Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Shinigami no Naruto: Power of the Soul ❯ The Second Exam and the Chunin Motto ( Chapter 16 )

Chapter Sixteen: The Second Exam and the Chunin Motto

Kurenai led the twenty-six teams of genin to one of the larger training areas. Training Area 44, aka the Forest of Death. The abnormally gigantic trees were sharply bounded by a tall fence topped by a thick coil of barbed wire. There was a small tent by the fence, two larges sings printed with glaring red letters as big as a person's forearm declaring the area within to be extremely dangerous and warning anyone thinking of entering not to do so, as "survivors will be prosecuted."

Facing the group with the forest looming menacingly behind her, Kurenai laid out the rules for the Second Exam. "Behind me, for thoe that can read, is the aptly named Forest of Death. In a few minutes each team will be given one of two scrolls. A team that is given a Heaven scroll," Kurenai now held up a white bordered scroll with the kanji for 'heaven' printed on it in one hand," will have to obtain an Earth scroll." Kurenai now held a black bordered scroll with that said earth in her other hand. "A team assigned an Earth scroll will have to do the reverse. Scroll will be passed out in the tent behind me once a team brings three liability waivers to it. This is a survival exam, no-holds-barred, everything goes. That means that there will be deaths, and Konoha will not be held responsible. Beyond this point, the only thing that is keeping any of you alive is your own strength.

The rules are as follows: to qualify for the next round a team must make it ten kilometers into the forest where there is a tower with both a heaven and earth scroll. A team will be disqualified if they arrive at the tower without all three members, without both scrolls or with an opened scroll. The exam will last exactly 120 hours, or five days. There will be a one hour window for teams to turn in their scrolls on the fifth day. You will remain in the forest until the tower is open for the the end of the exam, absolutely no exceptions. The waivers will be passed out now, so when you have signed all three, line up outside the tent and wait to receive your scroll. Once you have, a proctor will lead you to one of the 44 entrances spaced equidistant around the perimeter of the forest. From there you will wait there until the gates are unlocked. Any questions?"

"Yeah, what are we to do about food and water?" an abnormally rotund ninja asked.

"There is a river that flows through the forest, but there are plenty of edible plants and animals in the forest for anyone who knows how to look." When nobody else spoke up, the red-eyed jounin gestured to the chunin behind her to start passing the waivers out. A minute after that the first teams were being lead away to the gate they were to use. Naruto had bent over so that Hinata could use his back to sign her form on when he saw a familiar pair of feet in front of him. His gaze traveling upwards, he quirked an eyebrow.

"Something you want Sora-san?"

"Shut up Naruto. You know why I came over here, and I know that you are going to say yes, so why don't you give me a tracking seal, and we will meet up in the forest."

Grinning, Naruto rummaged around in his cloths, searching for a scrap of paper to use for the seal. Finally finding one, he drew a pen from another pocket and quickly sketched out a small seal, only as big as his palm. Carefully tearing the piece of paper in half, making sure that each half was exactly the same size, he pocketed one half and handed the other to Sora. She sketched a sloppy salute to Naruto and jogged back to her two teammates. Naruto quickly signed his own waiver and took all three up to the tent. Sticking the earth scroll he traded the waivers for, he pocketed it in his trench coat and followed the chunin to their gate. The guy didn't leave immediately, but had to wait with them until the half-hour that Kurenai had allotted for everyone to get to their assigned gate elapsed. Checking his watch every few minutes or so, the silence stretched interminably, the chunin having no interest in striking up a conversation with the featureless genin, none of the genin willing to speak in the presence of a stranger, fellow Konoha ninja as he was. After all, in their business, it wasn't whether you were being paranoid, but whether you were being paranoid enough.

Eventually, the minute hand on the man's watch formed a straight line with the hour hand and he unlocked the gate. Team Nine strolled in, as casual as anything, as this was probably the safest spot for them to be for a while. The mute chunin locked the gate behind them and dematerialized in a burst of speed. Once Naruto was sure that they were alone, he removed two scrolls from his coat, one the earth scroll they had to keep a hold of for the test and a second blank unmarked scroll. Unrolling the second scroll, Hinata and Tenten saw that it was an empty sealing scroll. Placing the earth scroll in the circle of earth characters, Naruto placed a finger on the activation symbol, the kanji for order in this case, and the first scroll was sealed in the second, the word 'scroll' appearing where the actual scroll was previously. Naruto rolled the second scroll up and wrote 'clothes' on the outside. Tenten and Hinata looked to each other for a moment, appearing to come to some conclusion before grinning at Naruto.

"Sneaky," the word having an odd stereo quality as both girls spoke simultaneously. Naruto just shrugged. Putting his hand in a pocket, the blonde boy withdrew the piece of paper bearing the half-seal he had kept. Spinning in place, he held the paper out in front of himself, before taking a dozen steps to the left and repeating the process. Walking to the side again, he triangulated some point with the paper. Walking away in the direction that the paper had apparently pointed him, he motioned for the the other two to follow.

The trio traveled in leisurely silence until Tenten pulled down her face mask and removed her glasses. How Kakashi wore one all the time was a mystery to Tenten. The thing tickled every time she twitched her face, making her want to constantly itch her face and she could barely see with the shades on. Clearing her throat, Tenten got Naruto's attention. "Naruto, hold on a minute. I want to talk about something that has been bugging me for a bit now."

"Yeah, what's wrong Tenten-chan?"

