Set one
Naruto stood still staring at the Kusa-nin waiting for an answer. He was truly curious as to who the person was. It was not every day that one found such a strong person in the chunin exams. With the power the Kusa-nin had he should not have been a genin. And there was also the person's clear interest in Sasuke Uchiha. The Kusa-nin was not the first person to show interest in Sasuke, there was also Kabuto who showed interest in Sasuke at the first part of the exams.
"I'm the one who should be asking the questions Naruto-kun." The Kusa-nin replied sounding amused by the question.
Naruto just stood there staring at the Kusa-nin before sighing. He was not going to get the answer he had requested. By the looks of things the Kusa-nin just wanted to play around with them. He could always join and have some fun too.
Naruto charged at the Kusa-nin engaging the Kusa-nin in a taijutsu battle. He tried punching the Kusa-nin in the face, but she jumped back to avoid Naruto's punch. Naruto followed her and tried kicking as a follow up to his dodged punch. The Kusa-nin caught his attack with little effort. Naruto was expecting something like this, so in quick movement his fist connected with the Kusa-nin's face sending her flying away from him.
Naruto did not stop with his attacks he dashed toward the Kusa-nin in jonin speeds. She was worthy of it. Naruto appeared in front of the Kusa-nin and pummeled her to the ground with both his hands. She was sent crashing down and created a crater upon impact.
Naruto jumped unto a tree branch and looked at the Kusa-nin. She got up from the crater and looked at Naruto with a malicious smile, "So the rumors I have heard about you are true eh Naruto-kun."
Naruto looked at the woman carefully. She did not seem to have taken any damage or even bothered by his attacks at all. She looked to have just brushed them off nothing it was nothing. He had thought it would cause a bit of damage even if it was little.
The Kusa-nin charged at Naruto and tried punching him at his chest but Naruto blocked her blow with both his hands. She tried kicking him with her right foot. Naruto jumped back to avoid the effort to kick him. The moment he landed on the ground she was right in front him. She landed a powerful kick on his chest sending him crashing towards the trees. Naruto grunted as he hit a tree hard. The Kusa-nin appeared in front of him again. "You are better than Sasuke-kun but I have no interest in you, at the moment." The Kusa-nin said punching Naruto hard in the stomach. Naruto grunted he felt the punch connect with his gut. He coughed up a bit of liquid and fell on his knees while clutching his stomach in pain.
The Kusa-nin turned her back on him and looked back at Sasuke. Sasuke stood there watching with wide eyes. He had never seen anyone man handle Naruto. Whenever he had seen Naruto fight with an enemy he had always won each time. He had never been beaten with ease, like he was some kind of weak genin. He was starting to fear for his life now. If the Kusa-nin could beat Naruto the way she did what could he do to her? Naruto had always been superior to him, so could he fight someone who defeated Naruto with ease. Despite him hating that fact he knew that Naruto was superior to him.
The Kusa-nin turned to Naruto again and kicked him hard on the temple sending him flying away. She looked back at Sasuke again.
"No Sasuke-kun shall we continue where were?" The Kusa-nin said looking at Sasuke with a wide grin that sent chills to Sasuke's spine.
Sasuke did not know what to do at that moment. He was overcome with fear. His legs failed to respond to the commands he gave to it. The Kusa-nin rushed at Sasuke slamming her foot in his gut. Sasuke was sent flying. He held his stomach while he panted. The Kusa-nin was in front of him again. Sasuke reacted quicker by pulling out a Kunai from his pouch and stabbed the Kusa-nin on her neck. But the Kusa-nin crumbled down into dust making Sasuke widen his eyes. He did not even see he had hit a clone even with his sharingan. His time to be shocked was cut soon as the Kusa-nin appeared behind him and kicked him sending him flying away.
Sasuke hit a tree and fell down to the ground. He got up panting and tried looking for the Kusa-nin. "Are you looking for me Sasuke-kun?" The Kusa-nin called out in mirth. Sasuke gritted his teeth in frustration because he was unable to find the Kusa-nin anywhere despite hearing her voice. He was also getting beat up, something that he hated with all his Uchiha pride.
Naruto looked from the tree as he had been recovering from after the last Kusa-nin's attack that had fallen at him. He replaced himself with a clone and hid somewhere he could not be seen. He did it in a way that no one would see. The clone remained on the tree acting beat up while he hid. He could see where the Kusa-nin was hiding but she could not see or sense him. He had hid himself in the shadows. He activated his sharingan. He had no choice but to do this. His sharingan morphed into the Mangekyou. He concentrated on the Kusa-nin, having finally locked at the target. He muttered, "Amaterasu".
The black flames engulfed the Kusa-nin. She was not able to sense the built up chakra in his left eye to dodge the attack. As the black flames began to eat her body she fell down from the tree she was concealing her position at. She fell to the ground while she screamed in pain. The black flames burned hotter than any flames in existence and there was no way to extinguish them. Once one was caught in them they were surely going to die, unless the flames were put off by the one who ignited them.
She stopped rolling on the ground and her mouth opened. Another body came from the mouth looking perfectly fine. But the body was different from the Kusa-nin. Naruto deactivated his sharingan and dispelled his clone. If what he was seeing had shocked him he hid it well. He walked up to the clearing and looked at the black haired male with a pace skin and yellow eyes, "Orochimaru!"
Orochimaru looked at Naruto with his malicious grin firmly in place. The jutsu that had hit him was defiantly not an ordinary jutsu. Had it not been for his ability to shed his skin he would have been surely burned to dust by the black flames. He would never want to get hit by the jutsu any time soon. The flames ate his body instead of just burning. A normal fire jutsu would have just given him third degree burns. It made him curious. If he was not mistaken the black flamed jutsu could only be used by an Uchiha with a Mangekyou sharingan. He had seen researched everything there was about the sharingan. And thus knew about the jutsu. He looked at Naruto with calculating eyes. It was not Sasuke who had used the jutsu; Sasuke had yet to awaken his Mangekyou. He did not sense any other presence close by; it only meant that it had to be Naruto who did the jutsu. But that only begged a question.
How?
Naruto was not an Uchiha, and did not have the sharingan. The only 'special' thing about Naruto was that he was a jinchuriku nothing more. So he could not understand how Naruto was able to do the Amaterasu. On the outside he may look like he was enjoying something, but inside his head questions had been triggered and he was unable to find the answers. The only way to get answers was to do it the easy way.
''An interesting jutsu Naruto-kun, can you tell me how you did it. As far as I know only a person with the Mangekyou sharingan can summon black flames.''
Naruto was not going to answer the question. The answer he would give Orochimaru would make Orochimaru curious. He was not going make Orochimaru even more curious about him. Doing something like that would be dangerous for his secrets. As far as he knew Orochimaru was a very curious person and had an obsessesin with wanting to know all the secrets of the world. So making Orochimaru curious would only make the snake sennin come after him with his snakes searching for Intel on him. He had already made the snake curious by using Amaterasu. He had been hoping it would end the battle. But seeing Orochimaru shed his skin made him curse.
''I should have noticed sooner that it was you. It was not a coincident that a snake attacked me just after you made your presence known, they were your summons,'' Naruto said, ''What is an S-rank criminal doing in the chunin exams?'' he asked brushing off Orochimaru's curiosity about his jutsu.
Sakura was now shuddering. She heard Naruto say Orochimaru but she did not recognize the name at first but when he said S-rank criminal she recognized him. He was one of the three legendary ninja's. There was no way they were going to make it out alive with their enemy was a sennin. Hope had abandoned her with the thought that her enemy was a sennin. They were a couple of rookies and no match for a Sennin. She did not even feel safe knowing that Sasuke and Naruto were also there. If Naruto did not stand a chance against the sennin there was no way Sasuke could stand a chance.
Naruto saw Orochimaru's grin falter for a second before it appeared again. Orochimaru was dissatisfied with Naruto's response. He had thought the blond would be kind enough to answer his question but it did not seem that his questions were going to be answered. But the fact that Naruto avoided answering his question made him even more curious.
''You are proving to be an interesting genin, Naruto-kun. But as I have said before I you are not what I am interested in.'' Orochimaru said with a dark chuckle while he eyed Sasuke with calculating eyes.
Naruto never took his eyes off Orochimaru, ''Uchiha Sasuke,'' Naruto said aloud what Orochimaru was interested in, ''What could you a sennin want from Sasuke? His hatred, Sharingan, skills, what is it that you find interesting in Sasuke?'' Naruto asked trying to find why Orochimaru would risk coming to Konoha because of Sasuke.
Orochimaru seemed amused by Naruto's questions. He did not respond for a moment though, he narrowed his eyes at Sasuke and looked back at Naruto. He chuckled evilly. He rushed at Naruto in great speeds. Naruto saw the sennin coming and jumped onto a tree branch.
Naruto knew he could not defeat Orochimaru even at his full power. Fighting a sennin was out of his league. He could fight a few jonins but a sennin was just too much for him at his current level of strength. It just meant he had to do more training till he surpassed all the sennin's. Given that he could not defeat Orochimaru, he was not even afraid of dying. He knew that Orochimaru did not want them dead. He wanted them to live. If he wanted them dead he would have already killed Sakura by now or even Sasuke.
Orochimaru followed Naruto onto the trees, but this time a little faster than before. He appeared in front of Naruto and tried to level him with an upper cut. Naruto jumped back to avoid being hit. He was just fast enough to react had he not been able to dodge the punch it would have done him no good. The wind the breezed hit his face made him realize that Orochimaru had put a lot of power behind the punch. He sensed that Orochimaru was still holding back his speed. But the power of the punch was strong enough to knock any genin out cold.
While Naruto was still jumping away Orochimaru appeared in front of Naruto, ''Had it not been Sasuke, I would be certainly interested in you, but don't worry I will never forget this encounter.'' Orochimaru whispered to Naruto.
