it pisses me off thinking they are such hot shit. All I see is a weak, frightened kitten." Zaku sneered at the pinkette.

"Come over and say that to my face!" Sakura barked at the trio.

Kin cracked her knuckles in anticipation. "Oh with pleasure. I'm going to enjoy punching that pretty face of yours." She barely took a step before Dosu stuck his arm out to stop her. "Dosu? What gives?"

"Hold on Kin, I knew something was off when I saw this girl stop that rodent." The mummy-like Genin slowly bent downwards and placed his left hand on the ground. "The dirt is a different color than the top layer surrounding it. And this grass is not native to this area."

"So what, is that supposed to mean anything?" Zaku snidely demanded.

"Zaku you idiot, it means the pink-haired bitch set a trap for us." Kin snapped at her teammate.

"Indeed." Dosu yanked away the grass to expose a crude kunai-launching trap that he smashed with his amplifier. "Pathetic, you only scared off that squirrel to keep him from setting off this pitiful trap."

The three advanced on her once again, and Sakura had the look of a rabbit being cornered by a fox. But that was before she smirked and grabbed a kunai-knife that she kept next to her and cut an invisible wire.

A low groaning sound were the Sound Genin's only warning when a large log descended on them with ill intent. Their surprise lasted only a short second before Zaku's hands flashed through four quick hand seals and stuck his arms out towards the swinging trap. "Decapitating Airwaves!" He hollered out pressurized air from the hollow air tubes surgically implanted from the palms of his hand and traveling up his arms, the blast struck the log and turned it into splinters.

Sakura reeled back like she was slapped, she couldn't believe it! Her trap that she worked so hard on failed, horribly! "No...no way." She whispered to herself.

"You are outmatched girl, if you try and fight us your life will come to an end." Dosu said, moving his right arm to gesture to her unconscious teammate. "But we are not without mercy, hand over Sasuke Uchiha and you can go free."

Sakura's blood ran cold, exchange Sasuke for her own life? No, she couldn't do that. Not just because he was her crush, but on general principal! It was something that had to literally get headbutted into her and a traumatic experience to learn what it meant to be a shinobi of Konoha.

"Not on your life!" Bolting to her feet Sakura reached into her hip pouch and produced five kunai in each hand and threw them with all her might at the tallest Sound Genin.

"Stupid woman! Decapitating Airwaves!" Zaku repeated his hand seals and fired compressed air waves at her. He stuck dead on, only to reveal his opponent replaced with a log. There was another groaning sound and another log fell towards their position. "Tsk, Decapitating Airwaves!" He repeated his technique, destroying the log like nothing.

Zaku then spotted the girl in midair, and he once again repeated his technique, and once again Sakura was replaced with a log. "Damn this one trick pony!" The spiky-haired teen growled in increasing anger.

"Zaku above!" Kin cried out.

Zaku barely had time to look up to watch six kunai sailing at him. "This is beginning to tick me off! Decapitating Airwaves!" Once again Zaku blasted at Sakura with his technique, this time using air instead of combining it with sound to save on chakra. The kunai were blasted away, several cutting into "Sakura"...or what he thought was another substitution. But logs didn't bleed, and logs didn't cry out either.

And Zaku found out too late to counter as a seventy-eight pound girl plowed into him, her kunai she was holding sinking deep into his right forearm, and toppling him to the ground.

"Ah! Shit get her off of me!" Zaku screamed in pain as white-hot agony crawled up his arm. Balling his left hand into a fist he punched the younger kunoichi in her pretty face, but Sakura, fueled by the desire to protect her teammate bit into his opposing arm.

Kin intervened by forcefully grabbing Sakura by her long hair, and snarled in contempt. "Look at you, you may have a tiny bite to you, but you're nothing more than an old barking dog!" She yanked the pinkette's hair, causing Sakura to cry out. "You hair is much glossier and softer than mine, pathetic! You're one of those kunoichi's who put more time in their looks instead of training, making a game out of this, hoping a white knight will come out to save you?"

Zaku yanked the kunai out of his arm and fiercely backhanded Sakura in outrage. "I don't give a damn if even a black knight is coming for her. This pathetic waste of space is not going to get in the way of our mission!"

Sakura felt hot tears falling down her face. She was in pain, in more pain than she ever imagined. The cuts on her body hurt, she could feel her face swelling, she had not eaten anything in over a day. But most of all she felt humiliation, the weakest member of the team who couldn't even help even if she tried.

"You're weak." She recalled her mother saying, her face, Kami her face sneering at her in disgust and contempt a few days before she departed for the exams. "Because of you the council is in disarray, the Sandaime imprisoned them. My share of the money is not coming in, and my position on the council has been jeopardized all because of you! You failed in killing the demon when you were told to do so, I am giving you one more chance to right your wrong. Deal with him during the exams or you're no daughter of mine!"

Sakura's eyes closed tightly, and the tears continued to flow. She was put in an impossible situation thanks to her mother, kill her teammate or lose her family. And now she was more useless than she ever felt before.

"Sakura." Sakura then remembered some comforting words from only a few days ago. "If you don't feel up to it we would understand. After all it's barely been five months since we became Genin, and we've done only two high-level mission and only have a few kills under our belts. We have a decent amount of experience, but we might need a little more time like Team Gai. We rather not have you go in without any confidence and have it end badly for you. But if you do sign the paper, just know that Sasuke and I will have your back."

That sight was forever burned into her mind. Naruto, the one person who had every right to hate her actually gave her the courage to sign up for these exams. Even Sasuke nodded after he was done talking, and so far that promise was being kept on Sasuke's end. And if Naruto himself was there with them he would be giving his all as well.

