Yo all, been awhile huh, thank you for all the reviews it's great to see people care and have things to say about something you've done, I'm sorry this update took so horrendously long what can i say i put my exams and social life before this so I'm sorry for the wait, here's the latest chapter of Fusion, to be honest I'm not particularly happy with it but have been working on it for what seems like ages now and wanted to get it out so with out further ado enjoy.

Jutsu are in bold e.g Suiton: Suiyadan no Jutsu

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

Chapter 13

It was nearing dawn and the morning sun just beginning to climb over the tree tops to the east of the village while the old Sandiame Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, who had been attempting to get some rest in the private quarters within the Hokage tower had just been contacted about an emergency meeting concerning a high level disturbance, so now he sat quietly dressed in his usual robes and hat behind his desk, looking at the four of his masked A.N.B.U. elites that stood firmly to attention before him.

"Captain your report please." He started calmly after observing them all for a second, clasping his hands together on the desk in front of him as he did.

"Hokage-sama, we were sent out in response to a class A chakra level alert that was detected in area 44-"

"A full class A?" Hiruzen interrupted the squad leader, sounding a tad skeptical of the claim, few if any of the Gennin that he knew of in the exam were capable of battle for the amount of time or at the level a class A or Jonnin level battle alert demanded, it was for that reason men were always dispatched to observe them incase the Gennin would one day pose a threat.

"That was what we were told by the barrier control team sir." The man replied respectfully, sounding skeptical of the claim himself.

"Interesting… go on." Hiruzen said slowly, nodding his head towards the man, directing him to continue with the report.

"Sir, making sure we were following protocol, I lead the team to the area in the forest, avoiding detection by any of the examines, upon arrival at the area we found candidate number 23 unconscious and being looked after by proctor Mitarashi-"

"Who is candidate number 23?" The aged leader interrupted suddenly again, choosing to ignore for now the way the captains tone had darkened so considerably when mentioning Anko.

"Uzumaki Naruto the-" The bear masked captain started to say, dislike once again clear in his tone before he was cut off once more.

"I am well aware of whom that person is captain…" Hiruzen said in a steely tone, his dark brown eyes glinting dangerously in warning while his bearded jaw tightened ever so slightly, adding force to his words as he continued to speak.

"…Continue with your report." It was left unsaid that the A.N.B.U squad leader should mind his tongue for the rest of said report.

"In accordance with the exam rules I warned Mitarashi that she was risking the examinees disqualification for interacting with him in such a way and ordered her to come in to report on the disturbance, she seem to be delirious and refused the order remaining with Uzumaki, deeming the situation useless we withdrew…" The bear masked ninja paused for a moment, obviously taking a breath, though you couldn't see it for the painted mask he along with the rest of his team wore.

"…I have already filed the necessary paper work to have both the examinee disqualified and charges for the insubordination drawn up against Mitarashi." He finished firmly clearly expecting his leader to agree with him on both counts.

"So… do we know what caused the disturbance then?" Hiruzen asked slowly and carefully, it was still early in the morning even for a shinobi, especially one as old as him, but he was sure he hadn't missed anything the man had said and would get the details on the charges he was leveling dealt with after dealing with the first concern of what caused an A class disturbance inside his village.

"Due to proctor Mitarashi's insubordination we were unable to find out a definite answer sir." Bear said and despite the multiple warnings he'd been given clear dislike and distain seeping into his tone once again.

"Hokage-sama if I may be allow to speak." The large mans much smaller female subordinate, her face hidden as well hers behind a sparrow marked mask spoke up in a respectful tone, as the old kage rubbed tiredly at his eyes.

"Yes please do." He responded kindly gesturing for her to go ahead, hopefully she would have some information to help get to the bottom of this, Kami knew her captain was being no help.

"Well what taicho omitted is from what Mitarashi-san was saying she and the examinee had come under attack by… Orochimaru." She said carefully, mindful of her captains disapproving glare she could easily feel even with the mask covering it as the man looked down at his smaller subordinate.