He tried kicking Naruto at his waist. But Naruto lifted up his knee and blocked the kick. Orochimaru brought out his left leg and tried to kick Naruto but Naruto blocked the blow, again with his knee. Naruto wanted his hands to be free so that he would able to deal with what Orochimaru might try to deal him with. Orochimaru brought his right fist and tried to punch Naruto in the face. But Naruto blocked the attack. Orochimaru was not surprised he was anticipating the block from Naruto. He moved quickly and kneed Naruto on his gut. Naruto hissed while clutching his stomach. Orochimaru kicked harder than he had anticipated.
Orochimaru punched Naruto in the face and spun around for a roundhouse high kick. He kicked Naruto at the temple sending the blond crashing towards the trees. He grinned he had put a lot of power behind the kick. He wanted to get out of the forest before ANBU sensed him within the forest. It would get messy if ANBU where to come at the forest.
Orochimaru was not given time to recover from his one sided battle with Naruto as Sasuke came flying towards him. He sensed the boy chagrin at him and spun around to face the boy. Sasuke tried punching the Sennin in the face but Orochimaru caught Sasuke's hand. He held it tightly and began to squeeze it making Sasuke grunt. Orochimaru looked at Sasuke's eyes with a malicious grin earning a slight shiver from Sasuke. Orochimaru kneed Sasuke on the gut while holding his arm. It was just more pain to Sasuke, and he was starting to think that there was nothing he could do about it. Orochimaru gripped Sasuke's face and sent him crashing towards the trees.
He charged at the Uchiha in jonin speeds but was stopped on his tracks by a kick to the face that sent him flying backwards. There only reason he was hit was because he had thought Naruto would not be able to wake up any time soon after the beating he had given to the blond. Naruto charged at Orochimaru again in great speeds. He was welcomed by a knee on his gut.
''You did good Naruto-kun, catching me off guard like that!'' Orochimaru said with a low chuckle.
He grabbed Naruto's face and smashed the blond down to the ground. The impact formed a crater on the ground. Orochimaru crashed his foot onto Naruto's chest while the blond was still lying down in the crater. Naruto coughed up blood because of the hit. He could feel it he was losing a lot of his energy. It was not good for him to lose his strength the way he was at the moment due to the beating he was receiving from Orochimaru.
Orochimaru grabbed Naruto by his foot and swung him around twice before sending him crashing towards the trees. He did not stop there he rushed at Naruto again and grabbed him by the neck. He could almost lick the blood that was dripping from the blonds' mouth. But he had other businesses to attend to. Naruto was having hard time breathing because his body was worn out and Orochimaru's hand that was on his neck was making it difficult for him to breath. He struggled to get out of Orochimaru's grin but to no avail. Orochimaru slammed Naruto to the ground again.
''Stay down Naruto-kun, Sasuke-kun is waiting for me.'' Orochimaru said.
'It's hopeless, I'm going to die!' Sasuke thought to himself with wide eyes. He had just seen how Naruto was defeated like he was nothing. He knew that if Naruto had been beaten off that easily there was no way he would have a chance against the enemy. The man was a sennin after all. There was really no hope of a genin winning a fight against a sennin.
Orochimaru appeared a good distance away from Sasuke. Sasuke was leaning against a tree breathing rather heavily. He was tired from all the fighting he had to do since the sennin had ambushed them. He watched as Orochimaru made his way slowly at him. Fear began to grip him tightly at each step Orochimaru took towards him. He felt like the fear was draining him of the little energy he had in reserve. The fear rendered him immobile; it brought a cold to his body making him shudder. Sasuke's body began to tremble uncontrollably as Orochimaru drew closer to him. He was frightened; frightened that he was going to die, death without even getting his revenge.
Orochimaru enjoyed watching the terror stricken Uchiha. He loved seeing his prey's cowering in fear.
''S-stay back, d-don't come any closer!'' Sasuke stuttered out seeing Orochimaru making his way to him.
Orochimaru did not stop; he slowly made his way over to Sasuke with calculating eyes, ''Do you want power Sasuke-kun?'' Orochimaru asked with a wide grin. Sasuke lost his fear and took a confused look on his face. He wanted power what confused him was why Orochimaru would ask him the kind of question. Orochimaru stopped in front of Sasuke and spoke again, ''I know you want power to kill Itachi, Sasuke-kun and I can give you that power.''
Sasuke's eyes burned with hatred the moment Itachi's name was registered to his mind. He hated nothing and no one more than Itachi. Orochimaru's widened upon seeing the hatred within Sasuke's eyes.
His neck extended in lengths that no human neck should extend. Two large fangs grew from his mouth as his head travelled towards Sasuke's neck. Sasuke just froze not knowing what to do. Orochimaru's fangs became one with Sasuke's neck before Orochimaru retrieved his head. Sasuke let out a pained scream before falling down.
''SASUKE-KUN!'' Sakura yelled out while rushing at the fallen form of Sasuke. She had heard his pained scream, it was not healthy. She ran to see if he was okay.
Orochimaru looked at Sakura with a wide grin. He chuckled darkly; he had achieved what he had come for and more. It was just a matter of time before Sasuke came to him looking for power.
''What did you do to Sasuke-kun?'' Sakura demanded forgetting that the person in her front was a sennin and could kill her in a second. She was just too angry that he had hurt Sasuke.
Orochimaru was amused by the girl's bravery, ''I gave him a gift that will help him avenge his clan.'' Orochimaru replied as he sank into the ground but not before eyeing where Naruto was lying.
Sakura got down to her knees beside Sasuke. She would deal with what Orochimaru had said later but right now Sasuke's health was her main priority, ''Sasuke-kun'' she muttered softly. He was out cold a world of darkness had consumed him. He could not hear any word she could say to him that made her sad. She wanted to cry but now was not the time for that. She had to be strong for Sasuke. Sasuke had always protected her but now it was her time to protect him.
With Naruto
Naruto brought out both his hands to his face. He stared at them for a moment. Today he had been embarrassed. No one had beaten him like Orochimaru had done. A sennin was truly strong but to be thrown around like a ragged doll was just too damning for his pride. Orochimaru had toyed with him, shown him the difference between their powers. It made him feel weak. He hated feeling weak.
''To think I would get beaten like this despite all the training I did.'' Naruto thought aloud. Even though he was still hiding some of his power it did not change the fact that he was beaten. Taijutsu had been what he trained the most while he was training with his grandfather.
''I wonder what you would say seeing me like this, Madara.'' He thought aloud again. His grandfather would surely not have been pleased with his performance despite not going all out. It would not have made much of a difference. Orochimaru was just stronger than he was. When he thought of going all out, Madara had told him that he never went all out unless he was fighting against Hashirama. Madara was strong but at the moment he was not. This experience only meant he had to train even harder than he had been. For him to surpass his grandfather he had to focus on training than he had been after he became a genin.
Naruto shook his head and got up. His body was beat, but he could last for a few more hours. He dusted himself up and wiped the blood off his mouth. He walked over to his teammates.
Naruto looked over at his teammates. Sakura was kneeling beside Sasuke who looked like he was unconscious. He walked over to them and inspected Sasuke. Sasuke did not have much damage to his body unlike him. There was a strange seal on his neck. He figured it must have been Orochimaru's cursed seal of heaven. With Sasuke unconscious he would have to be carried if they are to get to the tower before night takes its shift.
Sakura looked at Naruto. She did not know what to say to him after watching him get beat up. His clothes where torn up but he looked fine for someone who had just went through a rough beating.
Naruto picked up Sasuke and placed him on his shoulder. He looked at Sakura, ''let's head straight to the tower. I don't want to spend another night in this forest.'' he said.
Sakura nodded she too did not want to spend another night in the forest. And going to the tower now was a good thing since they would take Sasuke to a medic. She felt his body heating up. If he was sick they needed to take him to a medic for treatment. They also did not know what Orochimaru had done to Sasuke. So getting to the tower they would surely meet someone who would tell them what had been done to Sasuke.
A few hours later
It was already past noon, Naruto and Sakura had been running at fast speeds. It was most surprising that Sakura was keeping up with Naruto without complaining about being tired. Sakura understood that it was not the time for her to be lazy, but a time for her to endure everything and keep on going till they reached the tower. They had only taken two breaks since they continued on with their journey to their tower after the encounter with Orochimaru.
Nothing interesting had happened in their way. They had just been travelling in comfortable silence. No one was saying a word to the other. Naruto had a lot in his mind and would rather be quiet than having to deal with Sakura. Sakura on the other hand was worried about Sasuke and did not know how she could start a conversation with Naruto without Sasuke being active. So she decided to enjoy the silence as much as she could. While they were running she kept glancing at Naruto. He did not look the same after the encounter with Orochimaru. In fact he looked worn out. She had never seen him worn out before since the formation of team 7. But she was glad nonetheless that he was carrying Sasuke to the tower.
They had yet to meet another team while on their way to the tower. It was becoming a troubling fact to Sakura since they would fail if they did not get the scroll they needed. But at the moment while looking at Sasuke whose temperature seemed to be rising up she thought the most important thing was getting Sasuke to safety.
Naruto suddenly fell down on his knees while he was running. Sasuke was still on his shoulder. His body was in pain he did not understand what could have been causing to feel the way it was. During the encounter with Orochimaru he did not receive blows that could cause his body to experience the pain he was currently feeling.
Sakura was alarmed when she saw Naruto fall to his knees. She hurried close to him, ''Are you alright Naruto?'' She asked sounding concerned. With the look on her face it was obvious that her question did not betray what she truly felt. Naruto looked at the girl for a second. Never had she asked him the kind of question before. He thought it was because he had never been in pain in her presence before.
He gathered his strength and got up while still caring Sasuke on his shoulder, ''I'm fine,'' he said, ''We will take a break not far from here. There should be a stream just ahead.''
Sakura nodded. She was getting hungry she had not eaten anything since morning and all the travelling she had been doing was making her hungry. At the stream she would freshen up a bit and get some fish to eat.