Snapping her eyes open Sakura's right hand went to a kunai that Zaku deflected a minute earlier. Her fingers clutching around the hilt, the weakest member of Team Seven did what no one ever thought she would ever do. She cut her long hair, the hair she spent years growing to free herself from Kin's grasp. She then took advice from Naruto from the mission she nearly botched and dealt a devastating blow to Zaku's nuts with her forehead.

The Sound Genin let out a very unmanly scream with his groin so abused, Kin fell over backwards, her hand full of pink hair, and Dosu found himself baffled at such a sight.

Sakura then hit the ground, rolling several times before getting to her feet. The younger woman was panting, but she had fierce determination in her eyes. "I will not give up no matter what!"

"Well said!"

To Sakura's complete surprise the members of Team Ten jumped out in front of her, or more than likely Ino forced them to if her grabbing Choji's scarf was any indication.

"What the hell is this?" Zaku barely managed to squeak out.

"It seems that we have more pests to deal with." Dosu scoffed before readying himself. "No matter, we will wipe them out as well."

"Tch, that's right. Four against three is not going to be a challenge for us!" Kin exclaimed before getting back to her feet and throwing Sakura's remaining hair to the side.

"Then how about seven against three?" A cool voice said above them.

The Sound Genin looked up into the trees to see the members of Team Gai staring down at them. Neji looked over at Lee and remarked. "Good job coming to get us first Lee. Otherwise I'm sure you would have hurt yourself."

"I would not!" The youthful Genin exclaimed. "But that B-ranked mission reminded me to not run off by myself, teamwork is essential!" (4)

"Well said Lee." Tenten said with a smile.

"Damn it. These Leaf ninja are worse than cockroaches!" Zaku exclaimed.

"All we have to do is stomp on them Zaku, just calm yourself." Dosu ordered his teammate.

However before anyone could make a sudden move, an eruption of chakra filled the area. Sasuke walked from the hiding place. Foul purple chakra was swirling around him, his entire left side was engulfed in orange-red, flame-like markings across moving across his left arm and the left side of his face.

Sasuke glared around the area, his onyx eyes settling on the Sound Genin before landing on Sakura hiding behind Team Ten. He saw that she was cut and bleeding, bruised, and her hair cut short. "Sakura...who did this to you?" He harshly demanded.

Zaku smirked widely before pointing at himself. "I'll tell you who did this to her. It was me Uchiha!"

"Zaku you idiot!" Dosu's lone eye widened.

"Is that so?" Sasuke glared hatefully at the Sound shinobi, then before anyone could blink the Uchiha disappeared from his spot, appeared in front of Zaku, and then delivered a devastating strike to his opponent's stomach. He watched as Zaku let out a pained cough and doubled over, Sasuke only smirked and delivered a uppercut to his chin.

When Zaku was sent flying Sasuke turned his attention towards Dosu, his hands flying into hand seals before placing his hand in front of his mouth to use his signature jutsu. "Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!" Instead of a massive orb flying from his mouth, he used the second version using the technique as a continuous flame-thrower.

Both Dosu and Kin barely had time to get out of the way, the flames singing their clothing. The fire jutsu struck the tree behind them, igniting it like a match stick.

"Lousy pest!" Kin growled out as she pulled out several senbon needles and threw them at the Uchiha.

"Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!" Sasuke snarled before using the jutsu he copied from Orochimaru. Exhaling a devastating stream of wind from his mouth the sharp needles were deflected, and harmlessly thrown off to the side. "I'm never going to get stuck with those again!" He growled from the memory of becoming a human pin-cushion thanks to Haku. (5)

"Then how about getting blown away! Extreme Decapitating Airwaves!" Not using any hand seals for this technique, Zaku raised his arms, and created a massive gust of cutting wind, even more powerful than his Decapitating Airwaves technique.

The Leaf Genin looked on in bewilderment, some horrified shock when the dust settled and the entire area Sasuke was standing was completely destroyed. And the Uchiha himself was nowhere to be seen.

"Haha! There's nothing left of him!" Zaku exclaimed with pride in his voice.

"Nothing left of who?" Sasuke's menacing voice said behind him. The sound Genin then felt a horrid pain in his back when the Uchiha punched him, Zaku fell to his knees and then Sasuke's hands gabbed onto Zaku's arms and his foot planting onto his back. "You seem very proud of these arms of yours...it would be a shame if something...happened to them!"

"N-n-o, please stop!" Zaku looked back in fear, "Please...mercy!"

"Did you show mercy to my teammate?" The Sharingan-user hissed in anger as he applied more pressure to Zaku's back. "Then why would I show mercy to you!?" With a sharp jerk of his arms Sasuke dislodged Zaku's arms from his sockets. The Sound Genin screamed out in unimaginable pain before collapsing unconscious.

Letting go of his opponent, Sasuke glared over at both Kin and Dosu. The flame-like markings glowed even brighter and spread even further. "It's not enough..." He growled at the two of them, his Sharingan activated and the two tomoe spinning wildly. "I cannot get my blood rushing because of you weaklings!" The foul purple chakra skyrocketed, expanding outwards from his anger.

"You're right we cannot beat you." Dosu said, his voice calm despite the atmosphere suffocating the Genin around them. His lone eye traveled over the area, not only was he down one teammate, but it looked like his allies were too scared to do anything either. So he for all their sake's he reached into his hip pouch and placed a brown scroll with the kanji symbol for "Earth" labeled on it. "Please take our scroll and we will be on our way."

"I don't think so." Sasuke growled at them, he moved his right hand to grasp his kusarigama but found that it was absent on his person. Damn he must have lost it in his fight with Orochimaru. Oh well no matter, he cracked his knuckles as he advanced towards the two Sound Genin. "None of you are leaving this forest alive."