She reached over and pulled the thin layer of black fabric from over his nose and mouth and took his shades off. "For one, take off the mask and glasses when talking to me. I want to be able to see your face when speaking to you."

"Uh, okay I guess. What is wrong?"

"You have been acting weird lately. I want to know what is going on."

"What do you mean I've been acting weird?"

"I mean, when the proctor of the first test gave the tenth question, why did you give that speech you did? You kept more people from quitting than otherwise might. The more teams that are eliminated before we have to fight is better. But you were trying to encourage the rest of the room to take the last question. And what was up with that piece of paper that you gave that Kiri chick? Why would you give her a tracking seal?"

"I think what Tenten means is that you have been acting a little too friendly with some of the other teams taking the exam. Naruto-kun, I know that you like Kaiyou-san, but she is from another village. It is strange that you would go so far out of your way to help people that are our enemies, at least for the time being." Hinata had also pulled her face mask down around her neck and hung her glasses on the neck of her shirt. Her normally unreadable eyes were concerned for him now.

"Ah, okay, I see what you mean. Um, well, the thing during the first test was kinda a spur-of-the-moment thing. I didn't actually mean to say anything aloud at first. It just sort of slipped out. And Sora-san, well, she is an ally. She and I, that is we..."

"It's because she is a Jinchuuriki also." Hinata interrupted.

Naruto was quiet, as if debating how to answer her question. In the end he elected to tell them the truth, as they would probably find out eventually, as Sora really wasn't that closemouthed about the demon she contained. Besides, a lie now would only hurt them later, and he was loathe to do anything that was cause his two girls to view him with the least amount of distrust or suspicion. "Yeah. Even though she is respected in her village, she and I, well, I don't know how to say it. She knows what it is like to have to deal with some of the stuff I have to. I have been writing her letters for a while now and she has helped me with some things."

Neither Hinata or Tenten could figure a good response to this. Everyone knew how the village held at the very least a sour resentment towards Naruto, Tenten and Hinata in particular, especially about he had been mugged a couple of years ago. But this was foreign territory for them. It wasn't like they could even comprehend some of the problems he dealt with daily. Naruto and Sora both belonged to the same ultra-exclusive club, one that neither of the kunoichi could ever gain admittance to. It simply was beyond the scope of their experiences.

"Okay Naruto-kun. If you trust her so will I, as will Hinata I am sure." Hinata nodded when Tenten paused for a second. "But please, if you ever need someone to talk to, Hinata and I are always here. We will help you, if you will let us. We are a team, never forget that."

Naruto took a few seconds to reply, finally responding with a simple "Yeah, I know." Turning away he quickly consulted his half of the tracker seal he had and set off at a faster pace then before. Nobody spoke for the next twenty minutes, the solemnity of the conversation making all involved reluctant to break the heavy silence that had fallen. They came across the Kiri team twenty minutes after the start of the exam. The three Kiri ninja, not actually knowing the three Konoha ninja didn't think much of the silence between the three of them.

"Hey there Whiskers!" Kenji Kenji called out when Team Nine dropped down into the small clearing, really no more than a bare patch of dirt fifteen feet across where the nearby trees had sucked so much of the nutrients from the soil that nothing else could grow in the immediate vicinity.

"Hello to you too. You guys okay?" Naruto asked, face mask but not the tinted glasses back in place.

"We're fine. Haven't seen anybody yet. You?"

"Nope. You are the first people we have seen Sora-san."

"How are you guys on supplies? We brought enough rations to last us the week, and we have tents with us for tonight."

"We are fine. We can catch some food later, so you can save those rations for later, unless you really like them that much." Rations, no matter where they came from, were always nearly flavorless, taste and texture not wholly dissimilar to stale white bread. Nutritious, hell yeah, but blander food had yet to be discovered.

"I doubt the rations we are issued taste any better than yours Naruto-san."

"Probably," Naruto readily agreed. "Anyways, what scroll do you guys have?"

"Heaven," the heretofore silent Suki replied, drawing the scroll from a pocket that was presumably sewn on the inside of her kimono. "What scroll do you have?"

"Earth," Naruto replied, drawing out the decoy that he had created to fool anyone who managed to rummage through his coat. Tenten's relief at the fact that he hadn't told them that it wasn't the real deal was replaced by exasperation when he did.

"Clever," Suki replied, examining the faux scroll minutely.

"Well, it wasn't hard to duplicate. All it is is the word 'earth' with a black border." Naruto slipped the scroll back into his coat when Suki was done inspecting it. "What do you guys want to do? I was planning on just combing the forest until we found a team with a heaven scroll, and then hiding out until the exam ended."

"We were going to wait until we met up with you before we formulated a plan, but your sounds like as good as any. With the Hyuuga's eyes, It should make things considerably quicker too."

"And I have my own way to speed it up." Naruto grinned widely and threw his hands in his signature technique, and cried "Mass Shadow Clone Technique!" Naruto dispersed the accompanying bank of ninja smoke with a quick Great Breakthrough, revealing somewhere in the ballpark of three or four hundred clones, and those were only the ones that they could see.

"How many clones did you make?" Sora asked.

"Eh, I put enough chakra in to make about a thousand clones."

Even Sora, who was a Jinchuuriki who was in harmony with her demon most of the time was impressed. A thousand shadow clones was no mean feat, even for her. She could probably match his accomplishment, but would be hard pressed not to draw on her demon to keep herself going afterward. Then again, Naruto did host the nine tailed beast, so he probably had somewhere around a couple hundred times as much chakra as she would, were they both to go for a complete transformation. And if his seal worked anything like hers did, his demon had been putting pressure on his chakra coils for most, if not all his life and had developed a chakra reserve to match.