About an hour later
Team 7 had reached the stream. Naruto had placed Sasuke under a tree allowing Sakura to tend to him. He had yet to wake up from the encounter with Orochimaru. His heat was still rising. Naruto could not tell what was going on with Sasuke's body. But he was certain that his body was heating because of the curse mark Orochimaru had placed on him. He did not understand what the cursed seal did to a person's body as he had no depth knowledge about the seal.
Naruto and Sakura were currently eating some fish they had caught. They were eating in silence. Sakura seemed to have something to say but had not courage to do so. Finally she brought her courage, ''Naruto what is that weird mark on Sasuke-kun's neck?''
Naruto responded without even looking up to the girl, ''It's a cursed seal.''
Sakura looked confused she had never heard anything about a cursed seal, ''What is a cursed seal?''
Naruto looked at her and replied, ''It's a seal created by Orochimaru that gives the wielder power.'' The look Naruto had given Sakura was a one that told the girl to ask no more questions. Naruto got up and turned to the stream, ''You should rest, we will move again within a hour.'' he said making his way to the stream.
He had already cleaned himself up while the fish was cooking. What he needed now before they continued on to the tower was to relax his body. The pain had left him but not entirely. Some parts of his body still hurt. He was troubled by the realization that he had lost his Ninjato at the place they had encountered Orochimaru. He had cursed upon realizing that he did not have it with him when he was cleaning himself up. It did not cost him much but having to lose something belonging to him was not something he tolerated or liked. He had lost his sword because of Orochimaru.
It served as another reason for him not to like the snake sennin.
It did not take long before the relaxation time was disturbed by a team of genins from Takigakure. There were three males, each of the same height. They did not look strong. They were weak, a fact that annoyed Naruto. He was in no mood to deal with weak genins at the moment. Dealing with weak ninja's was an annoyance to him that he would rather avoid. Fighting weak ninja's never challenged him. A fight without being challenged bored him.
Naruto might have been just annoyed seeing the genins. But Sakura was on another level of reaction upon seeing the arrival of the Taki genins. She did not know what she was going to do since she was not sure if Naruto could fight because he did not look to be well and Sasuke was still out cold.
''Give us the scroll and we won't hurt you!'' one of the genins said aloud.
Naruto got up and walked towards the genins. He stopped midway before he reached them, ''No!'' he said, ''But however I will request that you go away and leave your scroll behind. If you refuse I will show you just how much of annoyances you are.'' he said in a tone dripping with danger.
The danger did not seem to reach the Taki genins, ''There are three of us, one of your teammates is unconscious,'' one said pointing at Sasuke, ''And the other is a girl who looks really weak. Do you really think you can take us on?''
Naruto said nothing for a moment. Numbers did not faze him. The genins were nothing but annoyances that were making his bad day even worse than it already was, ''Fools'' he said more to himself but the Takigakure genins heard him.
''Who are you cal...'' one of the Genins wanted to retort but he never finished his sentence as Naruto's powerful fist crashed into his gut. The genin dripped some fluids from his mouth because of the impact of the punch and dropped to his knees. Naruto quickly grabbed the other two genins necks and held them tightly making it hard for the genins to breath.
''I guess I will take out whatever I'm feeling out on you fools. This will also be a lesson to you that you should never underestimate your opponent.'' Naruto said impassively.
He kicked the genin who was on his knees on the face sending him flying away. He brought the two genins who were struggling to get out of his hold together in front of him. He slammed them both to the ground creating a small crater.
He picked up one and kneed him hard. He followed by a powerful punch to the gut. The knee and the punch caused the genin to cough out blood. Naruto followed his assault by a high roundhouse kick that sent the genin flying away.
He picked up the other and repeated the same punishment he gave the other. They were all in the same place lying down. Naruto walked slowly towards them. He had not even released any excess energy yet. Naruto reached the three genins and looked down at them.
''They lost conscious.'' He said to himself. He had not even hit them too much, it was just a few blows and they had already lost their consciousness. It was every disappointing.
He bent down and searched the Genins pockets looking for their scroll. While he was searching a malicious burst of chakra washed over the area. The chakra was pregnant with evil intentions. It made Sakura nervous and scared her. The source of the evil chakra was the now awakened Uchiha Sasuke. He was covered with flamed patterns all over his body. His appearance frightened Sakura. Naruto chose to ignore it and continued with his search.
Sasuke had just woken up and the power of the cursed seal had activated. He had never felt so powerful before. The power was just great, he felt like he could defeat anyone with the power he had now. He laughed evilly within himself. He needed to test this power and see what he could do with it. He looked around and saw Naruto standing up in the middle of three fallen genins.
'Naruto will prove to be a good test' he thought as he walked over to the blond.
Naruto felt relieved. He had found a heaven and earth scroll. With the scrolls they could go to the tower without taking detours to look for scrolls. They needed both heaven and earth scroll to pass the second test of the chunin exams. He was curious though as how the genins had gotten their hands on both scrolls. They were weak so he could not think that they could defeat another team of genins. It was unless they had ambushed another team which had separated.
He looked over to see Sasuke making his way over to him. With the look the Uchiha was showing off, he knew what was coming and he was not going to give into it.
''Fight me Naruto.'' Sasuke demanded staring at Naruto.
Naruto was not given time to respond as Sakura spoke before he could, ''Sasuke-kun don't!'' Sakura cried out.
Sasuke did not bother to look at her, his eyes stayed focused on Naruto. Naruto sighed and replied, ''No,'' he said, ''We should go ahead to the tower now since we have all the scrolls.''
Sasuke gritted his teeth in anger. Naruto always brushed him off every time he challenged him. It was like Naruto saw him as nothing like a nuisance, as someone who was not worth his time. It infuriated him to no end. He activated his sharingan and charged at the blond. Naruto saw Sasuke coming and dropped the scrolls down. He blocked Sasuke's punch and tried punching Sasuke on his face. Sasuke dodged Naruto's punch. Naruto tried again but Sasuke dodged again.
Sasuke smirked, ''I can see all your attacks before they reach me.'' He said his sharingan blazing proudly.
Naruto realized that he was not moving as fast as he usually does. It confused him because he did not understand why he was not moving as fast as he could. He did not have much time to dwell on his thoughts as Sasuke was dashing towards him. Naruto got ready to defend himself. But pain gripped him from all over his body. It felt like his muscles were being grinded. A severe head ache attacked him. The head ache coupled with the pain all over his body forced him to fall onto his knees. Sasuke did not stop upon seeing Naruto fall to his knees. He continued on with his charge and punched Naruto on his face following with a kick to the temple.
Naruto was sent flying. Sasuke grinned seeing that he was finally beating Naruto. He was actually doing it. It only meant that he was a step away from achieving his grand ambition.
Naruto got up but only to fall down to his knees. He coughed a large amount of blood. He was breathing heavily and his body seemed to be sweating heavily. Sakura saw him and could tell that the blood Naruto had coughed had out was not because of Sasuke's attack. Naruto was just not well, she could tell. After the encounter with Orochimaru she had seen him struggle as if his body was in pain though he hid it too well. She was about to yell for Sasuke to stop when Sasuke stopped and stared at Naruto. She liked the idea of Sasuke beating Naruto but she thought it was wrong taking advantage of Naruto while he was in the kind of situation he was in.
Sasuke was now confused. Despite his arrogance he was smart enough to realize that something was wrong with Naruto. The amount of blood Naruto had coughed was unhealthy and could not have been caused by his attack. The black marks around his body receded back to the cursed mark. Sasuke fell down on his knees as the flames disappeared. He felt a bit of pain on his neck but it quickly disappeared. He got up again and looked at Naruto before looking away. He was too proud to ask the blond what was wrong. He went to pick up the scrolls Naruto had dropped.
Sakura now did not know what to do. Sasuke was now awake she could go to him but Naruto was not well. He needed help serious help and soon. She felt relieved when Naruto got up and went straight to the stream. She watched him wash himself up.
Naruto cleaned himself up at the stream. His body was still in pain but it was not as much as before. Soon the pain would fade away. But it troubled him not knowing what was causing the pain. Zetsu would have the answers he needed.
An hour later
Sasuke walked to Naruto and stood beside the blond. Naruto seemed fine by the way he looked. They could now continue with their way to the tower. By the end of the day they should have arrived at the tower, ''Naruto,'' he called, ''We should head to the tower now.'' He said.
Naruto just nodded and got up. Sakura had already seemed ready to move on. He figured Sasuke might have talked with her first before coming to him.
Without any other words being exchanged they left the stream and headed for the tower at a fast pace.
Later
Team 7 had reached the tower just after it had started to get dark. They had travelled comfortably without any other team confronting them. After they had reached the tower they opened the scrolls. The scrolls had a summoning seal inside them.
Their scroll summoned Iruka who explained to them the meaning of the scrolls and congratulated them on passing the second test. Iruka told them of where they ought to be resting.
The genins went inside the tower and got inside their room. Naruto went straight to his bed without doing anything else. He jumped onto the bed and was fast to fall asleep.
Sakura looked at Sasuke, ''Neh Sasuke-kun, is he going to be alright?''
''Hn'' Was the reply Sasuke gave her.
''It's not like I care about him or anything but he is our teammate.'' She said again looking at Naruto.
Sasuke said nothing; he looked at Naruto and went to his own bed. He needed to rest. What he had done for the day was rewarding for him to get some much needed rest. Sakura saw that Sasuke too had gone to get some sleep. She sighed, 'They went to sleep without even bathing when there is a shower' she thought to herself. She had slept the previous night without bathing she was not going to do it again. Not to her precious body.
Set two
A few days later
Naruto looked around standing inside of a hall. It was in the center of the tower. The dead line had passed and all the Genins were all gathered in the room. It was only those who passed the second exam. There only people Naruto found to be interesting where Subaku no Gaara, Yakushi Kabuto, and Rock Lee. The other genin's where just annoyances.
