Right away I tried to write the second part of the Chunin Exams, but chose not to because I couldn't think of what to incorporate from the Earthrealm Trainings. Until then, I'll start after Orochimaru's introduction. Also, it turns out Netflix doesn't spell out what the japanese words say on Naruto unless you put it in. So that's why Sasuke's first opponent's name isn't put down. If I'm honest, with Mortal Kombat 11 coming out, I may just reboot this whole story. So this'll be the final chapter for a while, that's why this chapter was so weird.

(-)

Sakura had no idea what had happened. One minute, they're going through the forest of Death without a hitch, the next they find out that one of the students had been replaced by the criminal Orochimaru and both teammates are in a coma. She managed to get the two boys to a resting spot inside of a giant tree. Naruto is sleeping calmly while Sasuke is in some nightmare given how he won't stop squirming. And this whole time she doesn't know she's being watched.

As inhales deeply, "Okay. Remember your training. Remember Sindel-Sensei. Remember Sareena-Sensei."

(Flashback)

The first thing Sindel and Sareena did with Sakura was put on her wrists and ankles multiple weights. Then on each part of her arms and legs. Even her stomach had weights on them. Sareena compliments, "I must admit, you have improved greatly, Sakura."

Sindel admits, "But it is troubling that you haven't learnt to control your hair well. Each strand must be moved in unison, or else it'll just slither around like the gorgons of Earthrealm."

Sareena adds, "As well as the sonic scream. It seems that the beings of your realm are not adept at Edenian magic. Although that could be fixed with a simple contraption from Earthrealm."

Sindel insists, "I do believe that the beings of her realm are capable of magic, just not at the limits of other realms. We will have a choker made on Earthrealm that could mimic my screams, while we focus the rest of her magical abilities on her hair. I do believe that it is possible. We just need to find some form to make it easier."

Sakura suddenly asks, "Forgive me, senseis, but did you just forget that I'm still standing right here?"

They both stare at her incredulously.

(Present)

Sakura reaches into her pouch and pulls out a choker with a modest strap and a box on it, meant to be the front. She doesn't know how it works, just that if she wears it, her screams will be really loud. She states, "Note to self: Wear this at all times."

She added, "But I never got proper control of my hair, I can make it stand on end, but I can't do any of the tricks Sindel-Sensei did."

She has no idea she's being watched. Or that she's about to be attacked.

Eventually, when she's barely able to keep her eyes open, a voice calls out, "Some lookout. You're half asleep."

She looks away from the two and sees the three Oto genin from before. The bandaged one continues, "At least you don't have to keep watch anymore. Now wake Sasuke up!"

Sakura asks, "What do you want? We already met Orochimaru, that's why Sasuke and Naruto are knocked out cold, after all. In fact, what's with the hickey on the back of his neck?"

The mummy asks his friends, "Zaku, Kin, do you have any idea why Orochimaru would put a cursed seal on that runt?"

The man snorts, "Why should we care, Dosu, we can't let some slut talk to us like that!"

Dosu warns, "Hold on, Zaku, something's...Different."

He eyes Sakura closely, "She's got an accessory around her neck."

Sakura smirks, "You mean this thing? Compliments of my sensei. You're from the land of sound...Wanna hear a canary cry?"

She lets out a supersonic scream. The three immediately cover their ears, trying to drown it out. Dosu asks loudly, "HOW CAN THIS BE!? WE'RE OTO, WE SHOULD BE IMMUNE TO THIS!"

Sakura smiles, 'Just like I thought, their ears aren't immune.'

The jackass (That's what Sakura's calling him for the slut comment), shoves his hands into the ground, and a massive pile of dirt rises up in front of Sakura, creating a shower of dirt that disorients her. As they continue charging at her, a voice calls out, "LEAF HURRICANE!"

All three are knocked away from Sakura as Lee lands with a flare. Lee gives a sparkling grin, "Have no fear, Sakura, for it is the duty of I, Rock Lee, to protect a damsel in distress."

Dosu shrugs, "Whatever. Zaku, you can have Sasuke, I'll take care of these two."

Lee states, "No. I'll be your only opponent. Sakura is in no position to fight."