There was a pin drop silence as the A.N.B.U. waited, still at attention, as Hiruzen stared across his desk at the smallest one of them from under his red and white hat, remaining silent for almost a minute before he spoke.

"Orochimaru was reportedly inside the forest?" He asked for confirmation carefully, being sure not to show any change in his tone that would indicate his feels at that moment, which were ranging from pure shock to dire horror, he did not personally fear his old student no, but he feared what the man could and most likely would do to the village.

"Sir! Mitarashi was clearly delusional and she has an extensive history of exaggerating stories to the point of idiocy." The bear masked captain spoke up in answer before sparrow could, waving a gloved hand angrily about to help illustrate his point.

"Quiet!..." Hiurzen snapped at the man, losing his cool slightly at his continuing attitude and the whole slew of problems this new information could bring for the village.

"…Sparrow please, a more detailed explanation if you will." He finished in a more controlled kindly tone, the A.N.B.U. captain and to a lesser extent the others having been cowed under the anger he'd just displayed.

"She was clearly protective of Uzumaki-san who had apparently come to her rescue during an encounter with Orochimaru, she also made mention to Orochimaru placing a mark of some kind on Uzumaki-san and another of the examinees." Sparrow rattled off quick,obviously not wanting to be the victim of the elderly leader's ire having felt it even when not focused on her and clearly able to hear her captain gasping for breath under his mask.

'No… this can't be happening.' Hiuzren thought desperately, even as outwardly he remained seated in the plush high backed leather chair of his predecessors, the stoic same expression on his face half covered in shadow by the wide Hokage's hat.

Steeling himself, weakness could not be shown to one's subordinates after all, a leader must present a strong front no matter the case one of the many lessons his teacher had imparted onto him, he gave out new orders to the nervously waiting squad.

"You're all dismissed, for now return back to headquarters, you will be on standby from now on along with the other first response teams, I hope I don't need to mention that everything that was just said here is now an A-class secret…" He said glancing at each of the masked ninja in front of him to ensure they understood.

"… Oh and Bear I will want the reports for your charges against Uzumaki-san and Mitarashi-san on my desk within the next few hours..." He added, fully intending to burn the things and perhaps even the man himself if what he had just heard was true.

With respectful bows and cries of 'Hai Hokage-sama' the A.N.B.U. squad all utilized the standard version of shunshin leaving the office in small clouds of smoke Hizruen discarding the concealing Hokage's hat with a deep sigh as they did.

"…I take it you heard all that." The now weary old man that had replaced the hardened village leader, continued speaking even now that the A.N.B.U. had left looking over to the wooden wall that made up one side of his office, maintaining the same worn expression as the wood paneling melted away to reveal a furious looking Hanzou.

"That accursed little snake how dare he… I should never of let him live." Hanzou ranted darkly, beginning to pace the recently vacated space in front of the Hokage's desk.

"Alas I also regret the decisions my former student has made with his life and my own inability to correct them." Hizruen said regretfully thinking of his old student the Sannin Orochimaru, watching the pacing man.

"Gods it would have been so easy back then I could have crushed him like the insignificant little worm he is…" Hanzo growled out, stopping in his pacing and gazing down at his old, battle worn and wrinkled hands.

"…Now though I barely have enough power to match up to one of the top Jonnin in this or any other village… by Kami I feel pathetic." He lamented in his frustration.

"Age affects us all." Hiruzen offered wisely as he watched his old friend carefully before turning to look out one of the large windows that gave a view out onto the city and people he was sworn to protect above all else.

"Ha if it wasn't for that dam upstart Pain I would never be this weak right now and Orochimaru has never really got to our level." The salamander summoner said, with a small self deprecating dark and bitter laugh

"But you are…" Feeling Hanzou haunting black eyes being turned on him he continued.

"…Chasing after my ex-student would be the end of you."

"I know that!" Hanzou snapped before collapsing into one of the available chairs of to the side of the room with an explosive sigh.