"Well, blitzing the whole of the forest looking for teams and scrolls is one way of doing it also. Whatever, lets get going then. The longer we wait, the harder it will be to find a team with what we need." Nodding, the legion of Narutos vacated the immediate area. The combined Team Nine/Team Kiri set off in a direction more or less parallel with the boundary fence, planning to spiral in closer to the tower as they went. After three hours of fruitless searching, it became obvious that Naruto's plan of using his clones to increase their search speed had backfired. Seeing a thousand copies of the same ninja, no matter what kind, spoke volumes of said ninjas raw power. Ninja being ninja, if you ran into an a foe that was so obviously more skilled, they ran like hell and got the fuck out of the way of whoever could make that many clones.

They made camp as the sun was setting, Naruto setting three concentric rings of shadow clones as picket sentries, the first ring half a klick out, the second a quarter klick, and a third a hundred feet out. Tenten then proceeded to unseal a truly obscene amount of ninja hardware and use said hardware to turn the immediate area into a nightmare of spiked pitfalls, trip wires, falling logs, exploding tags, and other amazingly horrific ways to turn anyone seeking to disturb their sleep into little tiny bits of gore, of that much was left. While most of the traps were actually pretty basic, the sheer volume more than made up for their simplicity. One of the lessons that was taught in the Academy was that a ninja had to always expect something more, even the most experienced jounin didn't always keep an eye out for a falling log while in a spike pit.

Tenten turned to return back to the where the firepit had been dug under the roots of a tree that were thicker round then they were tall and plowed straight into Naruto. HEr half-formed apology was smothered as his lips covered hers. Naruto pulled her hard against him, one hand resting on her posterior, the other at the nape of her neck. Tenten was slightly shocked at the roughness with which he crushed her against him, but offered no resistance, palms on his shoulders, pulling herself closer against him until she couldn't tell whose heart was thudding against her chest. She nearly stumbled when Naruto released her, swooning slightly from the intensity with which he had seized her with. Naruto was fortunately in full command of his body and held her against himself again.

"Maybe I should just keep you right here if you can't even stand up," he murmured.

"You-you're the one wh-who messed me up."

"And if it allows me to keep you like this for just a bit longer I think it was a very good idea."

Apparently Tenten thought it was a good idea too because she locked her arms around his neck and kissed him until the blood was thundering in her ears. Of course, Naruto was not to be out done. Sucking her lip in between his, he nibbled at it softly, causing Tenten to almost knock her forehead into his. Trailing soft, gentle nips and wet kisses from her lips down to her chin and up along her jawbone, Tenten wrapped her legs around Naruto's waist, Not minding in the least when she was slammed with moderate force into the trunk of a nearby tree. By now any thought that entered her brain was fragmented beyond recovery unless it was a though stating how she could get him to keep doing what he was doing. They had only been dating for two months, give or take, but holy hell, he could kiss. That line of thought was interrupted by such a kiss, Naruto finally having made his way to her ear where he nipped her earlobe, causing her breath to hitch.

It really wasn't fair, Tenten thought when she could string a coherent thought together again. If there was any equality in the world, it would let her be able to make Naruto react in the same way that he was able to make her react. Tenten was not a control-freak, not at all, but it disturbed her feminist sensibilities at how quickly she lost control of her body. She always viewed herself as an independent, take-no-nonsense, reasonable woman, but hot damn if Naruto couldn't find just the right- and there she went again dammit. Whoever was in charge up there was going to have some explaining to do eventually.

"You suck," Tenten mumbled from where her face was buried in the crook of his neck.

"Aw, Tenten-chan, you say the nicest things."

She pulled her head back to look him in the eye and stuck her tongue out at him. Naruto just grinned wider. "Have I ever told you about what happened to the last guy I dated who was also a smartass?"

"Nope, but I don't think I have much to worry about. After all, all I have to do is do this," he craned his head forward enough to play with her ear with his teeth, "and you forget about what we were talking about."

When her eyes finally came back into focus, she just sighed and headbutted him in the chest. Apparently, she headbutted him a little too hard, because she was quickly acquainted with the ground. Blinking away the tears that the smoke from the Naruto-clone's death, she grumbled."I should have known it was a clone. Even Naruto has more survival sense than that.

She wasn't sure exactly how long they had been making out, but the clones that Tenten had been supervising were gone and the sun was starting to set. Picking herself up from where she had landed and rubbing the bruise she could already feel forming she forming, she returned to the camp proper seeing that the pork and veggie stew that Hinata had prepared from the direboars that the group had killed earlier and plants that Naruto had gathered while looking for scrolls.

The rest of the evening passed in relative peace, Tenten blaming the bruise on her forehead on Naruto, as well as the number of hickeys his had left all over her neck. The Kiri ninja praised Hinata on her culinary skills, allowing the normally introverted girl (although that had changed a lot recently) a chance to preen. When she started to gather dishes and clean up after the meal, a pair of Naruto clones accosted her, one pinning Hinata's arms and the second removing the apron. Naruto clones made short work of the remains of their supper while Hinata was carted off into the forest for some privacy.

Using the same tactic he had used on Tenten, Naruto squashed Hinata's inquiry as to why he had pulled her away from the camp. The kiss was brief, but it set the tone for the conversation quite nicely. "Hey there Hinata-chan."

