A/N: So, here we get some minor time-skipping! Only because I really do need to pick up the plot a bit more~
Slightly relevant facts: In the manga, the chunin exams very clearly go straight from phase one to phase two without any break or chance to gather supplies. I vaguely recall this being different in the anime, but I'm sticking with the manga here.
Also, Orochimaru disguises himself as a Grass-nin in the manga. Maybe that's different in the anime too, I don't know, I just know some of the google resources list him as disguising himself as a Sound-nin, maybe because later on he disguises himself as the Sound Three's jonin sensei? I dunno.
But anyway! Those are all the relevant facts here! In the end, I never managed to finish new chapters for my other three fics like I was planning this weekend… but oh well! I got this one finished, and I got a new one for Potion Fumes, and I'll just have to call that good enough!
Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoy the sudden and abrupt faceplant into PLOT!
"Where's Sasuke, d'ya reckon?" Kiba steadies Akamaru with one hand when his partner barks his assent, half-standing atop his head.
"A-and Naruto-kun…" Hinata offers quietly, glancing around the room.
"Who cares? It's quieter without them, that's for sure." Shikamaru drawls, slouching forward.
"B-but… they're going t-to miss the test…" Hinata shuffles nervously, and Ino steps forward to cheer her up.
"Don't worry Hinata-chan! I'm sure Sasuke-kun will show up! In fact-!"
"I wouldn't be too sure about that," a mellow voice interjects, and Kiba glances toward the newcomer.
"Yeah? Who're you supposed to be?" Akamaru growls in agreement, kneading his paws into Kiba's hair.
"Ah! I'm Kabuto, with Konoha's Team 18. You're the teams fresh out of the Academy, right? You're certainly reckless enough for it."
"What's that supposed to mean?!" Kiba bristles, glaring, and the Kabuto guy just chuckles.
"Nothing bad, it's just… you're being so loud, even though all the other genin are taking this seriously, haven't you noticed?"
Kiba hadn't, before, but when Kabuto points it out he can practically feel the stares of the other genin boring into him. He looks up at them, sitting in the tiered classroom, and bares his teeth in a fanged grin.
As if they intimidate me!
"Wh-what d-did you mean, b-before?" Hinata stutters, and Kiba turns to look at her.
"Eh? Oh, right! You said something about Sasuke not showing up? What, the jerk decide he's too good for us?" Kiba glances back at Kabuto, and the other genin shakes his head.
"I heard it was an order from Hokage-sama himself, that Team 7 wouldn't be allowed to participate in the Exams. It's so unusual! This is my seventh exam, going on four years now, and I've never heard a precedent for it! I suppose I'd hoped since you were all in the same class together in the Academy you might know why that was…?" Kabuto trails off with an expectant smile that has Akamaru growling again.
Kiba pats his partner reassuringly.
"I-I hadn't h-heard…"
"Indeed. That is rather unusual. Why? Because while Team 8 has worked with Team 10 for a number of small exercises since our graduation, we have not met with Team 7 at all," Shino muses.
"Oh! That reminds me!" Kiba slams a fist into his open palm. "I met Sakura-chan just a couple days after we graduated, and she was acting really weird!"
"Sakura was?" Ino steps forward, one hand fiddling with her hair. "My dad's been meeting with her a lot too, Cousin Rin said…"
Kiba shrugs. "I wouldn't know about that, I just found her walking around without shoes. She said she'd snuck out her bedroom window to go have lunch with Naruto, but her body language and words were all weird! I didn't really think about it too much though, cause she went straight into Naruto's apartment complex and I had to go catch up with Hinata and Shino or I'd have been late…"
"Ah, Ino-chan's father works as a Shinobi therapist, right?" Kabuto interjects, and Kiba glares at the interruption. "Is it possible something happened with Sakura-chan that caused Hokage-sama to be personally involved? It would make sense, considering Konoha's more team-oriented approach, I suppose."
"N-no way!" Ino exclaims, crossing her arms. "My dad definitely would have said something if Sakura was in trouble!"
"Have you met up with her at all then?" Kabuto asks, and Ino glares back at him.
"Just because Sakura-chan and I don't meet every day anymore doesn't mean anything! We've both been busy with our training! A-and she's probably just hogging Sasuke-kun all to herself too because she got put on a team with him!"
"Shino was right though. Team 10's had some small joint training exercises with Team 8, and even a joint escort with Team 9, but we haven't so much as passed Team 7 in the streets." Shikamaru offers, glancing between Ino and Kiba. He turns to look at Kabuto after. "Where did you hear that Hokage-sama specifically barred them, though? We haven't heard any rumor like that and Ino's been actively following Sasuke's progress."
"Well they weren't exactly quiet about it were they?"
"Kankuro!" Kiba turns toward the back of the room, where the two voices came from, and catches sight of a Suna team.
"What?" The one clad in black responds. "They were so eager to brag about their weakness, they practically shouted it for all the street to hear, about how their own Kage had no faith in them. Who cares if we tell everyone else?"