All the Jonin sensei's were all in the room. The Hokage was also there sitting on his chair beside him were Anko and Ninja. Above the balcony behind were the Hokage stood there was a statue that showed arms holding a ram seal. Looking at the balcony and were they stood Naruto could tell that the floor they stood at was used for fighting while the balcony was for the spectators.
Anko stepped forward, ''Congratulations on passing the second test of the chunin exams!'' She said looking around the room. Many genins had passed her test she had not been expecting these many to pass.
''The Hokage will now explain the third exam.'' She said giving the time to the Sandaime Hokage to address the genin's. Everyone looked at the Hokage to hear what he was going to say.
The Hokage cleared his throat and spoke ''Before I explain the third exam to you, I would like to tell you the true meaning of this chunin selection exam. Why do we have allied countries taking the exam at the same time, even some neutral countries.'' He paused to let them think before answering his own question, ''To promote friendship among countries, to raise the standard of shinobi, do not be confused this exam is war,'' The genin grew confused and the tension rose within the large room. ''If we were to turn back time at some point all of us would be fighting the other country over who would rule. This exam is an alternate that allows countries to avoid such wasteful fighting. For the third exam lords of all the countries as well as leaders of your villages will all be watching your fights. You will fight with your life on the line, not to protect your home's land but its prestige. If your country is seen as weak you will lose clients. If you are strong you will gain clients bolstering your homes. If your country is seen as strong it will also send a message to all nations.'' The Hokage paused for a moment to catch his breath.
''Isn't there another way to protect the village's prestige without having to risk our lives?'' A random genin asked to which some other genins nodded in agreement with his words.
The Sandaime narrowed his eyes at the genins. ''The strength of the country is the strength of the village, such as the strength of a village is the strength of a shinobi. A shinobi's strength is only born in life threatening battle.'' The Sandaime replied seriously, ''This exam only has a meaning because there is life threatening battles. Friendship between countries requires this. We call this friendship excising.'' The Hokage said as a man shunshined next to him and bowed in respect.
''Allow me to *cough* explain the third test *cough* Hokage-sama.'' The man spoke looking at the Sandaime Hokage. The Hokage nodded and went back to his seat. The Jonin turned to face the Genins.
''I am Gekko Hayate the proctor of the third exam." The jonin introduced himself, "There is something we must do before the third exam.'' The genins looked at the man he looked like he was really sick by the way he was coughing.
''There is to be preliminaries to decide who gets to participate in the main event.'' The third proctor said before coughing.
''What the hell Preliminaries!'' A bored looking Nara asked the question.
''We have too many participants for the third test thus we have to thin out the numbers under the chunin exam rules.'' He paused for a moment before speaking ''Those who wish to withdraw may step forward now. This is individual basis should you quit your team will not be penalized for it.''
Kabuto raised his hand and stepped forward, "I quite. I'm low on chakra." He said leaving the hall.
Hayate coughed, ''Is there anyone else who wants to quite?'' He asked getting the attention of the Genins. No one else came forward they had come this far they were not going down without a fight.
''Okay we have 22 contestants which mean we will have 11 matches the winners of each will advance to the finals. The rules are simple, there are no rules. The match continues until one dies or is knocked. If you wish to give up you can forfeit. I will step in should you be declared winner and you continue to beat your opponent.'' He paused letting the genins absorb his words.
"Now let us see who you will be matched against.'' He said looking at the black screen, ''This electronic screen will randomly select two contestants who will fight at a time. Now lets us begin!''
The genin waited for their names to pop up in the screen. Naruto just looked at the screen blankly he wished he did not get someone who would waste his time. Two names appeared in the screen ''Uchiha Sasuke vs. Akado Yoroi'' some felt relieved that they went going to fight first. Others were disappointed they wanted it over with.
''Will the two contestants please step forward, the rest of you please proceed to the observation platform above.'' Hayate spoke after coughing.
The genins walked away to the observation area. The sensei's stood behind their students
Sasuke looked at his opponent with an arrogant smirk on his face. He was fully prepared to fight, he had gotten enough rest. He took out a kunai and got into a stance. Yoroi took out three shurikens and held them with both his hands.
He threw them at Sasuke. Sasuke waited for the shurikens to block them with his kunai. Yoroi ran at fast speeds towards Sasuke. The shurikens reached Sasuke, he deflected them. He was not able to react fast as Yoroi was in front of him while he was blocking the last shuriken. He had yet to activate his sharingan thus we was not able to detect the oncoming right hook from his opponent. It connected with his right side of the face and pushed him back.
Sasuke cursed himself for making such a stupid mistake and getting hit early. He activated his sharingan. He rushed towards the oncoming genin prepared to a taijutsu battle. He was faster than his opponent thus he was able to use the advantage of his speed. Yoroi brought his right hand trying to smack Sasuke on the face, but Sasuke saw it coming and easily dodged. He tried to kick Sasuke but the Uchiha caught his leg and landed and hard punch to the face. Sasuke let go of Yoroi's leg and spun around kicking the Genin on his shoulder. Yoroi was sent crashing in to the wall. He gritted his teeth at the slight pain he felt and quickly recovered rushing of Sasuke.
Sasuke waited for his opponent to arrive. Yoroi jumped up attempting to punch Sasuke with much force. Sasuke side stepped the attempt and gutted the genin. Yoroi hissed clutching his stomach. Sasuke was not done he brought out his right hand and gripped the genin by the neck. He glared at the Genin with enough coldness that would make anyone gulp in fear. He was busy formulating a plan on what to do now that he had his opponent. Yoroi suddenly broke free from Sasuke's hold. He held Sasuke by his right hand sucking out of his chakra.
Sasuke only realized it when he his reserves were starting to empty. He quickly tried to separate himself with Yoroi. What he got from his attempt was a hard kick on the face that sent him flying away. He flipped in midair and landed gracefully on the floor. He glared at his opponent who had a grin on his face. Yoroi looked as if he had won the match, but Sasuke was not going to give up easily because his chakra got sucked. He inhaled large amounts of wind and did a few hand seals.
'Fire style: Great fire ball'
He exhaled a large fireball that sped towards the grinning Yoroi. Sasuke was positive that his opponent would not be able to dodge since he was not faster than him. He ended the Jutsu and fell on one knee panting. His chakra was running low he should have not done the jutsu. An insane chuckle invaded his ears. He looked forward to see Yoroi standing just away from him unharmed by his jutsu.
''I see you still had some chakra left.'' Yoroi spoke with a bit of amusement in his voice. Sasuke just got up and glared at him.
Yoroi rushed forward so that he could end the match before the Uchiha came up with a plan to win the match. Sasuke waited till Yoroi was in front of him. He acted fast and brought out his left hand aiming Yoroi's face. Yoroi saw it coming and grabbed Sasuke's hand. He smirked at the Uchiha but it vanished quickly when he saw a wide smirk on Sasuke's face. Before he could know why Sasuke was smirking he received and punch to the gut that had him coughing a bit of blood. He let go of Sasuke's hand. Sasuke dropped to the ground and did a leg sweep. Yoroi was falling down when Sasuke grabbed both his legs and spun around twice before throwing him up. Sasuke jumped up moving fast than his opponent.
Yoroi looked up to see Sasuke waiting for him. Sasuke was facing down the ground when he mastered all his power in a single kick. The kick connected with Yoroi's chest sending him down fast. Yoroi crashed to the ground with a sickening thud.
Everyone winced at the sound of Yoroi's body hitting the ground.
Sasuke landed down and smirked when he looked at Yoroi, he was out cold.
Hayate stepped in forward and coughed before announcing the winner, ''Winner, Uchiha Sasuke.''
Sasuke smiled and tiredly walked to where his team was standing. The medics rushed to take the fallen Yoroi out the floor to clear the space for other competitors.
The next match was Kankuro vs. Shino. Naruto just watched with a rather bored look. At the beginning one could think that Kankuro was going to lose the match. But Kankuro ended up winning the match without harm. Kankuro was a puppet user; Shino had thought his bugs had sucked out Kankuro's chakra. Too bad for him the 'Kankuro' the bugs were trying to extract chakra from was just a mere puppet. Shino knew that without his bugs being ineffective he could not win the match thus he gave up after he had failed to see how he would win. Puppet users dealt with dangerous poison. To Naruto poison was not a problem the Kyubi could counter any poison. It would take some time but there was no way he could die from poisoning.
Haruno Sakura and Ino Yamanaka were next. The match started with them bitching about some nonsense. Then it was the cat fight, more like pillow fight. It was the most pathetic excuse of a shinobi fight Naruto had ever seen. Both girls ended knocking each other out cold. Both had no skills of a ninja. They were weak, no physical strength. Their Taijutsu was academy level; they seemed to have never trained after passing the academy. Naruto had not expected much from Sakura he had seen that the girl does not train.
''Pathetic'' Naruto muttered.
Everyone who was close to him nodded in agreement with his words. Even Sasuke nodded, Kakashi had the decency to look ashamed of his student. Those were not Ninja's fighting; it was academy school girls fighting over a crush. Had it been the finals, Konoha would have surely lost customers. If the Kunoichi's fought the way Ino and Sakura fought, they would be killed each time they were out on a mission. If both girls were going to be serious about their careers they needed to understand what it meant to be a ninja, or they would die soon and young.
Naruto looked around the balcony to see that all the others had the same thoughts, the match was pathetic. His eyes narrowed at Gaara, it seemed that the Jinchuriku was getting impatient. Naruto shook his head the view, Gaara was still his age and yet he was always looking for blood.
''Will Uzumaki Naruto and Inuzuka Kiba step forward please!'' Hayate called out.
Naruto's face remained impassive as he made his way towards the fighting area. Of all the people he could fight he had been drawn against Kiba. Luck was really not on his side for the exams. He reached the fighting area and crossed his arms on his chest. He looked straight at Kiba's eyes with an impassive gaze.