"Hello to you too," murmured back. Naruto sat down with his back to a tree and placed Hinata crossways. Circling his hands around her torso, she snuggled into his chest. "What did you want Naruto-kun?"

"I just wanted some Hinata-time was all. We have barely had any time alone together, since Grass. You were kinda out of it on the way back, and when we got home, things were so hectic, between training with Kisuke-sensei and then preparing for the exam, I don't think I have even kissed you since the tavern in Grass."

"Well, that is easy enough to remedy then, isn't it?"

"I suppose so at that." Any further conversation was put on hold for a while as Hinata, unusually forward, tuned in his lap and pushed him off of the tree, pinning his prone form with hers. Slowly, Hinata lowered her mouth towards Naruto's and pressed them together. After a second, Hinata parted her lips to slip her tongue into Naruto's mouth. Exploring his mouth was terryfyingly thrilling, her heart rate skyrocketing from around fifty beats per minutes, to around eighty or ninety. The kiss remained slow and relatively tame, but to Hinata, this was absolutely daring. She was frenching a boy, hell, she was frenching freaking Naruto! Until very recently, she had never considered herself attractive, so the simple thought of doing something even as basic as kissing a boy was dangerous and exciting.

A great part of this was that she had been extremely shelter for most her life. As the heiress to the clan, (precarious as her position was previous to her marriage,) her body was an object that her father defended vigorously. Even were she to removed to the Branch House, she was still a Hyuuga and her virtue was not something to be traded away to just anyone. Even among the Branch House, a marriage outside the clan was difficult to achieve, having to pass scrutiny from the clan council. But that is another matter entirely, and one that is irrelevant to current events.

So, as inexperienced as she was in matters of the heart, even the most minor and inconsequential forms of displays of affection were wholly new and foreign to her. Eventually, she recognized an impending faint, so as fainting was the last thing she wanted to do right now, (meaning that losing consciousness would cut into her Naruto-time) she broke the kiss and laid her head down on his chest. Absently tracing his whisker marks, she was completely content to simply bask in the pleasure of Naruto's loving presence. Naruto in turn was playing with Hinata's hair, absently twirling it around his finger, creating knots that Hinata would have to comb out eventually, but really was a pleasant price to pay to have Naruto touch her.

OoOoO

The second day of the test passed much in the mold of the first, fruitless combing of the forest for anyone with a scroll. Once the shit hit the fan, everyone was wishing that they could go back to not finding anyone. The two teams had split up in order to try to cover more ground and all of a sudden, Team Nine was in the middle of a fight between an incredibly overmatched Team Seven and some super freaky Grass ninja.

One of the worst fights that Naruto would ever be in started out as simple curiosity. Hearing sounds of combat, they naturally gravitated towards it. Unfortunately, it would soon prove to be far easier to get drawn into a fight with a sannin then get out of one against a sannin. Naruto saw the psycho Grass nin summon a fifty foot snake and then sic it on the Team Seven Launching himself from high up on the branch where he had been watching thus far, he deflected the snake's lunge with a double fisted hammer punch with the full weight of his body behind it. His landing was somewhat less than optimal so it took him a moment to regain his feet and swayed slightly.

"You alright scaredy-cat?" Naruto taunted, looking up at a stunned Sasuke. Team Seven had not been present when Naruto had gone beserker on the samurai on the mission to Wave, so it took them a few seconds to register a red eyed, slit pupiled, whisker-scarred Naruto, his face mask put back into place and his glasses dropped in his kamekaze attack. "Where is the Sasuke I know? That Sasuke is no coward, able to be cowed by a mere look. Get your fucking shit TOGETHER or die." Naruto turned on the lone Grass nin and leveled an accusatory finger at him. "And who the hell are you?" Naruto was not able to place exactly what, but this guy freaked him out, so much so that he started drawing on the Kyuubi's chakra before he knew what he was doing. It wasn't much, not even a full tail's worth, but enough to mutated his face.

"Kukuku, just an admirer of the Uchiha over there. And who might you be?"

"Hyuuga Naruto, Genin of Konoha."

"A pleasure Naruto-kun. But if you don't mind, I have business with the Uchiha. If you could be so kind as to step aside, I will not occupy your time any more than I already have."

"Not a chance in hell, freak. You attacked a Konoha shinobi, and that means you get to deal with me too."

While Naruto had been occupying the snake summoner's attention, Hinata and Tenten landed on the ground by Team Seven.

"You guys okay?" Hinata asked.

"Yeah, we are fine. A little shaken up, but basically unharmed," the pink haired kunoichi replied.

"Tenten-chan, Hinata-chan, we need to get out of here. You guys know me and how i always look forward to a good fight, but this guys is in a class all of his own. He was able to paralye all three of us with only killing intent, as much as I hate to say."

That surprised Hinata and Tenten. Kiba was rather famous for never backing down from a challenge, and if Kiba advised they flee, he was probably on to something. But their conversation was interrupted by Naruto firing off a Wind Release: Pressure Bullet. And things only went downhill from there.

OoOoO

It was a long night for Teams Seven and Nine. Both Naruto and Sasuke were out cold, Sasuke from the three tomoe tattoos that appeared where Orochimaru had bitten him, and Naruto from a punch in the gut. There had to be something more to it Tenten surmised as there was no way that Naruto was weak enough to be taken out by a single kidney shot. The fight had started up when Naruto fired a Pressure Bullet that exploded the branch that the Grass guy retreated to when Naruto laid out the snake. As soon as he landed on a second branch Tenten and Hinata fell on him, Hinata with a falling Inferno that burned clear through the tree limb. Tenten kept him hopping around by putting Shrieking Fang to good use whipping the sickle end through the air and cratering the ground with the weighted end. She even upended the guy once by using the weight to flip an Earth Style Wall from under him.