"We're not getting involved in Konoha's drama." The blond girl says with a disdainful expression, glancing dismissively at them.
Ino opens her mouth, looking entirely ready to start lecturing, but before Kiba can so much as step away from her, an explosion of smoke fills the room, dissipating quickly to reveal a dozen shinobi.
"Enough blathering!" The scarred man in front says, casting his gaze sharply across the room. "I'm Morino Ibiki, your exam proctor for the first stage! Everyone who's here, the exam starts now! To those who didn't make it, too bad! Now come up to the front of the room and take a seating assignment so we can get started!"
"So much for fightin' with the teams who passed the first phase," Naruto grumbles as they glance between the other genin and the walls of Training Ground 44, "looks like they're moving straight on to the second one without a break!"
"Hn." Sasuke's sharingan whirls slowly as he tracks the genin. "That one team from Kusa doesn't seem to be here, Natsu."
"Yeah, that's weird. I coulda swore they were the sort who'd definitely pass all the way to the third phase. That long-haired guy totally noticed me, even though I stayed so far away…"
"One of the other Suna teams is gone too…" Naruto mutters, as he stares at Gaara's team walking forward to collect their scrolls.
Gaara turns to look at them, and Naruto waves cheerfully when he notices.
Natsu sighs. "That other Suna team looked decently strong too, though I can't exactly point fingers if they failed an information-gathering test…"
"We don't even know if that's what it was, Iruka-sensei only really talked about the second and third exams." Naruto props his chin in his palm, watching the teams collect scrolls and head towards the training ground.
"It took place in the Academy, and no one came out injured," Sasuke says, "so it was either something to do with Genjutsu or something to do with information gathering. Possibly both. It doesn't take much to figure that out, dobe."
"I wasn't saying you were wrong! I just mean that maybe they'd still be a good fight…"
"It'd just be picking on morons. I get enough of that from you two."
"Oi!" Naruto lunges towards Sasuke, and Natsu scrambles to stick himself to the tree with chakra so he doesn't get knocked off.
"Pretty sure I kicked your ass last time we fought," he grumbles for good measure, and Sasuke dodges under Naruto's lunge and tries to pull him off the tree in retaliation.
"In your dreams, Natsu."
Naruto slams solidly into the trunk of the tree just as Natsu pulls his leg from Sasuke's grip, and some of the genin below turn to look toward them. Team 7 hastily finds more concealed positions.
"We're probably gonna get in trouble if we hang around, huh?" Naruto grumbles, glancing towards where the Exam proctors are glaring up at them.
"Yeah, that one chick doesn't look too happy," Natsu agrees, slipping around to the other side of the tree and walking quickly across the branches. "Wanna poke that Kusa team? I can't imagine them failing any sort of genjutsu test with how easily they noticed me, and they didn't look like brutes either…"
"You just don't want to admit you got caught by losers," Sasuke rebutts, but turns towards the Kusa shinobi's designated training field anyway. Natsu glares at his back.
"Did not," he mutters, as he and Naruto quickly catch up to keep pace with Sasuke.
The training fields dedicated for the foreign teams are on the other side of the village, away from the fields Konoha uses to practice, and Kusa's single field is already occupied as Natsu and his teammates approach. They stop as soon as Sasuke catches sight of them, and Natsu levels his dark-haired teammate with a curious look.
"They're talking about something… we're probably too far out for you to hear them, huh?" The Uchiha murmurs, and Natsu nods.
"Wind's carrying their voices away from us. I wouldn't be surprised if they can already smell us, if they've got anyone like that though…"
"None of them have reacted like they can. Seriously, you're over-estimating them, they're just a bunch of losers."
Natsu scowls. "They aren't. I'm not good at a lot of things, but I know when an enemy is strong! C'mon!" He leaps forward, easily landing on the road and marching up to the field. The Kusa shinobi stop talking as soon as he lands, and even from so far away he can feel their gazes on him as he moves closer. Sasuke and Naruto catch up after a moment, and they step into the field together.
"Ooh~? What's this?" One of the Kusa-nin stands up, brushing their long hair over their shoulder in a negligent motion as Team 7 approaches.
Sasuke sighs, rolling his eyes upward for a moment, and Natsu grins. "Just wondering why a team like yours failed what has to be an easy info-gathering test!"
"You noticed, did you?" The long-haired one muses, lips curled back into a threatening smile.
A bad feeling drops like a stone into Natsu's gut.
"You failed on purpose?" Sasuke questions, Sharingan springing to life, and with a casual flick of their wrist the Kusa-nin causes their two teammates to melt into mud.
"How could I not, when I heard you wouldn't be participating, Sasuke-kun~?" their voice trails off into a mocking lilt, and their smile grows unnervingly. "And look at you, saving me the effort of hunting you down~"
The Kusa-nin gives them no chance to respond, killing intent soaking the field even before he finishes speaking, and Natsu drowns.