Kiba was grinning, he felt confident in his abilities. Will all the training he had been doing he believed that he could defeat Naruto. He did not know of how Naruto fought ever since his "transformation" but he believed in his own abilities. With Akamaru by his side he could beat anyone.
"Are both fighters ready?" Hayate said. Kiba nodded, Naruto gave no response. Hayate just took the silence as a yes, "Begin!"
"I'm going to take you down Naruto!" Kiba spoke aloud with a confident grin. Akamaru barked agreeing with his masters words. Naruto made no sign that he heard Kiba's words. "Hey, did you hear me?"
Again Naruto did not respond, "I'm talking to you bastard!" Kiba yelled out with a bit of anger at being ignored.
"Will you attack me already and stop annoying me." Naruto finally spoke.
Kiba grinned, "Let's do this Akamaru." He said to his dog partner. Akamaru barked in acknowledgement of Kiba's words.
Spectators
Kakashi looked at Naruto as if he was studying him. Naruto was acting differently. He was not told in detail what had happened during the encounter with Orochimaru. He was only interested in that they were alive and the cursed mark Orochimaru had given Sasuke. He had sealed the curse mark but was not sure if it would hold. Looking at Naruto he could tell something was wrong.
He looked at Sasuke who was watching from his left side, "What's wrong with Naruto?" Sasuke just shrugged he did not care nor was he seeing anything wrong with the blond.
Kakashi sighed seeing Sasuke's response, "Did something happen to him during the encounter with Orochimaru?" he asked another question again.
Sasuke was quiet for a moment, "You should ask Naruto that question." He finally replied to his sensei.
Kakashi nodded and looked at Sakura. The girl seemed nervous about something. He shrugged it off as nothing and looked back at Naruto and Kiba.
Hinata felt a bit excited because she was going to see Naruto fight. She had never seen him fight ever since they became genin. He was always the source of her strength. She believed that she would fight bravely in her match should Naruto win his match.
Shikamaru and other Konoha genins just watched on. They wanted to see what Naruto was capable of with their own eyes. Their sensei's had said he was strong but they had never seen him fight before. This was a good opportunity to see his abilities.
Fighting floor
Kiba bended down and placed his hands on the ground. Akamaru jumped in front of him and turned into a clone of Kiba. Both took animalistic features compared to their normal selves.
"Gatsuga"
Kiba yelled as he took the form of a spinning vortex. The spinning vortex sped at Naruto at fast speeds. Naruto just stood at his position with his hands still crossed at his chest. He waited for Kiba's attack to reach him.
Kurenai looked at Naruto. 'What is he thinking standing there like that if he gets hit the match will be over' she thought to herself wondering why Naruto was not even trying to dodge Kiba's attack. She knew Kiba's offensive attack was powerful and could cause a lot of damage if it hit. It was almost impossible to block. The only way she had been able to escape the attack was if she dodged. She had never attempted to block the attack.
The spinning vortex reached Naruto and when it looked like it was about to hit him it missed. Kiba hit the ground and continued to spin furiously as it dug a hole on solid ground. The Gatsuga came out again from the ground and charged at Naruto it missed him again. The same sequence continued for several times. None of the attempts hit naruto. Several holes could be seen at the ground.
What shocked many who were watching many was that Naruto was still in the same position he was in. His hands still crossed on his chest while he was surrounded by many holes
Kiba stopped his attack and returned to normal. His fruitless attacks seemed to have taken a lot of chakra from him because his breathing was slightly labored. "Stay still you bastard so that I can hit you!" he yelled in frustration. He tried the Gatsuga again but still the results where the same.
Naruto looked at the Genin, "Is that all you can do?" he said, "How disappointing."
His hands dropped from his chest and he blurred out of sight. He appeared in front of Kiba and kicked the genin on his waist sending him crashing towards the wall. Akamaru had jumped up and did not fly away with Kiba. Cracks appeared on the wall were Kiba had hit. Akamaru barked as he charged at Naruto looking to bite him. Naruto caught the small puppy by its hand. He hit its head and knocked it out cold.
"Get your hands off Akamaru!" Kiba yelled while charging at Naruto blindly.
Naruto turned around to face the genin. Kiba attempted to punch Naruto on the face. But Naruto caught his hand and squeezed it.
"Ahhhh" Kiba cried out as Naruto was crushing his hand. Naruto kneed Kiba on his gut. He let go of Kiba's hand and Punched with his left hand. His right hand followed with another powerful punch to the temple that sent Kiba flying away from him.
Naruto blurred away and caught Kiba's leg while he was still flying. He slammed the genin to the ground creating debris. Naruto did not wait for the debris to clear; he gripped Kiba's bleeding face and lifted the genin up. He imparted the genin with a powerful punch at his gut. Kiba coughed out some blood because of the punch.
Naruto threw Kiba into the air. When Kiba was coming down towards him he spun around and kicked Kiba's body. The kick sent Kiba crashing towards the wall. Kiba's body partly destroyed the wall. His bleeding body lay broken on the ground. He had lost consciousness.
'How brutal,' some of the genins thought watching the fight. The only person who smiled was Subaku No Gaara.
Naruto stood still waiting for Hayate to call the match. Hayate stepped forward, "Kiba is unable to fight, Winner Uzumaki Naruto!" he announced.
Naruto walked away as the medics rushed at Kiba to take him away to heal him. When he arrived at the balcony he found Yuhi Kurenai waiting for him. Kurenai stared at Naruto with a bit of anger in her eyes. She was angry that Naruto had hit her student roughly. She believed he could have ended the match in a more harmless way.
Naruto walked passed by the woman without sparing her a glance. Kurenai grabbed his hand and held it firmly. She pulled him back in front of her. Naruto did to resist. Kurenai glared at him, "Was it really necessary to beat him like that?"
"Yes"
Kurenai gritted her teeth in anger. She could not believe that he had just given her that kind of answer. Her hold on Naruto's hand tightened to extreme. A touch on her shoulder stopped her from doing something to Naruto. She looked around and saw Kakashi giving her one of his eye smiles.
"Let it go Kurenai." He said with a smile, "You are causing a scene."
Kurenai looked around and saw that everyone was looking at them. She calmed herself down and let go of Naruto's hand and returned to Hinata's side. Kakashi smiled at Naruto, "You should take it easy on your fellow genin's Naruto."
Naruto shrugged and walked past the genin. He did not take a fight easy. Taking it easy against genins would only give them confidence to continue fighting. With confidence the fight would drag on more than he would like. He did not enjoy being dragged into a fight he found annoying. It was why he chose to end it quickly and brutally.
Hayate coughed to get everyone's attention. The screen showed the next contestants. Hayate looked at the screen, ''Will Subaku no Gaara and Tsuchi Kin step forward to the arena please.'' He called out.
Gaara entered the arena via sand shunshine while Kin walked down the arena. Kin looked at Gaara's face. He had something that resembled a smile. His face scared her. He had eyes that were cold and viewed her life as nothing more than another life to be devoured. She could feel the aura of bloodlust radiating from the sand Genin. She feared for her life looking at the genin.
''Are both fighters ready?'' Hayate called out. Both contestants nodded, ''Begin.''
Gaara grinned maliciously as he stared at Kin. Kin shuddered because of the grin. She looked at Hayate, ''Proctor I forfeit.'' She said taking a step away from Gaara.
Hayate nodded but before he could announce Gaara as the winner the genin was already attacking Kin with his sand. He moved quickly and took the girl out of harm's way. ''Subaku no Gaara, your opponent forfeited the match why do you continue to attack her?'' Gaara did not respond. Hayate sighed, ''Tsuchi Kin has forfeited the match winner Subaku no Gaara.''
Gaara shunshined away from the arena looking disappointed that he did not get to kill his opponent. Kin felt relieved that she had quit the match the sand would have surely crushed her. Now she just had to deal with her teammates who would not be pleased that she gave up the match without even fighting first.
Hayate looked at the screen again, ''Will Rock Lee and Kinuta Dosu step forward please.'' He called out.
Lee jumped up with a huge smile on his face, ''Guy-sensei it's finally my turn to show my flamed of youth!'' He cried out.
Gai smiled at his student, ''Yosh, go make me proud Lee. Show everyone how your flames burn brightly.'' Gai cried with the same enthusiastic as his student.
''Yes Gai-sensei.'' Lee said as he jumped into the arena. He was excited about finally getting his chance to fight. His sensei would be watching him and he was not going to disappoint his sensei. He was going to show his youthful flames that burned brightly inside of him.
Kinuta Dosu stepped in the ring. He had bandages covering most of his face, leaving only his left eye uncovered. He wore a large poncho with long sleeves, a snake patterned scarf, a straw raincoat protruding from the back of his scarf, and a large amplifier on his right arm. The amplifier was called the melody arm.
''Are both fighters ready?'' Hayate asked as he looked at the genins. He earned a nod from both genins, ''Begin!'' He yelled as he jumped away from the arena.
Lee took a taijutsu stance. His face had a serious expression. He charged at Dosu and attempted to kick the Genin at his upper body. Dosu brought out his right arm to block the kick. Lee's foot connected with the melody arm. Lee retrieved his leg and brought out his right attempted to kick the genin again. Dosu raised his left arm to block Lee's kick. The power behind the kick pushed him back a bit.
Lee smiled a bit before taking a stance again. He waited for his opponent to make a move. Dosu dashed at Lee and attempted to hit him with the melody arm on his face but Lee jumped back to avoid being hit. He moved forward to lee and swung his left arm attempting to punch the genin. Lee blocked the attempt and attempted to kick Dosu. Dosu blocked the attempt with his right arm. Lee jumped back making some distance with his opponent.
Despite having only started the fight was certainly interesting. With the way the genins were exchanging attacks it was something worth watching other than some one-sided fights they had witnessed.