Dosu charges at him with his gauntlet of a right hook. Lee shoves his fist into the dirt, and pulls out a root of a tree as thick as the trunk of the tree. Dosu hits it with his fist, creating a massive crater in the root, sending shattered wood everywhere. Lee states, "Three on one, so don't expect me to make it easy for you."

Lee begins to unwrap the bandages on his hands. Dosu charges at him again, only to be kicked into the chin high into the air. With the loose bandages, he jumps behind Dosu and the bandages wrap around Dosu. He grabs Dosu's more mummified body and dives headfirst into the dirt. As he falls they start to spin like a top, except the jackass, does a quick jutsu that creates a mound of soft dirt. It sends Lee flying away. Dosu kicks himself out, and nods, "Thanks Zaku. You saved my life."

Lee is left panting for breath. Dosu brandishes the gauntlet and strikes Lee, causing him to struggle to sit up. Eventually, he vomits his guts out. Not literally, he'd be dead. His ear starts to bleed. Dosu admits, "What your experiencing is something worse than Four Eyes ever did in that classroom."

Zaku smirks, "You Konoha ninjas are old, outdated. We of Oto are the future of shinobi."

He shows off his palms, with holes in them. Zaku explains, "I can manipulate ultrasonic waves and air pressures with these bad boys. It's how I was able to save Zaku's life."

His face twists into a psychotic smirk. Dosu screams, "Now girl...IT'S YOUR TURN!"

He charges at her, but she just lets out another piercing scream. In between it, one can hear, "LEAVE US ALONE!"

Dosu screams, "Zaku! Shut! Her! Up!"

Zaku fires his airblasts at Sakura, sending her to the tree and falling to the ground. Before she even falls, the woman grabs a handful of her hair and starts pulling. She snarks, "My my, what soft and shiny hair. If you'd spent more time training than shampooing, you wouldn't be in this predicament."

Sakura thinks, 'She's right. I only focused on the sonic scream, I never even figured out how to make my hair get longer. It just went everywhere. Not even a straight shot...Wait a minute.'

She makes a sound, the woman asks, "What? Are you crying now?"

Sakura's face turns to them woman, with a cheshire grin, creeping her out, "No. I'm laughing. Such a simple trick that I never even thought of. Shows what I know."

And in a unified shot, from the ponytail the girl made, Sakura's hair struck the Oto-Nin across the face. As they are all shocked by this, Dosu asks, "Now what? Her hairs prehensile?"

Sakura reaches into her pouch and pulls out simple bands and tape. She begins to make her hair into a long, singular ponytail with bindings all the way to the end of her hair. Sakura stares at them with determination, "Now you're dealing with a banshee, bitches."

Zaku calls out, "Kin! Finish her!"

The girl pulls out a series of senbon. She charges, but Sakura's hair becomes like rope that ties her wrists together, and throws her to a tree. She then charges at Zaku, who uses his hands to try and blow her away, but Sakura just screams, making an impossible force meet an immovable object. Eventually, Sakura managed to push through, and stabs him in the arm with a kunai. She then bits into the other, holding his arms away from her, while her hair proceeds to strangle him. Zaku calls out, "Get...Offa me...You slut…"

Sakura bites down even harder. Zaku cries out in pain, calling out, "H...Help me…"

Dosu and Kin struggle to tear Sakura off of him, and eventually manage to. Zaku's eyes are bloodshot, "I'm gonna enjoy killing that slut."

He stretches out his arms, "Say SAYONARA!"

Suddenly, Ino-Shika-Cho appeared out of nowhere to defend Sakura. Dosu asks, "Oh great. Now what?"

Sakura asks, "Ino?"

Ino smirks, "Don't think I'm just gonna let you one up me on development, kay? We both still want Sasuke."

Dosu calls out, "This doesn't concern you, Konoha Worms. Leave. Now."

Zaku snorts, "First a slut, now another slut, a bum, and a fatso. This will be a fun day."

Choji turns red, "YOU SURE TALK BIG INSULTING ALL OF US WHEN JUST ONE GIRL MANAGED TO NEARLY CHOKE YOU TO DEATH! IMAGINE WHAT THIS FATSO WILL DO!"