"…Besides which even if I was still capable of the task, I know you would never allow me to seek him out for the same reason you yourself aren't, a kage level battle could easily level half the village under it and even then perhaps that snakes best skill is his ability to escape." He added as he considered what else he knew of the traitorous ninja he had once given along with his teammates the title Sannin, to remind all three of there defeat at his hands.

"What will we do about Naruto-kun? Now he's been marked by Orochimaru." Hiruzen asked, changing the subject.

"What? Are you implying Hiruzen that my apprentice will up and follow Orochimaru? The boy has better taste than that I don't train fools." Hanzou said sharply, giving his old friend a hard look at the slight.

"The curse seal is designed as an influencing device eroding the will of the bearer until they are nothing but mindless puppets of Orochimaru." The Hokage replied in a dull monotone, gazing down now at the desk as if he was reading it off a piece of paper.

"How do you know all this?" Hanzou asked suspiciously.

"The Jonnin that Naruto saved from Orochimaru, Mitarashi Anko, was once the mans Gennin apprentice and has the prototype of what I assume he has given Naruto and the other boy." He explained slowly still staring down at the desk in front of him, wondering as he often did how the previous owners of the desk would have dealt with this.

"Shit…" Naruto's teacher said slowly before trailing off into his own thoughts.

"Indeed…" Hiruzen replied getting up from behind the desk, aged and battle worn bones creaking in protest as he did.

"…I have to inform the council of this development and prepare countermeasures, I will send out another squad to ensure Anko's return as well, I need to hear her report on this happening."

"I'm going to head over to the tower then just in case then…" Replied Hanzou and seeing the deep frown on the village leader's face he quickly continued.

"…I need to speak to Naruto, I have no intention of thrown my life away on your ex-student." He explained reassuringly, placating Hiruzen's fears of a village wide brawl.

"I will meet you there later once Naruto arrives as well, there are somethings I will need to discuses with your student."

With a nod of agreement Hanzou disappeared out of the office in a burst of wind and lighting in one of his own personal shunshin variants, Hiruzen pulling back on the hat that came with the title of Hokage and preparing to summon the elders.

-00000-

Meanwhile as the two legendary ninjas were speaking, hidden in the base of a large tree inside the forest dull tired green eyes slowly scanned the area around their owner for what must of been the hundredth time in the last few hours, as Sakura fought against her ever increasing tiredness her eye lids once again beginning to droop shut.

She wasn't sure how long it had been since Naruto had gone racing to that woman's defense, but she was worried sick about him, especially as only a short time after he went the clone that he left melted down to nothing but a puddle of slush, with no warning at all, leaving her all alone to care for Sasuke.

Seeing it was once again all clear she went back over to her injured teammate's side before removing the wet rag that she was using to try and cool the Uchiha clan heirs fevered brow and using the back of her hand to check his temperature once again.

'No change…' She thought miserably to herself, depressed at her own inability to do anything remotely useful for him once more.

'…If anything it's getting higher…' She mused sadly.

Sighing worriedly she gently wiped the cold sweat away from his face and re-dampened the cloth with water from her canteen, noting dully that she would be run out soon, before replacing it on the boy's fevered brow and sitting back took a another quick check of the surrounding forest.

"Please hurry back Naruto-kun." She prayed aloud, as Sasuke twitched and groaned next to her, beads of sweat already covering his face once again.

As unfortunately for the missing blondes two teammates, unnoticed by Sakura's frequent scans were the three sound Gennin who still watched and waited patiently in the trees on the other side of the clearing.

"Is it time yet?" The tallest one Zaku who was twitchy and obviously over eager, asked gazing almost hungrily at the fretting pink haired girl that sat next to their target.

"Soon Zaku… very soon." Murmured the other male of their squad, as he crouched down hunched over in the middle of the three a small grin sliding onto his face hidden by the bandages that covered almost three quarters of it.

-00000-

At the same time across the forest in another clearing of the forest Anko was performing a similar task to Sakura as she busied herself with making sure her savoir stayed as medically stable as possible.

"Yo boss lady how's he doing?" A copy of her she had made a while prior, spoke up as it came into the clearing carrying the remains of Naruto's broken Zanbuto it was sent to fetch.