The two continued to exchange blows. Dosu had been unable to land a hit on Lee as Lee was faster than him. Lee had managed to land a few hits but none had done much damage to the genin. Dosu was getting frustrated because of his lack of penetration through Lee's defense. He was also panting slightly and had a couple of bruises while Lee looked fine.
Lee dashed at Dosu and swung his hand attempted to punch the genin Dosu blocked the attack. He was unable to block the kick the followed. He was sent flying but he quickly recovered by flipping in midair and landed on the ground.
Just when he landed he rushed at Lee at his full speed. Lee also rushed at the Genin. They clashed in the middle. Dosu swung his melody arm at Lee's temple but Lee did enough to block the attack before it could hit him. But the arm was close to his head. Dosu smirked under his bandages as his melody arm released sound waves.
The sound waves infected Lee and caused his vision to become blurry. He could not see properly. Dosu tried punching Lee on the gut but Lee sensed the attack and jumped back. His vision was still blurry.
''What is happening?'' He asked being confused as to why his vision had suddenly become blurry. The only answer he got was a rough chuckle from Dosu.
Dosu moved closer to Lee and kicked him on his chest sending him flying away. Lee flipped in midair and landed on the ground gracefully. The moment he landed Dosu was in front of him. Dosu's right arm crashed into his gut. He spun around and kicked Lee to his temple.
Lee hit the wall but recovered quickly. He got up and coughed a bit of blood. His vision was returning to him. He looked at Dosu's right. It was doing something to him. It looked like kind of gauntlet to him. It was very strange looking at it carefully as he had never seen something of its kind before. He just had to avoid it.
''Don't give up Lee!'' Gai yelled out to his student.
Lee looked at his sensei with a smile. Despite looking like he was losing his sensei was cheering for him. He smiled at his sensei and gave him a thumps up, ''Hai Gai-sensei.''
''Release your weights and show them your youthful flames Lee.'' Gai cried out again. He was not about to let his student lose when he had the power to win his match.
Lee nodded and removed the weights on both his legs. The weights landed on the ground and created a large dent on the floor. The ground shook when the weights hit. It shocked many, 'what the hell' some thought upon seeing how heavy the weights were.
Lee got into a stance and looked at his opponent, ''You have been a worthy opponent but I must end this.'' He said seriously.
Dosu was about to retort when Lee blurred out of sight. He appeared in front of Dosu. Dosu attempted to punch Lee in the face. But Lee blurred out of his sight again. Lee appeared behind Dosu and kicked the genin with a powerful on his back. Dose was sent crashing towards the wall.
Lee waited for Dosu to recover. He did not wait for too long as Dosu came charging at him. Dosu swung his right hand attempted to disrupt Lee's hearing with his melody arm. Lee side stepped the attack and punched Dosu to the gut. He jumped up and slammed both his hands on Dosu's head compelling the genin down the floor.
Lee waited for Dosu to get up when he did he kicked him on the chin sending him up in the air. He did this after opening the first of the eight chakra gates. He used shadow of the dancing leaf and appeared behind Dosu while still in air. He let loose of the bandages on his arms and wrapped them around Dosu, restraining him. As they began to fall down the ground head facing the ground they rotated at a ferocious speed. Lee pile-drived Dosu to the ground head first. Dosu lay on the dent he created on the floor unconscious.
Lee was on one knee breathing heavily beside Dosu. His body was bruised but not heavily.
Hayate stepped forward, ''Kinuta Dosu is unable to continue, winner Rock Lee!'' He announced.
Lee grinned brightly and slowly made his way back to the balcony. ''You did it Lee. I'm so proud to be your sensei.'' Guy cried out.
''Guy-sensei''
''Lee''
''Guy-sensei''
''Lee'' Guy cried as he burst into tears and rushed to hug his student with much affection. Lee was also in tears while hugging his sensei.
Everyone looked disturbed by the view. No one looked twice at the two hugging man. It was not every day that you saw two men hugging each other with that much affection. It was greatly disturbing to see.
Hayate saved everyone by announcing the next match, ''Will Hyuuga Hinata and Hyuuga Neji come down please.''
Hinata shyly made her way down the arena. She was not sure if she could fight against her cousin and win. She eyed Naruto and flustered because he was staring at her. She quickly looked away from him while poking her fingers. Naruto was watching her she would do her best.
'A match between two Hyuga's' Naruto thought. It would be certainly a match worth watching. Naruto was interested in seeing the two Hyuga's fight. He wanted to see what the Byakugan could do against another Byakugan. He did not have much Intel on the doujutsu as Madara had refused to acknowledge the Byakugan as a doujutsu. He had said the doujutsu was useless and therefore could not be placed in the same league as the Sharingan and the Rinnegan.
Hayate looked between the two contestants, "Are both fighters ready?" he earned nods from both Hyuga's, "Begin!" He yelled out.
Hinata seemed to be hesitant to take a stance. She did not look like somebody who was ready for a fight. Neji seemed prepared for anything. He had an impassive expression that most of the Hyuuga's seemed to wear.
Naruto shook his head seeing Hinata. The girl still lacked self-confidence. Without confidence she could not possibly win a battle if her opponent is going all in his power to win. He had no hope that she could win the match without confidence in her own abilities. Believe could say they believed in her but if she could not believe that she could do it there was nothing that she could do. Still he was interested in the match.
Neji stared at Hinata coldly. With look he had given the girl one could not tell that she was his cousin, "Forfeit the match Hinata-sama, you cannot defeat me," He said coldly. Hinata could not defeat him. They had sparred a few times and she had never come close to defeating him. He had seen her fight several times. With her skills she could not defeat him. Hinata looked down while poking her fingers, "You are not fit to be a shinobi because you lack self confidence. Someone with no self-confidence is fated to lose."
Hinata was a bit downed by Neji's cold words. She wanted to fight him and prove that she could compete to him, and also save him from the darkness that was consuming him. She took a stance and had a look of a dedicated Kunoichi.
Neji shook his head, "You don't listen. I will prove to you that you are a loser and will always be a loser." He said as he took a stance.
"Byakugan" Both Hyuga's yelled as veins bulged around their eyes.
Both ran towards each other with their doujutsu active. They engaged in their clan's famed Taijutsu style, the gentile fist. The battle went on for a few minutes as the two Hyuga's traded blows. Their taijutsu style specialized on attacking the chakra networks inside of a person. For damage to be done they had to use chakra externally in a form of lacing it around their hands. To block the attack one had to block with a chakra laced hand to avoid taking damage. Should it hit one faced the risk of getting their chakra paths closed forcefully. When chakra points where were closed at a certain part of the body that part becomes immobile.
Neji suddenly kicked Hinata on her chest sending her away from him. Hinata was bruised and panting but had nonetheless taken less damage. Neji looked fine. He was not even slightly winded. One could tell that he was used to fight at such level while Hinata was not.
Neji ran at Hinata and brought out his right hand trying to connect it with Hinata's chest. Hinata deflected the attack with her own attack and jumped back creating a breathing space. Neji charged at her again and exchanged palm attacks with Hinata. Hinata blocked all his attempts, but she did so with difficulty.
Neji increased his speed a bit catching Hinata off guard by his increase of speed. His chakra laced palm landed in the middle of Hinata's chest. Hinata coughed blood before going down to her knees.
Neji looked at her, "I told you that you are a loser and would remain as such. Regardless of many times you fight to change that it will never change, you will always be a loser. Fate cannot be changed." He said and turned away from her.
"Proctor call the match, she won't be able to continue." Neji said walking away.
Hayate looked at Hinata. The blow to the heart should have ended the match. Hinata did not look like she could continue with the match, "Winner Hyu…." He stopped when he saw Hinata was standing up albeit shaking.
Hinata looked at Neji who had stopped walking away after hearing Hayate stop announcing him as the winner, "I-it is true that I l-lack self-confidence. I-i don't believe that people cannot change. I have seen many people c-change. Y-you are also wrong about something Neji, It is n-not I that I am t-trying to change. What I want to change is you. You have been suffering most of your life and I want to change that." Hinata said
Neji said nothing for a moment before his eyes burned with hidden fury. He ran towards Hinata looking to end her life with one last attack at her chest. The jonins knew that should Neji hit Hinata it would end her life. Hayate, Gai and Kurenai rushed at the Arena and stopped Neji from killing his cousin.
Neji looked at the jonins and scoffed, "Is this another special treatment for the Hyuuga main branch?" He said. All the jonins holding let go off him and allowed him to retreat back to the balcony.
Hinata collapsed down to the ground alarming Kurenai to rush over to her. She carried the girl to the medics so that she could get help before her life became in danger.
"Winner, Hyuuga Neji!" Hayate announced.
Naruto sighed. He was not able to see what the Byakugan could actually do. If what he had seen was all the doujutsu was capable of then Madara had been right to discard it as a doujutsu. It did not give any abilities like the Sharingan and the Rinnegan. The remaining of the contestants did not interest him. He stepped back and stood against the wall. He set down Indian style and closed his eyes. He held a single hand seal and thought, 'Sleep'.
The last thing he heard was, "Nara Shikamaru VS Akimichi Choji" His mind rested and as he fell asleep. 'Sleep' was a kind of medical jutsu that Madara had taught him. It worked like any sleeping pill but with the Jutsu he slept immediately upon the jutsu being cast. He used the chakra inside his body to 'influence' his mind to sleep.
Minutes later
Naruto was woken up by Kakashi. He had only slept for a few minutes. It was enough to pass the time. "The preliminaries are over," Kakashi said, "There others are already down there." Kakashi said pointing at the gathered genin.
Naruto nodded and went to the other genins. The Sandaime was making one of his speeches.
"…..Time allows for you to know yourself better and your enemy. During this time you will be able to study your opponent's abilities. In this month you will have the chance to improve yourselves." The Sandaime said while eyeing Naruto.
"Now, let us decide who you will face at the finals, take a piece of paper from the box that Anko-san is holding." He said pointing at Anko.