Nothing seemed to faze their collective opponent, not even when Naruto summoned a hundred shadow clones to swarm the snake guy. But no matter how Team Nine set them up, not a single hair on the guy's head was harmed. Even Sasuke, using the limited precognition his two-tomoe Sharingan afforded him to try to cut off the guy's escape routes and herd him into the attacks the others were throwing out, was unable to help much. Kiba came close once or twice utilizing his Dual Piercing Fang.

As ineffective as it was, Tenten's strategy of hiding underground with the Underground Fish Technique and then using Shrieking fang from there did seem to surprise the obviously not-a-genin genin. Finally Naruto resorted to using kamikaze clones, having them latch onto the guy and detonate with the Great Shadow Clone Explosion. But instead of seeing bad guy goo, they just saw him dissolve into mud.

Even Sakura had contributed to the fight in a not-insignificant manner. She had surprised the kunoichi element of Team Nine (Naruto being busy with Orochimaru didn't notice) by showing a drastically increased armed taijutsu skill and actually using techniques not taught in the Academy namely mud clones, Earth Release: Earth Flow River to try to trip the sannin up and then Earth Release: Rising Stone Spears to try to skewer him when that failed.

Orochimaru only began to get serious when Naruto simply sent wave after wave of exploding clones at him, leveling everything in a thousand yard range. Then Naruto used some technique that not even Tenten or Hinata had seen, shooting a snake (a highly poisonous coral snake) from each sleeve. That just seemed to piss Orochimaru off. After punching him in the gut, he flung the now-passed out Naruto away like a piece of trash. After Naruto was put out of commission, there really wasn't anything else they could do. Orochimaru gave Sasuke the hickey and left. Kiba, using the Beast Mimicry Technique to carry Sasuke and Naruto to where they could set up camp. Really the only good thing that came of the whole fiasco was that both teams finally had their scrolls as Team Seven had a spare Heaven scroll that Team Nine needed and Orochimaru gave Team Seven the Earth scroll they needed.

Sakura and Kiba gave the shinigami trio when they unsealed then resealed their zanpakuto, first gaining then losing the black kimono and hakama constumes. Giving how tight-lippped their fellow Konoha-nin had been about their abilities back in Wave, neither Sakura or Kiba thought that they would be any more forthcoming about the strange powers they shared and said nothing.

Tenten went out and trapped the immediate area quite thoroughly while Hinata went searching through all the scrolls Naruto was carrying looking for the one that he had sealed the remains of the boar meat and stew into. Finally finding it after looking through a dozen scrolls, dinner was quickly prepared and devoured. The rest of the day and night passed, neither of the comatose boys showing any sign of rousing. About an hour after everyone had settled in there was a terrific noise outside. Everyone waited a few minutes for anything else to happen, but nothing did. Going to check the traps, Tenten found Sora, Kenji Kenji and Suki standing over three very dead Sound genin.

"Hey there Tenten-san. What happened to you? You look like you went ten rounds with a gorilla."

"Kaiyou-san, you would not believe me if I told you. Come on. Let's get under cover." Team Seven (the conscious members) drew weapons when the three foreign ninja came into sight. Tenten waved them down so Kiba and Sakura relaxed as Sora introduced themselves as "associates" of Naruto's.

Looking over Sakura and Kiba, who were looking at least as bad as Tenten and Hinata, as well as the two boys, Sora blurted, "who the hell did you run into?"

The four Konoha genin exchanged a glance before Sakura answered. "How much do you know of the Sannin?"

Sora gave the rosette an odd look before answering. "About what everyone not from Konoha knows, I suppose. Three of the strongest ninja to ever come out of Konoha, Orochimaru the White Snake, Jiraiya the Toad Sage and Tsunade the Slug Princess. All three eventually left Konoha, none have been seen in Konoha in close to two decades. But what do they have to do with anything? You run into Orochimaru or something?"

"Yeah actually."

That caused all three Kiri ninja to do a double take. "Seriously? Orochimaru, the S-rank missing-nin Orochimaru? How are you not dead?" Kenji asked.

"He wasn't here to kill anyone, I don't think. He was here for Sasuke. He performed some technique that lengthened his neck, allowing him to bite Sasuke on the neck. He has been out ever since. He doesn't seem to have any sort of head or neck injury and his vitals are stable, be we haven't been able to wake him up."

"What about Naruto?"

"We aren't sure. Naruto went berserk and eventually pissed Orochimaru off enough that he pale-faced bastard punched him in the gut and knocked him out. Pretty much in the same state as Sasuke, no obvious injuries, stable but comatose."

"Was it a punch, or did the guy use a jutsu on him?”

The Konoha genin looked around but noone could be sure. All they had seen was Naruto get snatched up with the freak's tongue and Orochimaru's hand slam into Naruto's gut.

“What about his appearance? Did he look any different than normal? Different colored eyes, longer teeth? Whisker scars grow bigger maybe?”

“Yeah, all of those. How did you know that?”

“Naruto and I... Well, we bear a similar curse. At any rate, I can't do anything for the Uchiha, but I may be able help Naruto.” Kiba and Sakura seemed a little suspicious of this ninja claiming that she could help Naruto, (especially when she kep dodging the question of what “curse” they shared,) but Tenten and Hinata did not seem to have a problem with it. “A couple of things though. When I start, nobody is to touch me, no matter what. I have an idea of what could be wrong with him, but right now it is only a suspicion. I want everyone to stay at least ten feet back. This could be dangerous, so be warned.”