"Sasuke! Knock that shit off!"

(Ten Minutes Earlier – Give or Take)

"So brat, you sure you got everything?" Anko asked the former full blonde after they reached the fenced area of Training Area Forty-four. It was the area that as still being secured by a dozen of the Anbu Black Ops members.

"Lets see, twenty shuriken, ten kunai, at least ten exploding tags." Naruto then checked his other pouch. "Some ninja wire, a sealing scroll, Bingo Book...other book." He then looked at his person. "My useless vest, grieves and arm guards, kick-ass belt buckle, broken mask, and hidden blades." Like hell he was going to say they once belonged to the Shodaime Tsuchikage, Ishikawa would kick his ass, or disturb him more often if he did. "And of course my sword." He then gave the plum-haired Special Jonin a look. "No one touched the hilt did they?"

"Kami no, Ibiki and the various Captains, Hokage-sama, not to mention the Storage Master has officially labeled your stuff as a 'Do not touch' order." Anko bluntly replied.

"But then how do you, you know grab the stuff?" Naruto smartly snickered.

"We use tongs you stupid brat! When I said do not touch I meant their bare hands!"

"Well you should have said that in the first place!"

"Don't you yell at your proctor you creepy-masked brat!"

"You yelled first you skimpy-clothed woman!"

"Oh yea well yo-eek!" Anko let out a scream that caught everyone in the vicinity off guard.

"She...she screamed like a girl." A deer masked Anbu member said in surprise.

"And it was cute." A eagle masked Anbu member seconded in shock.

Naruto only frowned behind his own mask when he saw the reason Anko screamed. Ishikawa used his ghostly form to pass his shoulders through her shins, and look directly up her skirt. And while ghosts didn't bleed, or at least they shouldn't, the deceased Kamizuru's nose had familiar red streams falling from his nose and a very goofy smile on his face. (6)

"Brat, what is this coldness in my shins?" Anko gritted out.

"That's you know who being a you know what." Naruto dully answered.

"Kami I will kill him."

"Haha! Too late, hey Blondie she ain't wearing any panties!" Ishikawa exclaimed.

"Kami dammit." The Kuroshingan-user palmed his forehead. "Sorry Anko, I cannot control what he does, but I'll try and make sure he behaves...at least enough."

"Just get back into the exams." The former student of Orochimaru growled out. "We'll be in contact regarding our special guest. Just get in there and kick some ass all right?"

"Don't you worry, you'll see me in the finals for sure!" Giving Anko a thumbs up, he pumped some chakra into his legs and bolted over the broken fence and made a beeline toward the forest.

Smirking like a fox about to nab a rabbit he once again activated Jagan's Remove Viewing, and he saw everything from here he was jumping, trees, trees, and even more trees. He saw a discarded weapon or two and some animals, but nothing worth stressing over. Right now he was looking for his teammates, but if he ran across an enemy team he would jump at the chance to give them a knuckle sandwich.

A few minutes in he came to the clearing where he fought against Kimimaro, and saw multiple gouges in the ground, and numerous bones stuck in trees of the ground itself. Dried blood stained the ground, though how much it was his or Kimimaro's he couldn't tell.

Naruto then made his way over to where he was eaten by that damn snake, finding nothing remaining of the serpent, not even ashes thanks to his Darkness Beam. He then found the body of Shiin, still looking surprised with a hole in his forehead.

"Man I gotta get him out of here."

"Now why would you do that?" Jagan demanded. "He tried to kill you, and was going to make a game out of it called 'Kill a Shinobi'. Let him rot."

"Jagan at the end of the day the dead are just that, dead. He may have been an enemy but he should at least get some sort of burial, it's the right thing to do." He then looked down at the dead man, one of Orochimaru's men. "It is the right thing to do."

"Like leaving the Kamizuru's body to rot in Wave? While you're here walking and breathing, he is becoming worm food. Tell me is that the right thing to do boy?"

That hit a nerve, both Jagan and Kyuubi could sense it. Even Ishikawa's hovering ghost was looking at him funny. "I cannot do anything about that right now." Naruto eventually said. "I'm in the middle of the most important exam of my life, and I aim to succeed. When I become Chunin I will make sure Ishikawa's body is buried with honors."

"Aw, Blondie while I am grateful that you're willing to go that far, it's no rush to do so." The dead Chunin waved him off. "Just make sure that you survive long enough to be able to do it, and if worse comes to worse lop off my head for some money."

"Hold up I ain't gonna do that, sure I'll do that to Muka, and now that I think of it I ought to talk to the Hokage about my reward for killing Hachi Dokubora. I haven't seen even a cent from his reward."

"Oh yea, how much was that?"

Before Naruto could even pull out his Bingo Book the hairs on the back of his neck stood upright when he felt something...foul entered the air. Activating Jagan once again and using the Remote Viewing he glanced in the direction and saw to his surprise Sasuke being the one to emit such foul chakra.

"Oh for the love of the Shinigami! I am absent for half a day and shit boils over." Pumping his chakra into his legs Naruto bolted towards the location. He saw the battle between his cousin and the Sound Genin, using a wind technique that he didn't use before, and sadistically bringing harm to the taller Sound Genin's arms.

That was definitely not Sasuke's style. He did not get a hard-on for torture, nor sadism when he was fighting. Something was very, very wrong with this picture. Naruto arrived just when Sasuke was cracking his knuckles, declaring that none of them would leave the forest alive.

"Sasuke! Knock that shit off!" Naruto barked.

