A/N: Chapter three, get ready to flee

Sasuke shivered as another explosion rattled the forest, just barely beyond the walls of the tower.

Ah, the tower. Lovely, despite its lackluster ventilation.

But, he wouldn't complain, because-

TWHOOM

Because an even closer sounding explosion rocked the lovely beautiful pleasestaytogether brickwork of the tower, causing even more dust to rain on their heads in the cramped panic room(he didn't know if it was the only one, but only the Konoha teams and one Suna team were here, the rest...he didn't know where they were, but their team had been shuttled here immediately upon arrival, and nobody else had arrived since.)

Another rumble shook the building, and Sasuke was pressed closer to Kakashi's legs and Naruto's shoulders, Sakura's back pressed against his side in their tight circle inside the clearly outdated-but still lovely, hold together you beautiful old tower-panic room, his left foot bumping Kiba's, and his right an inch or two away from the Suna girl.

He felt bad for Shikamaru, who was all but forced into her lap by Choji(accidentally) and Ino(selfishly).

He also felt bad for the half-masked Suna jonin, who was stood in a protective circle with Jonin from a different village, who didn't look all too pleased with him, seeing as nobody knew what was happening outside.

Why the Genin had to sit in a tight ball while the Jonin got to stand-even if it was protectively-around them, Sasuke didn't know, but nobody was talking, so he wasn't gonna say anything.

Even Naruto was quiet, and that was impressive because Sasuke had never seen the boy sleep outside of when he chose to. That, and he was off-put by the lack of snoring, because usually, the half-pint snored like a tiger being drowned.

Another explosion rocked the tower, and Sakure relaxed in tandem with him.

It was barely audible.

The next three all were just as loud, but the forth sounded even further away, and the tension in the room was slowly being lifted as the Genin...didn't fully relax, but unwound from their tightly coiled, near panicked spots on the floor, many shifting to sit more comfortably.

Shikamaru, the poor unfortunate soul, was now stuck fully in the Suna girl's lap because she had fallen asleep much like the blonde on his team, and now had the lazy Nara pressed to her, one arm wrapped around his stomach like he was the worlds most unmotivated teddy bear.

Shikamaru had, unsurprisingly, fallen asleep as well, head leaned back on the foreign nin's shoulder, chest rising and falling in tandem with hers.

He almost expected Lee to speak up about 'youthful(bleck) companionship across village borders,' but even his crazy sensei was dead quiet, focused eyes locked to the only entryway to the room.

Out of nowhere, Naruto jolted up with a gasp, sending the majority of the room spiking right back into tense-muscled surprise. Except for the napping, all-but-cuddling duo.

"Wow...did I pass out?" The dobe asked, blinking quickly, looking around the cramped room.

There was a thud from beyond Naruto, and everyone from their class-except the idiot in question-rolled their eyes(some fondly some annoyed) at Hinata passing out from a Conscious Naruto being sat shoulder-to-shoulder with her.

Suddenly, a wash of chakra rippled through the room, intense enough even he could feel it, and the Konoha Jonin relaxed, sheathing any drawn weapons. The door slid open, and Sasuke felt all the tension drain out of him at the sight of the Third Hokage, smiling tiredly at them.

"The threat has passed," The old ninja told them, "Orochimaru has been driven from the forest, and the majority of our forces are making sure he doesn't stop running until he hits Fire's border."

The Hokage meant Anbu, Sasuke was well aware, but with Foreign ninja in the damn room, he probably wasn't going to mention that his most elite-who scared most hostile villages bad enough to be boogeymen, according to rumors-were mostly, if not entirely, gone and focused on driving away...wait.

"Orochimaru?" Sasuke asked, blinking.

"So the Grass Woman was just a disguise…" Sakura mumbled.

"Congratulations are in order," The Sandaime told them, face a bit grimmer. "All of you have passed to the third exam. You are...the only ones, bar two other teams."

Sasuke's heart did a few panicked backflips, before plummeting into his stomach. The forest must have been leveled…

"...Who's Orocamenu?"

Sasuke wanted to hit Naruto, but he sufficed for smacking his forehead with everyone else in the room.

Then he barely withheld a smirk as Shikamaru was catapulted into the ceiling because the Suna girl had been woken up by her black-suited team member elbowing her shoulder when he facepalmed and subsequently reacted exactly as Sasuke was expecting she would.

"No, seriously, who are we talking about?"

Now Sasuke hit Naruto, and it was worth the indignant shouting.

Time continued onwards, and fate whistled its merry tune.

Kabuto Yakushi gave in without a fight, Sakura Haruno had a long-needed and overdramatic slap-fight with Ino Yamanaka, and Naruto Uzumaki was flooded with righteous anger as he watched Neji Hyuuga hurt his own cousin in deplorable ways. A few days later, The Kyuubi Jinchuuriki met his wayward Godfather and bribed him into training the boy for the third exam.

The story was told as it was meant to...right up until it wasn't…

"Alright kiddo, just sign your name in blood right here."

Naruto was pumped! He was about to get a summoning contract! How cool was that?! He bit his thumb, and reached down to start signing his name-

Pain.