Sakura looks around in confusion, before noticing that purple smoke is emanating from the base of the tree Naruto and Sasuke are resting. She asks, "What...Is that?"

Nobody notices what she said as Choji expands himself and rolls himself at the Oto-Nin like a giant boulder. Zaku uses his wind blasts, but Choji...Rolls his ground, keeping the arrogant man on edge. The blast of air sends Choji into the air, and Dosu charges to save his team mate, only for Shikamaru to ensnare him in shadow possession. Zaku barely dodges, while Choji brandishes hook swords when he lands. Choji has fire in his eye, as he smiles, "Pretty fast for a fatso?"

Ino takes possession of Kin, and states, "Alright you assholes, let's make a deal. You leave us be, or I make your teammate commit suicide."

Strangely, Zaku is smiling. Dosu chuckles darkly. This is noticed by Ino, who thinks to herself, 'What is going on?'

Zaku fires a rush of wind right at Ino, and Choji quick steps in to save her, but they get knocked into a tree. Ino's body starts to drool blood. Dosu points out, "You made two mistakes little girl: One, if you were so willing to kill Kin, you would've done it, otherwise you would've hurt yourself, like what Zaku here just proved. And two, did you really think we'd give a damn if she died? We don't play by Leaf rules, we play by Sound rules. And Sound rules say that Sasuke Uchiha dies or we all three die."

Shikamaru's shadow begins to weaken, "And another theory proven. Shadow boy can only hold his shadow for so long."

Sakura calls out, "You people are insane."

Zaku corrects, "We're not insane, we're desperate, slut. You see, we care more about our own lives than we do our teammates and your eyecandy. We just want to kill some second rate losers."

"Now that's some tough talk. So that means your third rate trash."

Standing on the branch of a tree is Neji and Tenten. Neji scowls, "You ready to take on the real thing, not some first year rookies?"

Sakura smirks, "Yes...They came."

Neji's byakugan activates, "You used my teammate as a punching bag...NOBODY GETS AWAY WITH THAT!"

That terrified everyone. Even the Oto-Nin. Neji deactivates his byakugan, "Strange...That chakra…"

Dosu asks, "What's he babbling about?"

He looks to where Neji's looking, and his eyes widen in fear. Everybody looks and sees Sasuke Uchiha, sharingan activated, covered in flaming black tattoos and flaming purple chakra, and a psychotic smirk. This terrifies every single person. He glares at his awake teammate, "Sakura...You are hurt...Who did this?"

Dosu stammers, "I...I don't understand...That's the sign of the curse mark...How could he survive...More importantly...Why would the target have that!?"

Sasuke looks at his hand, as Sakura backs away. Sasuke admits, "What strange power...But power nonetheless. I don't know why I was given this gift, but I accept it. Who attacked you?"

Zaku smugly states, "Me."

Sasuke glares at him. Team 10 quickly leaves. Dosu screams, "Zaku, Kin, LEAVE NOW!"

Zaku tries to use his strongest attack, but Sasuke just stands behind him, and knocks him to the ground. Sasuke grabs him by the wrist, with a psychotic smirk, and asks, "Proud of these arms?"

With his leg, he dislocates them in pure agony. Everyone watching is very terrified. Sasuke stares down Dosu, but Sakura stops him from getting any closer, and begs, "No! Stop! Don't do it...S-Stop...Please…"

Sasuke glares at her, as the mark recedes, and asks, "Why do you care?"

Dosu admits, "You're strong, Sasuke. We cannot defeat you. I'll give you this scroll and you let us go."

Dosu takes his knocked out teammates and leaves. Sakura asks, "What was all of this about? Who is Orochimaru and why did he do this to Sasuke?"

Dosu admits, "I don't know. All I know is that Orochimaru was created by Konoha. I do not know who what where when how or why about Sasuke, but I do believe we've been played."

Everybody relaxes, and the teams go their separate ways. Sasuke stares at his hand, and asks again, "Sakura...Why do you care about me so much? I am bitter, asocial. I am damaged goods. If I'm honest, I cannot for the life of me figure out what a smart or self-respecting girl like you would see in me...I mean, can't you tell that I have issues?"