Anko glared up at her doppelganger in slight annoyance as it placed the bits of the sword down in a pile a few meters away.

"Don't be like that I just wanna know how he's doing." The copy tried again, flashing her cheeky grin.

"No just no… I'm not going to start talking to a copy of myself, no way am I that crazy yet." She murmured, before dispelling the shadow clone, nodding her head in confirmation of the fact that all the bits of the weapon had been collected, after she'd absorbed the clone's memories.

'What kind of idiot talks to their own clones anyway?...' She questioned herself as she carefully checked on the bandages that covered Naruto's stomach wound, satisfied that it seemed to be healing at an accelerated rate something which she assumed was to do with the Kyuubi sealed within him.

'…I mean I know I'm meant to be crazy but I'm also meant to be some kind of whore, that would be too much…' Her thoughts continued as she carefully took in Naruto's uncovered upper body, for purely medical reasons of course.

'…Then again… I could use a partner to tease men with when Kur-chan's being her boring old self…' She mused tapping a finger to her chin in thought as she did the idea was growing on her.

'...Maybe even a clone Henged to look like Kur-chan?' She mused with a evil chuckle that would of done Orochimaru proud as she thought of all the things she could make her friend do.

A sudden groan of pain from Naruto jolted Anko out of her vaguely wandering thoughts, as the teen moaned twitching feebly the three tome brand on his neck glowing with a dark sickly purple color as it attempted to pollute him with its corrupting essence.

"Fucking bastard of an ex-sensei." She muttered bitterly wiping the fresh layer sweat off his face, knowing there was really little she could do for him and it was really all up to Naruto to pull himself through the process as the curse seal integrated itself onto his body.

-00000-

Naruto lay alone surrounded by the darkness of his mind, not even noticing the freezing sensation of the frigid water lapping gently up against his bare skin, nor the noise of the droplets of water that fell from the pipelines that made up the dank tunnel, not even the dark bubbling snake shaped purple ooze that was slowly creeping up onto him, as he floated their helplessly on his back.

His thoughts were of only one thing, the fierce explosive raw power that he felt buzzing through him not unlike when he had used the Kyuubi's energies, but still slightly different in some different unexplainable, to him anyway, way.

"What… what is this…?" He whispered softly aloud, not expecting an answer to the question as his eyes flickered open and closed.

"This is the power I could give you… take it…" A low pleasant voice hissed gently in his ear, or was it from inside his head he couldn't tell there was no one else here though, as the thrilling new power continued to wash over him.

'That voice…' Naruto thought slowly unsurely, his mind labored and sluggish, drawing conclusions after a few more seconds than he should have.

'…Orochimaru's voice… Orochimaru's voice is in my head….' He thought, his sudden panicked realization forcing him into a slightly more aware state than he had been in before.

"No…" Naruto gasped out in answer finally, trying to speak firmly but the words were barely audible as they fell from his lips.

"This power could make protecting those important to you easier though… make them safer…." The voice hissed again, something almost seeming to coil itself slowly around his body around his mind around his very soul as the snake gave him promises.

"I don't do it because it's easy…." Naruto's response was somehow even quieter than his first even so he continued to speak.

"…I do it because I care because it's the right way to us the strength I have." He pledged remembering the promises he had made over a dead mans grave.

'They need never know the fear or the pain of loss and loneliness like you did… all you need to do is take this gift I'm offering you…'

It definitely came from inside his head this time almost as if it were his own thought the voice had changed sounding almost like his own but darker somehow wrong in a way.

'I don't need you they won't… they won't….' He thought back weakly having lost the strength to vocalize his response as images began to form in front of his eyes, his friends, his teachers dying, cut down by enemies as he stood helpless to do anything to save them.

'But I want to help you… together we can save them...' An image of a beautiful pale skinned dark blue haired woman eyes usually full of life blank in death crumpled on the floor came before Naruto's eyes as the snake like version of his own voice purred darkly to his mind in answer.

'... We can save her.'