Sasuke turned and his smile widened. "Naruto..." He hissed out. The former full blonde looked like he was thrown through a wood chipper. The left side of his vest was gone, along with the fishnet chain mail that went with it, exposing a good portion of his left side, the middle part had three holes like he was stabbed there if the dark stain was any indication, and even his armor was scratched and dinged in many places. There was a gaping hole in his pant leg where his right thigh was, exposing skin underneath and the entire pant leg being ruined by a darker material he figured was blood, even his mask wasn't spared, it was severely cracked on the forehead, trailing past his right eye.

But most importantly the scars were gone, the Uchiha remembered seeing many of them when they sparred, but now they weren't there. It made him curious, very, very curious.

"Sasuke, knock it off. You're better than this." Naruto said, slowly moving from his position towards the clusterfuck that was the battlefield.

Shikamaru's eyes widened when he saw the former full blonde, Choji's breath hitched, even Ino felt faint. Not too long ago they were traveling through the forest, and were nearly blindsided by what looked like a monster fighting Naruto covered in red chakra.

They saw them for less than ten seconds, those ten second of violence and carnage were enough to scare them shitless. The earth-skinned monster impaled Naruto with what looked like claws sprouting from his knuckles, but Naruto covered in that red chakra with what looked like two tails trailing behind him clawed half the monsters face off before both smashed through a thick tree and toppling it before both thankfully left their sight.

At first they thought it a trick of the eye, the forest was scary enough and with enemies around every corner they were possibly being paranoid. But then the former full blonde-haired asshole stood breaking their paranoia and showing it was real.

Even the members of Team Gai couldn't make heads or tails of what was going on. Neji's Byakugan saw that Sasuke had another source of chakra powering through him from what looked like a seal on his neck. But then Uzumaki, looking like he lost a fight to a tiger showed up, and even now he couldn't see past that damn mask of his.

"What unyouthful thing is happening here?" Lee managed to whisper.

"Lee, I think you need to be quiet for once." Tenten hissed at her teammate.

Sasuke growled at his teammate, his right hand shaking from his anger. "I need to punish them for what they did to Sakura, to show them my might. To feel the adrenaline flow again, Kami Naruto you don't know how bad I need this."

"Sasuke, you're becoming an adrenaline junkie. I understand the rush, but I do not crave it like you do, it ain't right and you know that." Naruto replied in a calm voice, even though he was the exact opposite. Kami who knew Sasuke was getting such a hard on for putting his life at risk? That shit ain't right. "Come on man, calm yourself. We cannot continue the exams with you in this state. You do want to become Chunin right? Take the higher missions, learn more advanced jutsu, come on take a chill pill."

Sasuke's glare became less hostile, his breathing more even. "I...I...you're right..." He barely managed to grit out. Grabbing the left side of his neck the Uchiha forcefully willed the corrupting influence back to where it came from. The flame-like markings receding, his second wind failing as he dropped to his knees. In less than a minute the marks completely disappeared, and he was sweating buckets because of it.

Sakura was immediately by his side, looking over him like a worried mother hen. The remaining teams could breathe easier, the thick tension disappearing from the air.

Dosu however moved to shoulder his fallen teammate, he looked over to both Sasuke, and Naruto, his lone eye glaring daggers at them. "You may have won this time, but the next time we meet you won't be so lucky." Without another word, Kin and himself retreated to fight another day.

Naruto let out a soft sigh from under his mask and looked at the surrounding area before bluntly asking. "Okay, what the hell did I miss?"

(Several Hours Later)

Back in the Anbu Headquarters both the Sandaime, Inoichi and Ibiki were going over the staggering amount of paperwork they wrote down from Kimimaro's statements within a sterile room with a large table and four chairs. From the time he was eight when his savage, and battle-hungry clan wiped themselves out to show off their ferocity with Kirigakure. They were given the option to surrender, but preferred to fight to the death simply to entertain their own bloodlust to the last man, woman, and child. What a waste.

"He has been with that snake for seven years, it's hard to believe Uzumaki managed to undo all that brainwashing." Inoichi remarked as he looked through some papers detailing a base in Rice Country.

"I still cannot believe he has a third eye and met the Shinigami himself." Ibiki quickly jotted some notes down on a separate piece of paper. He was beginning to see some match ups for what they found so far and wanted to connect the dots himself. "Hokage-sama, I have to ask why you kept this from me of all people?"

"Would you believed me otherwise?" Hiruzen remarked after setting his pipe down.

"This is Naruto we are talking about." The scarred Special Jonin replied, lightly scoffing as if that was even a question. "The little rascal painted the Hokage Monument in that bright orange monstrosity before he even became a Genin, hid from your Anbu operatives and various shinobi of every rank except Iruka. Not to mention him pranking almost everyone in the village."

"A few of my clan members are still angry that he replaced their shampoo with green hair dye." Inoichi muttered, but the smile on his face betrayed his emotions.

"Did he also not put itching powder in the uniforms of your men?" Hiruzen said.

Ibiki looked like he sucked on ten lemons from that question. "Yes, and I chewed them out for it. But even now one unconsciously scratches his butt from the memory."

"Ahem, back on topic. So far we know my former student has a base on Demon Island in Sea Country where Anko was found." Hiruzen said, looking over some of the notes Ibiki scribbled down for him. "There he was doing some experiments to create the ultimate underwater ninja, but has not been back for sometime. Kimimaro said because he abandoned the project."

"That's still a place to look and it might give Anko some closure." Ibiki said, referencing the day they found Anko after Orochimaru defected, her memory wiped, and the same Curse Seal Sasuke Uchiha might now have. "He also has one set up in Earth Country, and at least two in Water Country."

"Now why would he want to be set up in Water Country? That place is still in the middle of a Civil War." Inoichi asked.