Sasuke was dragged away from Naruto and everyone not Sora or Naruto formed a semicircle to observe the blonde kunoichi in action. Naruto's coat had already been removed by Hinata so she could search for the food earlier and was now rolled up to serve as a pillow. Sora pulled his shirt up to expose his stomach. She nodded when the bare skin was revealed as if she had been expecting something, but what she had feared was not present. Seating herself at his head, Sora leaned over, peeled Naruto's eyes open and stared into them.

OoOoO

Naruto's Mindscape

Arriving in Naruto's mindscape was not the most pleasant experience that Sora ever had. Lifting a sodden foot, she cautiously sniffed the bedragged appendage. At least it wasn't actual sewage. Splashing her way forward, Sora ignored all the branches she came across, keeping her eyes focused straight ahead. It didn't matter which way she went, in a Jinchuuriki's mind, all paths led to the demon. A timeless span of time later, she arrived at the mental representation of the seal, a sleeping Naruto laid out in front of it.

Two thoughts ran through her head when the bars of the seal came into sight. The first was 'a little crude, but effective nonetheless I suppose,' and the second was 'oh crap.' Even a neophyte such as her was able to recognize Orochimaru's tampering of the Eight Trigrams Sealing Style seal. Normally there was just a single seal on the center of the bars of the cage, that was obvious. What was even more obvious were the shiner bars stretched horizontally across the original vertical bars. The secondary bars were so thick that it was hard to see anything of the original seal, making it impossible to slip through the gaps in the bars or open the gate.

Sora's suspicions were confirmed now that she was able to see the representation of the seal. Naruto had been drawing on the Kyuubi's chakra, so when Orochimaru slapped his Five Elements Seal on him, it cut the flow of chakra coming from behind the bars. It was not dissimilar to having all the air in a room removed between one breath and the next, the body wants to inhale, but there is nothing to inhale. The shock of drawing on chakra that was no longer accessible created a strain on his chakra circulatory system was so great that the body shut down to protect itself.

She checked Naruto's vitals, and finding them stable did not disturb his rest. His unconsciousness was a defense mechanism, and rousing him out of it prematurely would do more harm than good. There was nothing she could do to even start dismantling the secondary seal that would not threaten Naruto's wellbeing. He would eventually awaken, so she left. Sitting back up in the real world she shook her head in a negative, causing everyone to approach her.

“What happened?” Tenten and Hinata asked simultaneously.

“Orochimaru tampered with his 'secondary' chakra source. Naruto-san will awake eventually, but I cannot say with any authority when.”

“Wait, secondary chakra source? What do you mean by that? People only have one kind of chakra, not two.” Kiba interrupted.

“If you do not know what I am talking about, then it is obvious that Naruto has nto entrusted you with his secret. I will not break his confidence by revealing it to you when he has not seen fit to do so himself.”

A watch rotation was established so everyone began setting up for the night. Naruto finally signs of rousing somewhere just before dawn. Hinata had been chosen to hold the last watch, her Byakugan giving her the greatest chance of detecting any hostile ninja who mounted a predawn attack. When Naruto began groaning, she whirled and rushed to his side. Hinata helped him sit up and slide back to sit against a large root.

“How are you feeling Naruto-kun?”

“Achy. But otherwise okay. What happened when I was out? Last thing I remember was that guy punching me in the gut.”

“Well, we ended up losing the fight. The guy was Orochimaru, the missing-nin. He bit Sasuke-san on the neck, knocked him out and ran off. We were able to get the two of you under cover and set up camp. Sora-san and her teammate finally turned back up. She said that she was going to try to help you, but wasn't able to do anything. And that is about it.” Naruto nodded, and laboriously levered himself up from his seated position. Leading Hinata outside, he saw the corpses of the three Sound genin laid out side-by-side.

“Who are they?” Naruto asked pointing at the bodies.

“Oh, Sora-san said they were hiding in the undergrowth, looking for a chance to ambush us. Sora said that she and her teammates killed them.”

“I don't have any scrolls to seal their whole bodies. But I have some that are big enough for their heads. What did you do with my coat?”

“Oh, it is back under the tree. I had to look for the scroll that you sealed the food in.” Naruto exited the depression a minute later holding a scroll about as long as his forearm. Unrolling it, he drew his zanpakuto and awkwardly cut the heads off. Sealing the heads in the aforementioned scroll, he pocketed the scroll. Forming the unique cross seal to perform the Shadow Clone Technique, Naruto scrunched up his face, feeling an abnormal resistance to the technique, he gathered all the chakra he could and rammed it into the jutsu. When the smoke dissipated, a hundred fifty clones were looking back. They dispersed quickly to set up a sentry perimeter around the camp.

Hinata put a hand on his shoulder in concern. “What is wrong Naruto-kun?”

Speaking in between gulping huge breaths, he said “I don't know. Something is interfering with my chakra flow. I used enough chakra to create three times that many clones. It is like I have the control I pretended to have back in the Academy. Let me try something else.” Forming the snake and tiger seals, Naruto thrust both hands out towards the forest flinging two half-matured garter snakes into a tree. Again he had to force too much chakra to too little effect. Staring at his hands in shock, he turned to Hinata.