"SHUT UP!" Naruto roared finding some inner strength unable to take it, the unnoticed until just now snake of oil like substance that was coiled around him representing Orochimaru's tainting presence in his mind, was blasted back hissing and bubbling vilely into the shallow water all around him on a powerful wave of pure dark blue Chakra that erupted from his core and forced it back.

Scrambling to his feet panting desperately with fear, he fled from the oozing mass as it regrouped running down the tunnel of pipes, straight towards the cage that housed the great fox the Kyuubi itself something he never thought he would be glad to see.

"KUUYBI!" He shouted out as he came to a stop in front of the giant golden bars of the door that rose up out of the water protecting his mind, body and soul from the tailed beast, but at the minute it wasn't the demon lords taint he was afraid of.

Deadly blood red eyes snapped open in the darkness illuminating the area around them and bathing Naruto's form in their glow.

"What do you want brat." The monster fox replied, a waft of hot putrid breath accompanying each word.

"That guy I just fought Orochimaru he's in my head somehow what's happing to me!" Naruto said quickly tearing his turquoise eyes away from Kyuubi's glowing red ones to check for the ooze he was sure was following behind him.

"Because of your foolish heroics you've been marked by some kind of brand that attempts to turn you into a mindless drone of the man through promises of whatever you desire." Kyuubi answered as the curse came into view slithering through the water towards the cage and Naruto.

"You're in my body as well though, you can stop it right!?" He questioned desperately as the ooze zoned in on him again forcing him to start backing away towards the side of the tunnel.

"Before your fusion I could have rid you of it perhaps but now your Chakra coils wouldn't be able to handle the level of my Chakra I would need to purge it from you." The giant fox admitted.

"What!.." Naruto cried out shocked, chancing a glance away from the advancing snake to the caged fox.

"…You can't you stop it? Burn it off? Anything you're the all powerful demon lord." Naruto said sounding almost hysterical, backing up as the curse came ever closer to him.

"Brat…" The giant fox growled out in warning, the slight rise in the caged entity of destruction's anger reflected by the increase in killing intent and bloodlust that always laid thick in the air around it.

"…You can't let your fear of this control you, you need to suppress it with your own energy even allowing it a slight hold on you will corrupt you." It explained quickly to the panic stricken blonde.

"Ho-How?" Naruto asked weakly as it reached his feet just as his back impacted with the pipelined side of the tunnel.

"Push it down you foolish little mortal, crush it under your own power my vessel will not be weak enough to be controlled by anyone if not by me." Kyuubi answered a hint of desperation in its own demonic voice as it watched the purple ooze coil swiftly up Naruto's legs.

Strengthen his resolve Naruto gathered up his Chakra before pressing it down fighting against the thing as it rose up over his chest before being met with a pulse of dark blue energy that slapped in back hissing, making it rear up in what seemed to be anger before trying again.

Focusing harder Naruto pushed more and more of his Chakra into the effort driving the snake slowly down his boy as it hissed and bubbled violently in protest as it was pushed from his feet he nearly let himself stop but a bark warning stopped him.

"Finish it, crush it under your will and hold it there!"

Demanded the fox of him, so Naruto pushed even harder flooding the dark water with his icy Chakra causing it to glow a brilliant blue as the blackish purple oil that now covered it left behind by the snake was burnt away, the fumes the reaction caused swirling up around him.

Panting hard as the last of the substance disappeared and the smoke began to drift away down the tunnel Naruto dropped backwards into the now clear water.

"Well done child well done, always remember though it is still there from now on apart of you and that if your Chakra levels ever fall too low you will be open to its influence and even giving in once could mean disaster." It said gravely in its deep powerful voice as it gazed piercingly at the panting and shaken Naruto with it's blood red evil and slitted eyes, as it delivered the warning to him.

Finally catching his breath form the incredible trial he just underwent, Naruto nodded seriously not breaking eye contact with the beast as he replied.

"I understand." He said seriously as he shuddered at how close he came to succumbing to the seals influence.

"Good..." The great beast said shortly before continuing.

"...now leave me, your presence here already ceases to amuse me mortal!"