"Well Kimimaro did mention that Orochimaru was obsessed with Kekkei Genkai's. Maybe he found those like Haku and Kimimaro and brought them into his fold. Nothing inspires loyalty like being rescued." Hiruzen replied with a fierce frown on his face.

"I'm just worried about the kid actually." Inoichi replied after settling the papers down to rub his tired eyes. "I mean when he mentioned he was coughing up blood, that was kind of an eye opener."

"I have the best in the Anbu looking after him, and Anko is overseeing it as well. It will give her something to do than grow angry about what her former teacher is doing." Ibiki said after growling from a report of Orochimaru making bat-like people in Forest Country and scratching it down to look into later.

Another hour into compiling the number of bases, and acts against of humanity later, the three were greeted with a knock on the door. Anko strolled in, her face surprisingly solemn with a manila folder tucked under her arm.

"What's the news?" Ibiki demanded.

"Not good." She handed the Hokage the folder and sat down in the last vacant seat. "Our doctors are good, maybe not Tsunade good but some of the best. But they cannot help him."

"He's dying." The Sandaime stated as he combed through the folder. "A very rare lung disease. And due to his clan's unique body structure and there being too little information we cannot bring him any treatment." He then looked at Anko opening his mouth to ask. "What are they doing to him now?"

"Right now they are keeping him under lock and key in the medical ward. He's being treated with antibiotics, and everything else. But the disease is spreading, I'll be surprised if he lasts a year."

"Uzumaki is going to be pissed."

(Back in the Forest of Death)

"Kami Sasuke, you scared the shit out of me." Naruto finally said after several hours of uncomfortable silence.

"I scared the shit out of me too." The Uchiha admitted.

After the Sound Genin's attack, things had more or less settled down, but man was it uncomfortable. Team Gai vacated the area after seeing that everything was under control, they didn't tell them if they found a scroll or not, but no one could blame them for being secretive, they were all technically enemies here.

Naruto had more or less used the last of the cream he had stored up in the skull on his katana. Sasuke's self-inflicted stab wound was smeared with it, and so were the cuts Sakura sustained. Both cried out from it going into the cuts, but then a cooling, numbing sensation made it so much better.

Both Teams Ten and Seven decided to call a temporary truce for now, there was strength in numbers after all. Ino had used the time to at least even out Sakura's hair, and the guys took turns watching the place. Naruto wanted to use the Shadow Clone Jutsu to be safe, but he was in front of the competition, and did not want to give away anything that could be used to his advantage, that was what Jagan's Remote Viewing was for.

"So, Sakura...that just happened." Ino lamely said as she used her kunai to try and even out her former best friend's hair.

"Yea, it's hard to believe. Isn't it?" Sakura murmured is response. "A few months ago we were dreaming of Sasuke-kun swooping in to save one of us from an enemy shinobi and live a happily ever after."

"There is no happily ever after in this sort of situation." Ino said after cutting away a few more stray pink locks. "What do you think was the cause of this, why did those Genin want to kill him?"

"It's a substitution for war simulation, they probably saw him as the higher threat and wanted to take him out for a scroll that we did not have in the first place." Sakura lied. That seemed to be more believable than one of the Sannin wanting him for nefariousness purposes.

Somehow the Yamanaka heiress didn't exactly believe that, but didn't push it. "So, what's this I hear about Naruto actually harming you? Never in a million years did I think that possible."

"I-I can't really give you the details. Hokage-sama swore my team to secrecy, but during my...I mean our mission to Wave Country, something changed in him. I got angry over something or another and tried to punch him, and he caught my fish and told me that he would retaliate if I did it again." The pinkette slowly dropped her head in embarrassment, and a bit of shame as well. "I brushed it off as him being brash, and giving me an empty threat. I was so blinded thinking that him having a crush on me gave me immunity for whatever I could do to him, and when I tried doing it again, he headbutted me."

Ino barely managed to hold in her laugh, her face turned red from her effort. "So that explains that honking bruise I saw you with a few weeks ago. I'm sorry forehead, but it sounds like you got what was coming to you."

"Almost like you did when you tried punching him." Sakura retorted.

"An action I probably would have regretted." The blonde full admitted. "I honestly cannot believe that's him, it just feels...well wrong. He's the dead last."

"And I am supposed to be the smartest kunoichi of the class, but for all my book smarts I was completely unprepared for my first serious mission. Don't ever underestimate my teammate, a great many have, and they paid for it."

"I believe you." Ino lightly sighed before looking over towards the boys. "I wonder what they are talking about?"

"I cannot believe I lost my kusarigama." Sasuke groaned out.

"Hey be thankful that's all you lost." Naruto replied before looking at his teammate more closely. "Sasuke where are your weights?"

"...Probably cinders when I burned that giant snake." The Uchiha mumbled before looking at the mask-wearer. "Where are yours?"

"...Somewhere in the forest."

"So Naruto...what exactly happened to you?" Shikamaru asked, gesturing towards the class troublemaker's disturbing appearance. "What made you look like you fought with a thorn bush?"

"I got my ass kicked that's what." Naruto fully admitted, much to Sasuke's surprise. "After we got separated, I was jumped by two guys. I killed one of them, but the other he proved to be much more difficult."

"Wait...you killed a guy?" Choji gulped loudly after hearing that, and immediately lost his appetite.

"Well it's kind of hard to not die when one gets stabbed in the head." The former full blonde bit out before apologizing. "Sorry, it's been a very long day."

"This is too much of a drag." Shikamaru sighed out before laying on his back. "I can't even see the clouds thanks to these trees."

"Not seeing clouds will be the least of your problems." Sasuke grumbled out with his arms crossing his chest. "Seeing that you're all still here, it tells me that you're lacking the second scroll needed to pass, isn't it?"