Grabbing a blank scroll and a pen, he handed both to Hinata and told her “hey, do me a favor and draw what you see on this scroll for me.” Pulling his shirt off and dropping it on the ground, he closed his eyes and formed the ram seal, increasing the flow of his chakra throughout his body. Hinata's eyes widened when she saw the Dead Demon Consuming Seal darkened over his hara. Quickly copying the design onto the paper she pushed it over to Naruto when she was done.

Releasing his breath, Naruto lowered his hands to examine the seal Hinata had copied for him. Hinata let him frown at the design and mutter to himself for a minute before she spoke. “So do you know what is wrong Naruto-kun?”

“Yeah, that snake-faced bastard Orochimaru fucked up my seal. See here, this is what is supposed to be here,” Naruto pointed to the swirl surrounded by the two sets of four symbols that made the two Four Symbols Seals that composed the Eight Trigrams Sealing Style. “These five symbols here,” Naruto pointed at the swirls interposed between the original eight, “are what Orochimaru added. By overlapping an even-numbered seal with an odd-numbered one, he has screwed up my natural chakra flow. Plus I don't think I would be able to draw on the Kyuubi's chakra with this thing on.”

“What does the number have to do with how it affects your chakra?”

Naruto thought that over for a moment before answering. “Overlapping two opposite-number seals is comparable to trying to perform a jutsu with the wrong hand seals. Technically, it is possible, but you are going to have to spend much more chakra and focus much harder to get it to work. And even then, it is more likely to explode in your face rather than actually do something useful. Each of the individual subseals that make up the Four Symbol Seals acts as a pathway for my chakra to flow through. The odd-number seal acts as a second set of paths for my chakra to pass through. So in addition to adding to the natural resistance that chakra will encounter doing anything, the paths are misaligned, connected slightly off-center, the effect almost identical to a clogged artery. The chakra can pass through, obviously, but the narrowed 'vein' slows the flow.”

“So do you think you can fix it yourself?”

“Unlikely. I would have to know what elements Orochimaru used to seal me to use the diametrically opposite element to cancel them out. I would have to get all five correct, or else I would just place another Five Element Seal on myself, further screwing my already screwed-up control. I will just have to deal with the effects until I can talk to Jiraya. Hopefully he will have a solution.”

“And if he can't?”

“I am sure he can. He knows more about seals than anyone else in the world. If he can't unseal me, well, I am sure I will be able to get my control back to where it should be eventually.”

Tearing the portion of the scroll that Hinata had inscribed the Dead Demon Consumng Seal on, he walked to the fire, breathing a smoldering piece of wood back to life, he carefully incinerated the scrap of paper, mixing the ashes into the remains of the fire. “You can never be too careful. Don't want that seal falling into the wrong hands, for multiple reasons.”

As he finished destroying the seal, a grunt came from the cave, followed by a pained groan. Exchanging a lightning glance, the two dashed back into the cave to see Sasuke twisting in pain. Hinata rushed to his side while Naruto roused the others. Sakura bolted upright when Naruto tapped her shoulder, as did Kiba, but he had to dodge a clumsy, heavy-handed swat also.

“What is happening to Sasuke-kun?” Sakura asked no one in particular.

Hinata activated her bloodline eyes and examined Sasuke's chakra flow. Pulling aside his collar, she went white at what she saw. “What? What is going on?”

“That is a seal, it... It is turning Sasuke-san's own chakra against himself. It is killing him.”

“Can you do anything for him? Do something to his tenketsu or something?” Kiba asked.

“I dare not. The way his chakra is in flux, interfering with the flow would be lethal for certain. As it is, he may pull through, but it is a matter of his will.”

But as soon as she said that, Sasuke quieted, before the three tomoe on his neck exploded, vaguely flame-like black markings quickly flowing over his right arm and half his face. Leaping up to his feet, his chakra acquired a sinister feel to it, a change that leaked into his face and eyes. Panting slightly, as if from light exertion or anticipation of something, Sasuke's Sharingan eyes quickly swept over his surroundings, searching for some threat. Squeaking loudly, Hinata's hands flickered and struck Sasuke eight times in the time it took to register the fact.

Sasuke tensed his whole body, arching backwards as the flame tattoos retreated as swiftly as they advanced before he collapsed to the earth in a boneless heap, groaning in surprise. Hinata's face flamed like a tomato when everyone looked at her. “What the hell was that?” Kiba thought aloud, whether he meant Sasuke's transformation or Hinata's reaction was uncertain. Instead of answering, Hinata knelt over the slowly flopping Sasuke and released his tenketsu.

When Sasuke was able to speak again, he grabbed the front of Hinata's shirt and slammed her agains the wall. “Don't you ever do anything like that again,” he snarled causing Hinata to squeak again. But before he could actually strike the girl, Naruto broke the hold he had on Hinata and threw him over his shoulder to the ground.

Stopping a fist right before he broke the Uchiha's nose, Naruto lowered his face to within an inch of Sasuke's. “You don't ever touch my wife like that. If you ever strike her outside a sanctioned fight, I will break your face. Maybe then you won't have reason to whine about all your fan girls. Okay?” Sasuke just glowered. Naruto whiffed with his punch, but caught him across the mouth with the follow up elbow. “I said you are never to touch Hinata-chan or Tenten-chan without their permission. Okay?” Slowly Sasuke nodded, turning to spit blood as Naruto let him up. Nobody said a word as he turned to the rest of the group. “Now, I am sure that there was a reason that Hinata reacted like that. Why did you react like that Hinata-chan?”