The genins that had made it to the finals did as told. Naruto was not surprised to see that Shikamaru had won his match against Choji. Shikamaru was smart enough to counter anyone. Each piece of paper they too had a number written on it. They presented their numbers and where drawn of who would face who.
Match 1: Uzumaki Naruto Vs Hyuuga Neji
Match 2: Subaku no Gaara Vs Rock Lee
Match 3: Subaku no Kankuro Vs Uchiha Sasuke
Match 4: Nara Shikamaru Vs Subaku no Temari
"Are there any questions?" The Sandaime asked.
"Since this is a tournament does it mean that the winner of the tournament will be the only one who becomes chunin?" Shikamaru asked.
"Different judges judge in the tournament, if someone is judged to posses' skills and mentality of the chunin he/she will be promoted to chunin. It does not matter if they win or lose their matches."
"There is also a chance that none of you become chunin but there is also a chance that you can all become chunin. It depends if whether you are fit to become a chunin or not." The sandaime said, "Are there any more questions?" He waited for the genins to give their answer, seeing that there were no more questions he spoke again, "Good you are all dismissed."
One by one the genins left the tower. Naruto was stopped by Kakashi from leaving the tower for a moment, "Meet me at training ground tomorrow morning." Kakashi said and disappeared from Naruto's view.
Set Three
Training ground 7
Naruto sat on top of a tree waiting for Kakashi to appear. The jonin had called him the previous day to the training ground. He was not the only one who was at the training ground, Sasuke was also there. Sakura was not called to the training ground. Naruto figured that the Jonin wanted to speak about training. Sakura did not make it to the finals so Kakashi would not have a reason to call her. It was obvious that Kakashi would be forced to train his team since they had made it to the chunin exam finals. Naruto did not want to train for the month before the chunin finals. He wanted to clear his thoughts and make plans on what he would do after the exams. He could not just continue living as he was, he needed to change things.
Naruto jumped out of the tree and landed on the ground because Kakashi had appeared. Kakashi did not have his book at his hand, but his usual bored expression was still worn. It disappeared for a moment when Kakashi flashed an eye smile to his students.
''First, I want to congratulate for making it to the finals, as your sensei I am very proud of you and I knew that you could do it.'' Kakashi said. Some could interpret his words as that he knew that Naruto and Sasuke could do it but he did not believe that Sakura could do it. He had said that he believed that his team could do well in the exams, but Naruto highly doubted that he believed Sakura would make it to the finals if it involved fighting on her own.
''I called you here today so that I can tell you about your training for the month before the finals,'' Kakashi said, ''Unfortunately Naruto I won't be able to train you, But I have asked for someone to train you. He will be training you in chakra since I have never seen you use it externally and I know that you have large amounts of chakra reserves which must also be hard to control.''
Naruto shook his head, ''There is no need for that. I will train myself if I see the need to do so.'' He said.
Kakashi looked at Naruto curiously but nodded, ''Well then, I will be training Sasuke till the finals. Do you have a problem with that Naruto?'' Kakashi asked not wanting to be seen like he was favoring Sasuke. Naruto was his sensei's son he did not want the blond to have any reason to resent him.
Naruto shook his head. He had no problems with it. Sasuke needed to be trained more than he did. And he was positive that the council had something to do with Kakashi training Sasuke.
The reason Kakashi was training Sasuke was because the Sandaime knew that if they wanted to keep Sasuke inside the village they had to train him. Orochimaru had already marked the Uchiha it was a matter of lack of training that would drive Sasuke towards him. To avoid that Kakashi had to train Sasuke to make him see that even Konoha wants him to get stronger.
Kakashi smiled at Naruto, ''I will see you at the finals then.'' He said as he touched Sasuke's shoulder and disappeared with him and a swirl of leafs.
Naruto disappeared to the trees. He was sure Zetsu would have been at the training ground. He did not come to him yesterday. It did not take long for Zetsu to appear beside him from a tree branch.
''Zetsu, my body has been experiencing severe pains over the last days. Do you know what might be the cause of it?'' Naruto said looking at Zetsu.
Zetsu did not answer for a few moments. After a few seconds he finally answered, ''It must have because of some experiments Madara did on you.''
Naruto raised a brow, ''Experiments?''
Zetsu nodded, ''A month before you became a genin Madara did some experiments on you. But he never did tell me what kind of experiments they were.''
Naruto did not remember Madara experimenting on him before that he graduated, ''Why don't I remember that?''
''Well it is because you where knocked out when the experiment was carried out,'' Zetsu replied, ''But don't worry If your body has experienced severe pains it means that the experiment was a failure and there will be no negative effects on your body, at least that is what Madara told me.''
Naruto nodded but still surprised that his grandfather would experiment on him while he was unconscious. He was a perfect experiment specimen since any cut he suffered on his body would disappear no matter how deep it was. The Kyubi made sure of that. But since it was his grandfather who had experimented on him he did not have any fears that he might have done something bad to his body.
''I am surprised though that your body reacted now with the experiment done months ago.''
''It must have been triggered by the embarrassment I suffered in the hands of Orochimaru. The severe pains started after my encounter with the sennin.''
''Orochimaru was at the exams?''
''Yes, it appears he wanted to give Sasuke a cursed mark. But I do not believe that it was the only reason that he had come to Konoha,'' Naruto said, ''I want you to investigate Orochimaru's activities and also get me Intel on Yakushi Kabuto.''
Zetsu nodded, ''I will see you in a few days then.'' He said and sank back to the tree branch. Zetsu appeared again just after he had disappeared, ''I forgot to tell you that Jiraiya has returned to the village.'' He said and went away.
Naruto had not been expecting Jiraiya to return to the village at this time. The Sennin would surely come to him in order to form a bond between them. Naruto did not want that with the sennin. If he hated the man for not taking care of him even if he was his godfather he longer did hate the man. Had Jiraiya taken care of him he would not have met Madara the way he did. He was somewhat thankful that Jiraiya abandoned him.
The following day
The streets of Konoha were relatively quiet unlike the days in which the first and second test of the chunin exams where being carried out. It was mostly because a lot of people were busy preparing for the finals. Even the villagers and leaders of villages watched the main event of the chunin exam finals. It was no wonder why the finals were held at a high regard.
Naruto walked slowly to Icharaku ramen. He rarely went to the place to eat. He ate home cooked meal most of the time. Today he had felt that he needed to eat somewhere else. It would also help him clear his thoughts. With a lot going over his head it was necessary to get some fresh air.
Naruto arrived at the ramen stand and took a sit. There was just one other customer beside him. People did not go away from the ramen stand when he came now since most of the villagers had stopped glaring at him.
Teuchi smiled upon seeing Naruto take a sit, ''Ah Naruto, it has been long since I last saw you. How have you been my boy?'' The old man asked.
''I have been well, just a little busy.'' Naruto replied.
Teuchi nodded, ''Ayame, Naruto is here!'' He called out to his daughter.
''Can I have two bowls of miso ramen, please.'' Naruto said to Teuchi. Teuchi nodded and went away to the kitchen to get Naruto's order.
Ayame came out of the kitchen with a brightened smile. She was happy to see Naruto. After she had made him promise that he would not disappear without telling her and that he would visit the ramen once in a while, Naruto came at the ramen stand once or twice in a month. She was just happy that he had kept his promise and did not forget about her for months.
''Naruto, I am so happy to see you!'' Ayame almost yelled out. Naruto nodded, it was good to see her too. He might not care for a lot of people but the Icharaku family was a family who he would never forget. They had done a lot for him without expecting anything in return. They were good people as such he respected them for their kindness and love.
''Did you make it to the finals?'' Naruto nodded, ''I'm going to place my bet on you to win.'' Ayame said with a grin.
Teuchi came from the kitchen with Naruto's ramen, ''There you go.'' He said handing over the ramen to Naruto. He went back to the kitchen leaving Ayame to chat with Naruto.
Ayame talked with Naruto for some time while the blond was eating his ramen. She asked him a few questions which Naruto answered. Ayame was quick to realize that Naruto was easily bored which was why he did not speak much. Despite him always having an impassive gaze he was not cold hearted, that much she could tell.
Still, she missed the old Naruto who would have been devouring his ramen now instead of savoring it. She wished that he could someday just act the way he used to just for her. She missed his smile, no matter what she had done to make him smile but he never did smile. The foxy grin he always used to give her was something she would never forget. It was now an image that was imprinted in her mind and she was always staring at it whenever she thought of him. He was a part of her life and she would make sure it continued that way.
It was always refreshing for Naruto to visit the ramen stand. It did not annoy him listening or answering Ayame's questions. Coming to the stand he could always tell that she was alright and that pleased him.
Naruto finished eating his ramen and paid Ayame for the meal. He said his goodbye to the girl and left the ramen stand.
The following day
Naruto was alone at the Hokage monument. He was still waiting for Zetsu to report what he had found on his search. He was also getting bored because he was having nothing better to do. He had been thinking of going to the hideout for the time being. Konoha was boring at the moment. If he were to disappear no one would worry except the people who watch him. They had started watching him again, he had sensed them today. With them watching him he could not meet Zetsu anywhere. But this time the surveillance had decreased, and they were not as active as they were before the exams started.
It gave him much room to breathe unlike before. With the numbers decreasing Naruto figured that it was just a matter of time before they stopped watching him since it was obvious that they were not going to get anything by tailing him.
Naruto was brought out of his thoughts when a voice sounded beside him, ''The village looks lovely from here, doesn't?''
Naruto quickly turned around to see who it was. He had not sensed the person get beside him. If it was an assassination attempt he would surely have been killed. He saw a tall man with waist-length, spiky white hair tied to a pony tail, with two shoulder-length bangs that framed both sides of his face. He also had red lines that ran down from his eyes and wore a horned forehead protector with the kanji for oil. He also had a noticeable wart on the left side of his nose. The man wore a green short shirt kimono and matching pants, under which he wore a mesh armour that showed out of his sleeves and legs of his outfit. His outfit was completed with hand guards, a simple black belt, traditional Japanese wooden sandals, a red haori with two simple yellow circles on each side and a scroll on his back.