"Yea...but we're not telling you what we got!" Choji screamed out.

"It's the Earth Scroll." Naruto deadpanned, not even hiding his smirk under his masks. He was abusing Jagan a little bit, this was true, but the sentient eyeball didn't send a powerful migraine throughout his brain so he guessed he was enjoying a sense of superiority.

Both Shikamaru and Choji paled, the latter sputtering for several seconds. "Ho-how did you know that?"

"Ninja secret." The Kuroshingan-user smugly replied.

"Tsk, troublesome idiot."

The very next day the two teams split up, their truce was up, and they weren't going to get anywhere sticking together during this competition. Currently Naruto split away from the team to cover ground that he was familiar with, set traps, and at all costs find a scroll.

"So, any luck Blondie?" Ishikawa asked.

"I dunno, you tell me. We're already three days in, and have yet to find another asshole with a Heaven Scroll." Naruto bitterly retorted. "I have been using the Remote Viewing technique all day and I still haven't found shit!"

"Easy there, getting all stressed out is super bad for your health."

"Then I should just stop being a shinobi then, because that is all we're gonna get as time goes on."

"Huh, I honestly never thought of that. I was always was cool as a cucumber."

"That's because you're weird." Naruto deadpanned.

"I'm weird? Na-uh you're weird, you hold a nine-tailed furball, got a demonic eyeball in your forehead, a freaking mutated Sharingan, a freaking judgment katana, and Shinigami knows what else crawling around in that DNA of yours."

"Oh yea...well shut up!"

"How about you shut up, you loud mouthed Leaf ninja." A familiar voice caused the former full blonde to stop in his tracks. "You know, talking to yourself is a sign of insanity, and answering back isn't good either."

Stopping on a thick tree branch, Naruto's hand instantly went to Handanryoku's hilt, his palm resting upon it and his fingers wrapping around it tightly. "Dosu, correct?"

"The very same." The mummy Genin emerged from behind a tree he was resting on. He looked extremely rough the last time he saw him, dirty, his clothing and bandages frayed. His single eye having a dark bag underneath it.

"You're not going to attack me are you?"

"Depends, what scroll do you have?"

"Just the one you guys gave us, and I don't have it on me."

"Hmph, same."

An awkward silence resonated between them, Dosu eyeing Naruto warily, while Naruto himself kept his grip on his sword.

"So...how's your teammate?" Naruto asked.

"His arms are in slings, Kin managed to prove her worth and managed to put his arms back in his sockets. He's out cold now and I am waiting for some unlucky sods to fork over a Heaven Scroll. If they don't they will end up like the last team we encountered." Dosu tapped his Melody Arm to reference their untimely fates.

"Well at least he is going to live."

"Boy...what are you doing?" Jagan demanded.

'I'm fishing, be quiet.' Naruto mentally replied.

"So tell me, why were you guys gunning after my teammate? What is on the orders of Orochimaru?"

Dosu's eye narrowed. "I'm not telling you anything."

"Hmph, no need. I know enough, and I have seen enough to know that you are nothing but pawns for that treasonous snake." Naruto said, a smile forming underneath his masks. Thank the Shinigami for Kimimaro telling him the important bits. "Branded with a Curse Seal, and then you were used as an experiment. And now, heh, now that your mission is done, you're nothing more than cannon fodder. But you already knew this...didn't you?"

If looks could kill, Naruto would have been a smoldering pile of ash, not unlike a victim of his Darkness Beam. But he knew he hit the nail on the head, and he was going to exploit it as much as he could.

"I know." Dosu growled out, his knuckles cracking loudly in anger. "That's why I am going to kill the Uchiha to get in the way of his ambitions."

"Or..." Naruto cut in, throwing off his train of thought. "You could simply, well defect."

"What did you say?" The mummy-like Genin demanded.

"Unless you're missing both ears under those wrappings then you heard me right." The former full blonde replied. "Listen, Konoha may not exactly be your favorite place. Orochimaru may have even preached how rotten or terrible it is, but it honestly isn't that bad. We'll treat you guys fair," Naruto even smiled, which was shown on his mask, much to the Sound Genin's confusion. "Besides, we got four...no wait soon to be five others that are going to join our village. Three more couldn't hurt."

"You're making it sound so easy." Dosu sarcastically retorted.

"Oh no it isn't. You will be interrogated by the scary first proctor, detained in an unknown location in the village, be watched over by the Anbu Black Ops for an unknown amount of time and then be released in the village. Knowing you guys, you'll be placed as Genin under a Jonin sensei." Naruto replied, after all Zabuza and the rest were going through the exact same thing, Kimimaro however was an unusual case. And he figured this would be a gigantic pain in his ass later once the council got a whiff of him.

"Oh joy, this is really making me itching to defect."

"Hey, it's better than what you probably have in your village. Besides, whatever ails you will be treated. Your friend Zaku will get his arms fixed, and your, uh..." Naruto gestured his face area. "Whatever is going on there. And guess what you will not be used as sacrificial pawns. So what do you say?"

Dosu's eye narrowed, but his guard dropped only slightly. The offer was far too good to be true, but he used his chakra to head the pounding of Naruto's heart. There was no irregular beat, just a steady heartbeat. The brat wasn't lying. "I'll think about it." He eventually said.

"See, it's progress." Naruto smiled. "Now I gotta get back to my team. I wish you luck, stay clear of that cave to the north unless you want to be tiger chow, and hopefully I'll see you in the tower."

"...We will see."