“That chakra, it was unnatural, evil. I just reacted without thinking. Sorry Sasuke-san. I did not mean hurt you. It was instintive.”

“Yes, well, just don't do it again.” Sasuke looked away, surreptiously rubbing his throat.

Naruto stood up and spoke. “Sora-san, did your team get the scroll you needed?”

“Yeah. We ran into a couple of corpses that had been crushed by something. Whatever killed them, it didn't look through threir packs, because they had a complete set of scrolls on them.”

“Good. Orochimaru kindly left us a complete set also, so everyone has the scrolls they need to pass. We still have two days before the exam ends, so as long as we are careful and stick together we should be safe. I don't think that there will be many people willing to challenge three teams together.”

Nobody disagreed, so the nine genin spent the next two days under cover, completely undisturbed. Anyone who stumbled over their camp left without challenging them, discouraged by either the fortress-like defenses that had been erected or number of potential combatants. Three-to-one were never good odds.

On the fifth and final day of the test, everyone collected all their possessions, tore down the traps and started to the tower at noon. They slowed down once the tower was in sight, wary for ambushes and traps. While the numbers were in their favor, there was the possibility that there were teams that had not been able to get their hands on the scroll they required and would try to steal theirs. Checking the time, Naruto signalled for the group to go to ground.

“Well, the tower will not open until four o'clock, in another two hours. We will remain here and wait until it is safe to approach the tower. I don't need to remind anyone not to wander off. We are close to the end. Let us not get sloppy and screw up when the end is in sight.”

Nodding, everyone spread out to find a comfortable place to secrete themselves and remain in sight of at least one other periodically scanned the area with her Byakugan, signalling Naruto who passed the message along when the doors to the tower were opened. Rushing towards the portals, Naruto held his breath, anticipating kunai and shuriken to come raining down at any moment. He relaxed once everyone was safely inside though.

The room they entered was about fifty feet to a side, with a pair of balconies opposite each other on the left and right walls. On the wall in front of the group was a poster that had an incomplete poem, missing the words “Heaven” and “Earth.”

“Well I think it is obvious that this is the part where we open the scrolls up now.” Unsealing the pair of scrolls from the mislabeled storage scroll, Naruto unrolled the two scrolls. Leaping back as they started spewing smoke, he grinned when he scarred visage of one Umino Iruka emerged.

“Hey there Iruka-sensei!” he shouted to his ex-sensei.

“Hey there Naruto. And Sasuke. And some Kiri-nin?” Iruka had not expected when he was summoned to be greeting three teams completing the test simultaneously. “What is up?”

“Uh, well, it's kind of a long story,” Naruto admitted. “Short version is we teamed up with Sora-chan's team,” he pointed to the blonde kunoichi, “from the beginning and stumbled over Sasuke-teme's team when they were in the middle of a fight. We decided that there was safety in numbers and stayed together.”

“I see. Well, before I continue, open your scrolls to prove they are authentic.” After getting summoned twice more, he continued. “Well congratulations on all nine of you passing. The poster behind me is the motto of the chunin, with the words 'heaven' and 'earth' removed to serve as a hint for you to open the scrolls. It says, 'If you lack heaven, seek wisdom, be prepared. Gain knowledge and prepare yourself for the missions. If you lack earth, run in the fields, seek advantages. If you lack neither, there is nothing beyond your abilites.' Basically it is saying that if your weakness is in the brain, like say, Kiba,” (Kiba growled at this,) “then study up so that it is not a weaknss. If you do not have much stamina, like Sakura, then you must continue to train hard until you have more stamina. If you have both, there is not a dangerous mission for you.

“This test was to see if you possessed the strength to be a chunin. The chunin are the platoon captains and small team leaders, so they must have the ability to lead from the front, as well as plan from the rear. Your challenge is to step into this motto and make it yours. That is all I have to pass on to you.” Iruka turned to leave, but looked back. “A final word of warning: don't lower your guard at all, it only gets more dangerous from here on out.”

 

A/N: So ends the second exam. I was honestly surprised at how well Chapter Fifteen was received. I was expecting a lot more complaints about how Naruto challenged Ibiki at the end and the wardrobe change. Oh well. *shrugs and grins*

I skipped the fight with Orochimaru because I just couldn't get a plausible 6v1. I may revisit it in flashbacks, but right now I am not good enough to write that fight how it should be written.

Yes, Naruto got sealed, Sasuke got bitten. Hinata may have made an enemy for life.

Orochimaru finally pops his head up. He has always been one of my favorite characters. Dude is one wicked badass villain. Two on one, Tsunade and Jiraiya were only able to fight him to a standstill, at least until whipped the Kyuubi out. Seemed to slip a bit while duking it out with Sarutobi, but then again Sarutobi socked him one while he was in the middle of a jutsu and dropped a suicide tech on him. Given who he was fighting (God of Shinobi and all) I think he did okay. If you don't like him, well, there is going to be no Orochi/Sasuke bashing beyond what you have seen here. Even Sakura has started to redeem herself, moving away from fan girl to shinobi a bit.

Given how badly Anko's team thrashed his in Wave, Kakashi has stepped their training up quite a bit, as you will start to see. There are quite a few people that are going to be in for some nasty surprises.

We have not seen the full extent of Team Shinigami's abilities either. They still have a couple aces up the sleeve, so to speak.

As always, this is unbeta-ed, so you see something incorrect, or I missed something, please let me know, by email, review or PM

Next time on Shinigami no Naruto: Power of the Soul: Chapter Seventeen: Prelims are a go go!