Sakura admits, "I don't know...At first, I guess it was because it was a schoolgirl thing, where everyone fawned over the most beautiful...But now...You need help...And I don't mind helping."

Sasuke asks, "Even if I'm a monster?"

Meanwhile, Choji hits Naruto on the head with a hook sword to wake him up. He wakes up screaming, both from the pain and a nightmare. Naruto asks, "Huh, why are there more than my two teammates here?"

(...)

Four days later, the trek to the center of the forest becomes a sort of camping trip for Team 7, with nobody else having been seen. Sasuke admits during a dinner of fish, "We're screwed if we don't find another scroll."

Sakura admits, "We'd be lucky if all thirteen teams aren't already passed. That's not even taking into account Orochimaru burnt a heaven scroll to spite us."

Naruto's eyes bug out, asking, "Wait, what!?"

(...)

After a few hours, Naruto's team arrived at the tower with two scrolls. Naruto smiles, "Like candy from a baby!"

Sasuke decides to ask, "Why didn't you use Scorpions techniques?"

Naruto admits, "Something has been off with me since I woke up. Like I have to put in more effort for jutsus than I did before. That guy-girl...girl-guy did something."

Sakura explains, "His name is Orochimaru. And you're not the only one."

Naruto asks, "But who is he?"

(...)

Not long after, all 7 of the genin that passed the second test are standing before the Hokage and many representatives. Before the Hokage is a kneeling Jonin. He is wearing a bandana variant of the headband, and looks like he's seen better days in the health department, what with the clammy skin and baggy eyes. He bows with utmost respect, "Lord Hokage, before we proceed, I, the final Proctor Hayate Gekko, must inform you, cough, that there are too many participants for the final exam. We must hold a preliminary exam."

Everyone's eyes widen. Shikamaru, ever the lazy one, snaps, "Preliminary!? What for?"

Hayate explains, "Well...You see, the first two exams were meant to narrow the list of potential candidates to those that could be Chunin, because only a handful are allowed the right to try. We didn't realise the first two exams would be so...Easy for this many people to make it this far. It's something that's done to speed things up, if you were all allowed to stay, there'd be another test instead of just the final test. There's too many important guests that will be watching, and we just can't waste time, so we have to present the best of the best. Now, is there anyone who feels they are not capable of proceeding due to not being in top physical condition, leave now."

Kiba growls, "We're doing it now!?"

Ino whines, "But we all just got here, we can't get a break?"

Hayate nods, "Well then, if you don't feel ready then you can bow out now and drop the exams. Curve balls like this will be thrown in the future, if you can't handle it, then try again later. It will be one on one combat, sudden death."

Sasuke rubs his shoulder, trying to numb the pain. Despite this, only one person raises his hands: Kabuto Yakushi. He just sports a goofy smile, "Yeah, I'm out."

In the distance, Raiden is watching, and admits, "Most curious."

The boy leaves, and nothing happens until his footsteps aren't heard any longer. Hayate coughs, "Anybody else? Alright then, we'll now begin the preliminary round. This round will consist of one-on-one, individual combat at full battle intensity. This is not an exercise. There will be 10 matches among you 20. Winners will advance to the next exam. No rules, victory is only if one dies or admits defeat. Please look to the screen above us."

On the nearby wall, a panel opens to showcase a giant television screen. Hayate continues, "The name of each pair of opponents are chosen completely at random. Before each match, these names will appear on the display behind me. Let's begin."

Names start flashing along it very quickly, before suddenly stopping. Sasuke's name was the first to pop up against a teammate of Kabuto.

(...)

After everyone moves up a flight of stairs to a walkway, all that's left in the arena is Sasuke and his opponent. Kakashi said some words, but Naruto didn't know what he said. Sasuke fights, and other than a moment when the guy was bragging about stealing his Chakra, Sasuke won with the Lion's Barrage. With that, the next fight could commence. The screen starts to generate the names as Sasuke is being taken away by Kakashi. The screen produces two names: Zaku Abumi Vs. Shino Aburame. The two step into the arena to fight. Raiden cocks an eyebrow as he looks over a report, "That Abumi boy has two arms in casts. One of light bandaging, the other in a sling. Was this the boy whose arms were broken by Sasuke in a bloodrage?"