Naruto left the crouching Sound Genin several seconds later. His search for a scroll was a huge bust, and quite frankly he was getting mentally exhausted. He was going to head back to the rendezvous point, eat some freshly grilled fish if Sasuke was lucky enough to catch some, and then take a long power nap.

That was the plan at least.

The plan did not involve jumping into their campsite, and nearly running into an unknown woman. She was around their age, wore a fishnet shirt and stockings, a purple skirt, a light brown short sleeved jacket with a orange stripe going across the chest, and black sandals. She also had the Kusagakure hitai-ate protector on her forehead. She had two striking features, red eyes that were nearly obscured brown narrow glasses, and red hair with an unusual hairstyle: her hair was short and spiky on the right side, while longer and straight on the left side.

The woman looked up at him in surprise, her mouth halfway open into biting a grilled fish on a stick. She was also sitting in-between both Sasuke and Sakura. This was odd, way too odd.

"Uh, hey..." Naruto greeted her wearily. "Who the hell are you?"

"Dobe, this is Karin." Sasuke introduced their guest. "Her team was mauled to death by a bear."

"Oh, those fucking bears are assholes." Naruto lightly winced. Tigers, giant leeches, giant centipedes, poisonous and man eating plants and large bears were the main predators of the forest. There were others of course, but he wasn't going to search the entire forest for them.

"Yea, I managed to kill the thing when it came after her." Sasuke lightly tapped on his kusarigama, dinged and scratched, but thankfully recovered. "I couldn't leave her alone either, and her team had the Heaven Scroll." (7)

"And what made you decide to bring her along?" Naruto asked.

"Well I figured, what would the dobe do? So I took her with me so she could at least get to the tower and not get mauled by another bear."

"Dude, your cousin just picked up a girl and got a scroll at the same time." Ishikawa nodded his head in appreciation. "Not bad. Not bad at all."

"Yea, I'm slipping." He murmured to himself before settling across from her. "So, Sakura are you okay with this?"

"Er, yea. I mean she is in need of our help. Why wouldn't I be?" The pinkette replied.

"Just curious is all." Of course he didn't believe her, her infatuation with Sasuke was legendary, bordering on worrisome at times. But she had not tried to stab her, so he guessed that was a start. "So, Karin you're from Kusagakure right?"

"That's what it shows on my hitai-ate." The red head nervously replied. "Why do you ask?"

"Oh nothing. I kind of ran into a team from your village, creepy-looking guys, wearing straw hats with talismans that kept saying death on it three times each." He replied, hoping that would jog her memory.

"Team Shiroe?" Karin's face wrinkled in disgust. "Ugh, I hate those guys. They were the bullies in my class, always acting so superior, and smug because Shiore is the eldest son of a councilman."

"Well you don't have to worry about them. They're dead. Well at least the one in the wooden mask and the one in a tattered cloak." Technically that was a lie, because they were already dead before he confronted them, but she didn't need to know that.

"Then I know I fought the leader," Sasuke continued where his teammate left off. Giving the former full blonde a questioning look, when he got a light shoulder shrug in response, he finished up. "He is not someone to worry about anymore."

Sakura looked like she was about to speak up, to question her crush about why he was lying, but Naruto shook his head. With great reluctance she kept her mouth shut for now.

"Oh thank Kami." Karin breathed out in relief. "That jerk said if he had the chance he would go after my team, just because he could. Well that will give me a measure of peace at least...at least until I go back to the village."

"You don't like your village?" Sakura asked in surprise.

"Um, lets just say that I don't really have anything to tie me there anymore." Karin replied before looking downwards. "That's all I can say, I'm sorry."

"Hey, if you don't want to say anything then you don't have to." Naruto waved her off fully knowing that sometimes things needed to stay buried until they were ready to talk about it, wow talk about the pot calling the kettle black. "So what will you do then?"

"I-I honestly don't know."

"Oh boy here we go again." Jagan grumbled in disgust.

"You could find asylum here." Sasuke beat Naruto to the punch, much to his and Sakura's surprise. "After the exams I mean, Naruto and I could talk to Hokage-sama and get the necessary paperwork filled out."

"Denied! Hahaha! Blondie it looks like Sasuke picked up your habit for bringing strays home!"

Naruto unfortunately couldn't help but agree to that. Sakura was not amused. Karin couldn't keep a smile off her face.

After their quick meal Team Seven and an extra person made their way towards the tower, the two males took short cuts, straying from obvious areas that would lead them into a trap thanks to their previous experience in the forest. The journey took a quarter out of their day, but thanks to Naruto's Remote Viewing, and sticking to their planned path they made it to the tower in no time flat.

The tower was...ugly to put it lightly. The thing was at least two stories tall, rising out of the forest easily. The shingles were yellow, the exterior was a salmon color, but the place did have twenty floors. Not that Sasuke and Naruto knew of course, they may have trained in the forest, but they never went inside the tower because an Anbu member stopped them from doing so.

The two boys pulled open the doors, letting both Sakura and Karin inside they saw that the entire place was barren. Other than an obviously barred door, and two statues that had the Heaven and Earth kanji symbols on them.

"Huh...so what should we do now?" Naruto asked.

"Um, I honestly have no clue." Karin remarked.

That caused Sakura to beam in pride, even though she mentally deflated since she too have no idea what to do. "Well we have the scrolls...Sasuke-kun maybe we should take them out."

"Hmm, I guess it couldn't hurt." Reaching into his hip pouch Sasuke pulled out both Heaven and Earth scrolls. Nothing happened. "Tsk, that was pointless."

"Now hold on, Sakura might have something here." Naruto made his way over to the Uchiha and plucked the Earth scroll from his hand. "How about we open them both at the same time?"

"Naruto the second proctor said not to open them!" Sakura admonished her teammate.