The fox finished with a roar and similar to the other times Naruto had been forced into his mindscape with the Kyuubi, the blonde was shoved easily backwards out of his own mind on a wave of red Chakra, his real body being jolted back into consciousness back in the outside world.

-00000-

Back at the other clearing the leader of the three watching sound shinobi rose to his feet, his single dark eye locking onto Sakura's form as she visibly sagged from the tiredness of forcing herself to constantly keep vigil through the night with no chance of rest.

"Kin, Zaku, its time." He spoke quietly to alert his teammates, as they too slowly stood up from their positions next to him.

"Finally." Crowed Zaku, working the little kinks he had gotten out of his arms brushing any of the dirt that was on his palms away as he did.

"Kin you will engage the Uchiha boys 'bodyguard'…" Dosu ordered sneering the last word while glancing at the tall dark haired girl next to him as she swiftly checked her equipment pouches over.

"…Once we've dealt with her you can have your shot at the Uchiha Zaku." He added before his brash teammate could complain about being left out.

"Understood." Kin muttered quickly pocketing a needle she'd been checking over, Zaku also giving his assent to the plan the three leaving the cover of the bushes they'd been hiding out in stepping out into clear view of the unaware young koniochi.

Sakura who had been checking on Sasuke again fighting off another wave of tiredness the urge to just lay down her head and sleep now almost too strong to resist jumped slightly, startled from her task when a loud clearly cocky voice called out to her across the clearing.

"Oi little girl come out here we want to play!"

Turning she was confronted with the sight of the three serious looking sound Gennin from before the first exam, the tallest of the group the one who shouted at her.

"We don't have a scroll so just leave us alone." She said attempting to reason with them as she moved defensively in front of the helpless form of Sasuke.

"We don't want your scroll girl we want the Uchiha." The same Gennin spoke again the smallest of the three nodding at the only female of the group, who sighed before nodding back.

"Sasuke-kun isn't well so go away." Sakura pleaded, beginning to panic as the three new arrivals ignored her and continued to advance on her position, the girl of the group walking out to the front crossing her arms over her chest as she stared down at the pink haired girl.

"Look princess I can't really be bothered to fight right now so just run away and we'll leave you alone." Kin offered Sakura as she took in the bright pink hair and red dress with distaste.

"Never! I would never abandon my teammates!" Sakura yelled back angrily, shifting into the standard academy Taijutsu stance and preparing to attack.

Kin smirked slightly at the perfectly executed Konoha Academy stance, Lord Orochimaru had given them detailed information on all the styles they were likely to encounter and had bluntly told them that anyone that was still using the basic stance, taught to children with no clan style of their own, six months after leaving the academy was to be pitied for their lack of training.

"No more talk Kin just get this over with." Dosu ordered the taller girl quietly, Zaku grunting in agreement.

"Fine fine." Kin agreed lazily moving forward, Sakura charging out to meet her head on as she did.

With a passionate cry, the pink haired girl ran across the clearing towards the other girl throwing out a kunai as she did.

As Kin dodged to the side, resisting the urge to shake her head at the other Gennin's full frontal attack on an enemy she knew nothing about, she threw her own projectiles back the brace of needles hissing threw the air towards Sakura's position.

Seeing them coming Sakura rolled quickly to the side easily dodging the flying needles that Kin had thrown, hurling a few shuriken back slightly to the girls left so as to force her to dodge towards her and into her now waiting fist.

Sakura smirked as Kin did exactly as she had planned her to, cocking back her fist and preparing to strike the taller girl down.

Ping…

The sound of a lightly ringing bell resonated around the clearing unheard or ignored by Sakura as she swung forward pumping her arm and fist full, with as much of her meager Chakra supply as possible to maximize the damage the blow caused aiming for a one hit K.O.

Her eyes widened almost comically in surprise though as she hit nothing but air with her blow as it sailed straight threw Kin's body, the lack of resistance unbalancing her and forcing her to continue with the motion of her punch and roll away.