"YEOWCH!" He shouted, rearing back as the dangerous, do not touch scroll hissed and steamed, the few droplets of blood he had managed to get on it steaming away. Ero-Senin blinked, surprise coating his every feature.

"That...that can't be right, it should only burn if you already have a contract."

Naruto blinked.

"Do I have a contract? Lemme see!" The blonde quickly flicked through the-weirdly familiar-signs Jiriya had shown him moments earlier, biting his thumb again, and ignoring the half-panicked look on the old pervs face as his hand hit the ground. "KUCHIYOSE NO JUTSU!" There was a large puff of smoke in front of him, and Naruto's heart soared as it began to clear because he had a Summoning Cont-

His heart stopped.

Ero-Senin grabbed him and dragged him back by the scruff of his jacket and Naruto couldn't have been more thankful for the old perv, because it was...it was…

A blank, empty hood stared after him, black, almost tattered robes fluttering lightly in the wind, the faint outline of a sword hilt visible in the cloth as the wind pressed it tight to the metal beneath.

"Who are you?!" Ero-Senin demanded, the hand that was holding his jacket now warm against his chest as Ero-Senin forced him to stay back.

There was no answer, but the blank-cold-too-empty hood turned to stare at Jiraiya for a few seconds, before swiveling back to Naruto.

"That...that can't be right...there's no way…"

But then, in the forest, Naruto had been bloodied by the super-strong wind, and he was flicking through seals in a panic, so maybe…

But, no, he would have remembered signing...something in his blood, surely!

He was snapped back to the present as Ero-Senin forced him back another step. Why did-oh, because it was getting closer.

Naruto inhaled sharply, and his eyes widened because holy crap it was getting closer!

The cloaked monster kept walking towards them, no matter what the pervy sage yelled at it. It just kept walking, until the old perv's hand went to his Kunai pouch, which made the thing pause. Its hand slowly reached for the spot where he could faintly see the hilt of its-

"NO!"

It paused.

"Don't hurt Ero-Senin! I forbid it!"

Naruto felt his heart beating like a squad of running Shinobi when its hood turned back to him, tilting sideways. Jiraiya's hand squeezed a bit, digging into the front of his jacket.

"Kid? What the hell did you tell it?" Ero-Senin asked, glancing back to him a few times.

"W-What do you mean?" Naruto asked.

"That language you just used, what did...ou...y…" Naruto blinked a few times as Ero-Senin's voice slowly petered out, even though his lips were still moving.

"Master…"

Naruto's entire body snapped alive, and it felt like his skin was moving as his every hair stood on end, his stomach doing its best to keep his plummeting heart away from it by flipping around.

The creature, whose voice was like being covered in ice, slowly held it's hand out to him, fingers open. Naruto blinked a few times because its hand looked so welcoming, so familiar…

He took a step towards the creature, who was on one knee now, patiently waiting for him. He could feel large, warm-why were they so warm, couldn't they tell he was overheating? He needed to feel something cold, cold like the gauntlet on that outstretched hand-fingers scrabbling at his arms and shoulders, trying to stop him from walking towards his friend. He got closer and closer, one of his hands reaching for that friendly, welcoming hand that was held out so patiently for him to take-

"YOU!"

Naruto jerked back with a gasp, almost dropping to his knees at the sharp pain exploding from his stomach. The hood of the creature he'd almost grabbed-why was he just walking towards it? What was that?!-tilted sideways, looking down to where he was grasping his stomach.

"The fox…" Naruto was taken back to the forest at that rasping, cold-so cold, cold like ice and like memories of That Night with Mizuki-voice that slid from the creature's hood. "Let us take him home…"

Naruto blinked.

"Home...?" he whispered. It nodded, and now Naruto wanted badly-so very badly-to grab its hand, but… "Konoha is my home."

The creature's head tilted again.

"What is...Konoha?"

Naruto snorted. "Only the best place ever! C'mon, let me show you around!"

Naruto grabbed its hand-which was really, Really cold-and tugged it up, jogging towards the village, not listening to the confused spluttering of Ero-Senin quickly fading as they moved, pulling the cloaked being along behind him.

He had a new friend to show around the Village. This was gonna be great!

This was terrible. Sakura was shaking like a leaf, pressed against the wall of an alleyway, hyperventilating like nobody's business. That...That thing from the forest was...it was here...she had only seen a glimpse of it before hiding but this...no, this was fine, she could handle this dangit. She took a deep, shaky breath to steady herself, and leaned out from behind the wall to…

To the hood of the creature as it looked down at her, barely a foot away.

"Oh, hey Sakura!"

Naruto?

"Remember the creepy demon thing that screeched super loud in the forest? Turns out, he's my summoning contract!" The cheery blonde exclaimed, one hand wrapped around the monster's metal-covered hand-were they gloves? Or just like that?-like he couldn't be bothered to care for the aura of cold, deathly fear of the thing next to him.

Which...didn't surprise her in the slightest.

She had to say it, really she did.

"...Goddamnit Naruto."

A/N: Surprise?