"Well what are we supposed to do, stand here with our thumbs up our asses or...whoops." In a deliberate, clumsy fashion, Naruto "accidentally" peeled open his scroll. Sasuke followed suit, but was not subtle in hiding it.

The two scrolls then began to smoke, causing them to freak out and throw them away. The smoke erupted like a volcano, making the Genin get into prepared fighting stances to attack whatever was willing to do them harm.

When the smoke cleared it revealed a man of average height and build. He had brown hair that he kept in a ponytail, dark eyes and a scar that ran across the bridge of his nose. He was wearing the standard Konoha shinobi outfit complete with Leaf hitai-ate, sandals, and clothing and flak jacket.

"Holy crap, Iruka-sensei!?" Naruto cried out in disbelief.

Their former teacher lightly chuckled and nodded. "The one and only. Congratulations on passing the second exam."

"Wait, hold on we passed?" Even Sasuke couldn't believe their good fortune. "How?"

"Allow me to explain. You see if you become Chunin, you will have to sometimes take on missions of a secretive nature. The best example is carrying a scroll carrying sensitive information, if you open it...well bad things can happen." Iruka explained to them.

"So that's why we were told not to open them." Sakura mused out loud.

"That's right, if you did I would have had to knock you out. And your entire team would have failed right then and there." He replied, nodding at his former pink-haired student. He then looked over at the stranger standing with them and raised an eyebrow. "Now tell me, who is she?"

"Her team was killed by a bear in the woods, she had the scroll we needed, and we brought her along with us." Sasuke explained to him.

"There is nothing in the rules preventing us from doing that either." Naruto added in, fully remembering his scare from earlier. "And if there was, we did not know of it. So can she at least stay in the tower until the five days are up?"

Iruka scratched the tip of his nose in consideration. The red haired girl smiled at him nervously, and the poor thing certainly looked frightened to death. Scratching the back of his head the scarred-face man said. "That is not up to me, but I will inform Hokage-sama of this. At the very least she can stay the night until I find out for myself."

"Th-thank you, Iruka-san." Karin deeply bowed to the Chunin.

"Hey, we're not that heartless." Iruka lightly remarked before forming his hands into a seal, and the door opened behind him. "Now go on in and rest, you four look like you've been running in a forest for three days." He then disappeared in a small cloud of smoke, leaving four deadpanned Genin looking in the spot where he once stood.

"Was that supposed to be funny?" Karin asked in confusion.

"No, no it wasn't." The entirety of Team Seven replied in perfect synchronization.

Armageddon: Hello my minions.

Minons: Bananna!

Armageddon:...Whoops wrong studio. *Backs out of the room, heads to studio 52 and enters it* Hello everybody!

Pvt. Liquor: You're late.

Lt. RasenganFin: Uber later dude.

Pvt. Fox: Well he does have like sixteen-thousand words for this chapter alone. Impressive.

Armageddon: Thanks, and yea I kinda got lost on the way here. But here is the chapter, I got nothing real witty to say...well except Kashimoto really should quit while he is ahead. Seriously Boruto?

Pvt. Killjoy: I kinda like the art.

Armageddon: Meh, it's okay. I just don't like him, heak I am more interested in Mitsuki and Sarada Uchiha than the main character. But I am not going to ramble on about it, if anything it will fill in the blanks for how exactly Choji and Karui ended up together and some other what the shit moments we got for the ending.

Pvt. Leaf Ranger: Here, here.

Armageddon: All right, now onto the number things. It's explanation/trivia time!

(1) All right, now some of yo may gripe that Naruto's Jagan Eye, Ichikawa and his death secret is spreading too fast. Well so far only The Hokage, Inoichi and Naruto himself know the truth of his...unique situation. Ibiki and Anko are very loyal, at least that is how their characters are when I read and watched them, so they can keep a secret, and even help if needed. But they will be the last for now until maybe after the Tsunade Retrieval Arc.

(2) I actually spent a few days figuring out what to do here. I did not want to break Naruto's character in making Kimimaro super loyal, so I had Jagan do that. After all this is a demonic, sentient eyeball, who does not really like the way Naruto does things because it is so foreign to him...or it I guess. So there was a compromise in making Kimimaro very loyal, yet not to the zealot degree with a good amount of free will as well. So at least our favorite bone-user will have a normalish life.

(3) Yes I added that in, you all know what it's from.

(4) I decided to go another route, instead of seeing something time and time again, let Lee be smarter and not get his ass kicked, and Team Ten running in but not getting a chance to do anything. After all do you all like predictability? I know I sure don't.

(5) If you recall, Sasuke fought Orochimaru with his Sharingan on. He used a jutsu, Sasuke stole it, I mean if Kakashi can do it to Zabuza, Sasuke can do the exact same thing. Plus I'm pretty sure no one wants to get jabbed with senbon needles ever again, God knows I wouldn't.

(6) ...Yea Ishikawa is abusing his ghost powers. But then again wouldn't you?

(7) And Finally Karin. Listen I know canonically her team had the Earth Scroll, but since this is fanficion I can change it to my advantage. Plus she finally has a backstory, and I gotta say...ouch. Originally she was going to come in after the timeskip but I figured that Sasuke picked up Naruto's bad habit of bringing people in, they get a scroll without you all waiting another chapter for it, and giving Sakura a bit more of a...well growing opportunity.

Well that is all I got for now, sorry if this chapter wasn't actony but you can't really expect something like that so soon after what I gave ya, it needs to cool off until it gets red-hot again. Well until next time! And remember always leave a detailed review, can't improve otherwise.

11-11-16: Not much of an update, just fixed a few glaring things that had been ticking me off for weeks now.