Everything's burningburningburning, nii-chan, where's nii-chan, it's hothothothot and something cracks and the sky is falling- he tries to get up, he's gotta find nii-chan, kaa-san isn't moving and nii-chan'll fix it but there's something- he can't lift his head- he's stuck-
Everything's burning-
Natsu chokes, panting, lungs burning, and he can still taste the smoke on his tongue.
Two sets of hands grab him, help him sit up, and Natsu sees long pink hair cascade over a slender shoulder and lets out a bleary, "Kaa-san?" as he tries to figure out what's going on.
He blinks firmly, tring to clear his eyes, and it's Sakuni who shakes her head. "Sorry, Natsu. Just Sakura and I."
"Are you okay?" Sakura asks, one hand on his shoulder. "You just showed up in here, and Inner broke through the door, but you weren't responding at first…"
"I-I…" Natsu glances around, and the door doesn't look broken, but his magic, wisps of fire and a comforting warmth drift through easily.
The walls of the room are decorated in stylized markings of dragons and fire, and it feels like Natsu.
"Wait!" Natsu stumbles to his feet, listing into the wall before catching himself. "Some crazy guy attacked us! I need to get out! Naruto and Sasuke are still fighting him!"
"Whoever it was," Sakuni says slowly, "They're too strong."
Natsu shakes his head. "Even more reason to get back! Sasuke and Naruto are alone right now! I need to go!"
Sakura stands, brushing off her clothes. "Okay. Don't worry, I think Inner and I can keep the door open now that we can work together. You protect Sasuke-kun!"
Natsu nods distractedly, already focusing on leaving, disappearing from the room carved with his markings, and he worries, a bit, about what Sakura-chan's Heart having pieces of him permanently carved into it could mean, but his teammates are in danger and he can worry about that later!
Waking up feels like slamming head-first into a wall at full speed, the Kusa-nin's killing intent still thick and present and he nearly gags, choking on the weight of it, as he drags his head up.
The Kusa-nin backhands Naruto away from him with casual grace even as he dodges Sasuke's shuriken as though they aren't even there, and it takes Natsu barely a second to realize both his teammates are keeping the other guy away from him.
It takes even less to realize the foreigner is letting them.
He snarls, furious, as he pushes himself to his feet, and nearly distracts himself in shock when he feels the familiar, warm curl of his own fire responding to that fury.
It dances just beneath Sakura-chan's chakra, a second layer buried a bit deeper than he's used to, but it's there, unignorable and present in a way it hasn't been for so long-
The Kusa-nin casually dodges Naruto and Sasuke again, stepping closer to Natsu just to taunt them, and the pinkette grins savagely.
Then he charges forward, fire leaping down his arm with contemptuous ease, magic flowing fast and smooth, and Natsu's pretty sure nothing has ever been so satisfying as sinking his fist in the Kusa-nin's side, and watching the fire explode on contact.
"'bout time you woke up," Sasuke snaps, voice taut with worry. Naruto just pants, one arm wrapped around his stomach as he hunches over it, and Natsu's moving to help before he even thinks it through.
"And here I thought you were just a weak little girl," the Kusa-nin's voice rings out, amused, and Natsu turns to look.
They aren't even injured, a hole burned into their clothes but no damage to show beneath it, and all he can think is, Sakuni was probably right.
He turns to face the Kusa-nin properly, taking comfort in the wild energy flowing just beneath the chakra he's had to get used to.
It's a little harder to pull up… but not that much.
"Nothing to say?" The Kusa-nin smirks, then disappears.
Natsu leaps even before he can realize what he's doing, but the Kusa-nin's foot clips him, turning a controlled dive into a wild tumble, just as the air explodes with the scent of Naruto's blood.
Natsu catches himself desperately, recovering and rocketing forward, fingers curved like talons as fire engulfs his hand, hot as he can make it - the Kusa-nin reels back as he strikes, no blood but an overwhelming stench of burning flesh, and the foreigner lashes out with a second kick that sends Natsu slamming into Naruto, toppling them both into the dirt.
His hand hurts, skin red and burned, but four wide, blackened stripes cross the Kusa-nin's chest - Natsu can worry about his skin later, once everyone is safe, and he tries to be careful as he pushes himself off Naruto, offering his hand to the blond, though he doesn't take his eyes off the enemy.
He pulls when he feels fingers curl around his own, breathes out in sharp relief at the knowledge that Naruto is still alive, but then the Kusa-nin is there, Natsu hadn't even blinked and he still missed the movement, faster than Zabuza ever was, and he has no time to raise his guard, feeling something crack as the foreigner's fist strikes him in the chest.
He catches sight of Sasuke, breathing his own fire as the shinobi distracts himself with Naruto, but the man disappears again, reappearing to jab a sharp elbow into Sasuke's sternum - Natsu spreads fire down his legs, launching himself forward in an attempt to keep the other shinobi from following up on their strike, bones grinding together unpleasantly in his chest-
The Kusa-nin makes a handsign, neck extending unnaturally, and Natsu's arm wraps around Sasuke's waist to pull him aside just as the enemy's head launches forward impossibly fast, fangs sinking into flesh.
Everything burns.