''Jiraiya'' Naruto said looking at the sannin. Once again he had been bested by a sannin. It did not please him.
Jiraiya grinned looking at Naruto, ''Oho you know of me.''
Naruto looked back to Konoha taking his eyes off Jiraiya, ''What can I do for you Jiraiya?''
''Have some respect Gaki. I am the great toad sage, Jiraiya-sama, one of the three legendary sannin and you should adress me as Jiraiya-sama!'' Jiraiya said aloud while trying to pose not that Naruto bothered to look at the sannin.
Jiraiya looked down, 'Nobody appreciates my greatness' he thought sadly.
Silence was born as Naruto waited for Jiraiya to answer his question. While Jiraiya did not know how to start the conversation with Naruto. The Sandaime had told him that Naruto knew about his heritage. He did not know which where the correct words to say to Naruto. He sighed and sat down beside Naruto.
''I heard you made it to the finals.'' Jiraiya finally said while looking at the village.
''You heard correct.'' Naruto responded. He did not like going around the bush nor did he like people doing it when they wanted to tell him something. But he was going to tolerate it just this once he had nothing to do anyway.
''When do you start preparing for the finals? I heard there are some tough competitors.''
''I'm already prepared for the finals.'' Naruto responded dismissively.
Jiraiya was quiet for a moment before finally getting main reason he had come to see Naruto, ''The old man told me you are aware of your heritage. Is that true?''
''Yes...so?''
Jiraiya was not expecting the kind of response from Naruto. It was not going to be easy for him, ''Then you probably know what I am to you.''
''Yes, but I don't consider you as such.''
Jiraiya nodded sadly. He had messed up but he could try to get involved in Naruto's life. It could not make up for his mistakes but it was better than nothing, ''It is my responsibility to train you and teach you your father's jutsu. I know you said you are already prepared for the finals, but what do you say to training with me? We could make up for lost time.'' He said with a grin.
''I don't need training from you, Jiraiya, and I certainly have no desire to learn any of Minato's jutsu.'' Naruto said impassively.
Jiraiya noticed that Naruto said Minato instead of father. But he chose to put it aside, for now that is, ''I can teach you ninjutsu, I heard that you where not taught any ninjutsu. You do need to take advantage of the reserves you have. I can be of help in that.'' Jiraiya argued.
''Yes, I'm sure you can be of use in that, but I don't need your help.''
Jiraiya let loose of a sigh of frustration. By the tone Naruto used he knew he was not going anywhere. Naruto was not going to allow him to train him, ''You know most people would rush at the opportunity of being trained by a sannin,'' Jiraiya said, ''Do you hate me for not being there for you? Is that why you are refusing my help?''
Naruto shook his head, ''I bear no fangs for you Jiraiya.'' Naruto responded.
''Then why are you refusing my help. It could do you well than bad.''
''I have my reasons.''
Jiraiya let loose of another sigh, but this time it was a sigh of defeat, ''Fine but I'm not going to stop trying to get you to allow me to train you,'' He said, ''I'm going to leave you for now. I have to do some 'research'.'' Jiraiya spoke with a lecherous grin and disappeared in puff of smoke.
''That is one obstacle out of the way.'' Naruto said to himself. With the Jiraiya issue taken care of he could now think of other things. Naruto got up and disappeared into thin air.
Later that night
A swirling vortex appeared inside of Naruto's bedroom. When it disappeared a figure wearing a black cloak with red clouds and an orange mask which had only his right eye visible. The figured right eye was a fully matured Sharingan.
Naruto was alarmed and quickly woke up. It was obvious that the figure wanted Naruto to wake up as he made no intentions to be discreet when he walked over to a window inside of Naruto's room. Naruto looked at the figure with slightly wide eyes. This was the last person he was expecting to see in his home.
''So this is Madara's grandson, Uzumaki Naruto.'' The figure said now facing Naruto.
Naruto was still at shock. The last time he had spoken with Zetsu about the figure in his room, Zetsu had said the man was not aware about his relations with Madara. Now with him being before him meant he knew.
''Oh...did you actually think that I did not know about you. I know everything about you boy.''
Naruto got over his shock. Attacking the man was useless now since he could not touch him, ''What do you want Obito?'' Naruto said under his breath.
The now identified Obito looked back outside through the window and spoke, ''I came to see you and to let you know that you are not the only one who has all the cards.'' Obito said, ''I will waiting for you to play your first card and do greet Zetsu for me when you see him.'' Obito said disappearing in the same way as he appeared.
Naruto had been trained to be calm no matter what. Even when he was feeling anger he could be calm as if he was not. And now what had occurred was enough to send him over edge but he remained calm. He had not calculated for Obito to appear before him. It appeared that he just wanted to send a message. His appearance was enough to make Naruto recalculate his future plans.
He supposed Obito was bound to know about him. He was just not expecting him to know about him this soon. It was a good thing that Obito did not do anything.
But with Tobi's appearance he had to train. He had to train in this month and get strong before Tobi made his move. Tobi was just waiting for the right time to make his move. He had to be ready when he did make a move. Training would make him ready.
A few days later, unknown location
After Tobi had appeared before him, Naruto had decided it was best to be training at the hideout. When he came Zetsu was not present, he figured he was still doing his assignment. The hideout gave him the privacy he needed unlike Konoha. The place he got privacy at Konoha was his apartment. And here at the hideout there was no one to disturb his peace. Zetsu did not bother when he was busy.
He had not even bothered to leave a clone behind at Konoha. It would get him a headache that he did not want to experience. It was better not experiencing whatever the clone would experience in his absence.
Naruto was currently eating lunch. He had taken a break from perfecting his skills and ninjutsu. It was better to perfect what he had now before learning new things. Perfecting his ninjutsu would make his jutsu a lot more effective than anyone else's. Perfecting a jutsu required him to understanding the mechanism of a jutsu. If he understood that he could use a jutsu without taking too much chakra from him. Naruto looked at his right as he heard footsteps. He saw Zetsu walking over to him. Naruto waited for his spy to sit and tell him what he had found. But Zetsu was the one to say the first words.
''I did not think I would find you here.''
''Unforeseen circumstances forced me to be here,'' Naruto said looking at his lunch, ''So, what did you find?''
''I will tell you about Kabuto first,'' Naruto looked at Zetsu to hear the report, ''Kabuto was a former ROOT ANBU. He worked as a spy and infiltrated all great villages under the orders of Danzo. He is a medic specialist, and could be second to Senju Tsunade,'' Zetsu paused for a moment, ''He currently a spy for Orochimaru.''
Naruto nodded, ''I had my suspicions about him.'' Naruto said. Still Kabuto had to be a spy master if he was able to infiltrated great villages without getting caught. He was someone to be viewed as a threat. Naruto did not need someone like him alive. Being a spy for Orochimaru would certainly explain his interest in Sasuke. Orochimaru had interests in Sasuke.
''I was able to find some interesting things about Orochimaru.'' Zetsu said bringing Naruto out of his thoughts. This was something he wanted to hear, ''It appears that when he was still a member of Akatsuki he tried taking over Itachi's body.'' Zetsu's words confused Naruto so Zetsu elaborated, ''Orochimaru invented a jutsu that would give him immortality. He consumes another person's body and makes it his own. The consumed body becomes a host to his soul. He needs a strong person to be able to hold his soul. He tried his jutsu on Itachi so that he could get the sharingan but he failed miserably and ran away.''
Naruto nodded, ''So he wants Sasuke so that he could take over his body.'' Sasuke would accept Orochimaru to his body as long as he was told that Itachi would be killed. Sasuke would willingly sell his soul to the devil if it got him the power to kill his brother.
''There is also something very interesting,'' Zetsu said, ''Orochimaru plans to invade Konoha.''
Naruto was quiet for a moment, ''With what army?''
''I do not know the details. But Orochimaru has founded a village called the Sound Village. I think it also involves the Sand jinchuriku. I don't know if the sand itself is connected with the planned invasion.''
''When?''
''Chunin exams final,'' Zetsu responded, ''He is also working with Danzo. But Danzo will not be taking active part in the invasion. He is only making things easy for Orochimaru by providing security details and removing certain ANBU squads so that Orochimaru's people can get into the village without being noticed.''
Naruto was not surprised to hear this, ''So Orochimaru invades Konoha and kills the Sandaime. Aftermath Danzo tried to get himself made Hokage.'' Naruto summed up what Danzo must have planned with helping Orochimaru invade the village.
''What will do if Orochimaru does kill the Sandaime and Danzo petitions to become Hokage?''
''Nothing but you will,'' Naruto said, ''I'm sure you can take care of Danzo should something like that happen.''
Zetsu nodded with a smile.
''Things I had not foreseen are happening quickly. But there is nothing that cannot be managed.'' Naruto paused for a moment, ''Obito came to see me.''
''I'm not surprised about that. I always knew that he would find out sooner than later.'' Zetsu said, ''What did he say?''
''Nothing...oh he said to greet you.''
Zetsu nodded, ''So what do you plan on doing? Others are playing their cards.''
''During the finals my Uchiha heritage will be revealed. I will think of what to do before the finals.'' Naruto said leaving Zetsu alone.
Orochimaru was making his move on Konoha. He had not anticipated something like that to occur. He knew that Orochimaru had no love for Konoha but going as far as to plan its destruction was something he did not see coming. Konoha had done nothing to Orochimaru; he had been the one to wrong the village. For now he did not care if the village got destroyed though. Konoha could always be rebuilt any time.
His power was going to be revealed to Konoha and the world during the finals. Konoha was defiantly going to be shocked upon seeing him wielding the Sharingan.
Right now he needed to train.
Naruto might have thought he was the only one to reveal shocking secrets during the finals. But he was not, there was someone else who had planned to reveal a shocking secret.