Getting to her feet she looked back and her eyes again widened in surprise as she was meet with the smirking faces of numerous copies of the sound Koniochi, that shimmered and over lapped with one another further confusing the young Konoha ninja.

'What is this…?' She thought, glancing slowly around taking in the copies trying to work out what to do now.

'…Are these normal Bunshin or like Naruto-kun's clones?' She wondered.

Deciding to find out before her opponent put them to use, she went to throw a couple more shuriken only to fall to the ground her ears ringing and her sense of balance suddenly thrown off.

Seeing her vulnerability Kin surged forward to finish her off, while she was still under the influence of her sound based technique.

Sakura losing herself flailed around widely panicking as the weaving and wavering images of multiple Kin's that filled her vision all drew back their fists preparing to hit her and she closed her eyes, she only felt one impact though as a fist was slammed into her stomach lifting her off the ground the air being driven from her lungs before she was unceremoniously dropped back down at the taller girls feet.

She coughed feebly blood splattering the ground under her, as Kin stood tall and proud looking arrogantly down on her.

"Have you ever fought before little girl? Kami you're pathetic." The sound girl said angrily, dusting her hands clean of some imaginary dirt or disease she may have gotten from the Konoha ninja as she did.

"Kin hurry this up or I will, I want to get to the Uchiha." Zaku called from behind her, impatience clear in his voice at her not killing the girl already.

Fine Zaku…" Kin replied before dropping down in front of Sakura and pulling her face up by the back of her pink hair to look at her.

"…Look I'll give you another chance, just get out of the way and let us kill the little Uchiha and we'll let you go no harm done." She offered, in what passed in the village where she came from as a kind tone.

"N-No I won't let you kill Sasuke-kun." Sakura stammered, held looking up from her place on the forest floor, trying to think of what she could possibly do confronted as she was by three stronger opponents.

"Idiot…" The dark haired girl muttered throwing up her arms in apparent disgust at the continued resistance, dropping the pink haired girl to the ground then standing up and moving away.

"…Do what you want Zaku just get this over with." She gestured for her spiky haired teammate to proceed as she said it.

"With pleasure." Grinning manically at the chance to fight Zaku stepped forward raising both his arms straight out in front of him as his bloodthirsty grin if possible widened.

"Zankuha!"

At the sudden fierce roar of wind Sakura's eyes widened in alarm as a highly pressurized burst of air smashed into her flinging her head over heals backwards into the solid trunk of a tree, the bark groaning under the impact of her and the attack crashing into it.

"Wha-what was that?" She questioned weakly stunned, attempting to drag herself back up even as her tried body cried out in protest.

"That was my air cannon and just so you know girly that was a love tap compared to what else these babies can dish out..." Zaku boasted proudly, smirking happily at the look of fear he had caused to appear on his victims face, delighting in the feel of power he felt dominating the leaf Nin.

"… Here why don't you find out for yourself? Zankuha!"

Before Sakura could force herself to move out of the way another hard hitting blast of air slammed her backwards into the tree, the bark splintering and breaking around her this time under the heavy impact.

'What can I do? What can I do?' She questioned herself over and over desperately, sagging forward hanging her head in defeat as Zaku strolled arrogantly towards her sure of his victory.

-Flashback-

"Sakura come here a second." The blonde ice creating bloodline user said to her as he came up to her on the street, Kakashi had just taken Sasuke away a few days ago to train and she hadn't seen the blonde since then either.

"What's up Naruto-kun do you maybe want to go out for something to eat?" The pink haired girl said excitedly, happy to see one of the other members of team 7 again moving quickly over to his side as she spoke.

"Sakura, this exam in two months time isn't something you can just turn up to, people die in the Chunnin exams." Naruto said seriously to her, his eyes like ice glinting coldly.

"Yeah but you and Sasuke-kun will be there to protect me right." She chirped, that was what had happened before in both Nami and Yuki she knew her teammates would be there for her again.

"We're a team Sakura you can't afford to rely on me or Sasuke to pull you through all the time, you need to do some training of your own for this." Naruto explained shaking his head, speaking not unkindly but firmly to her.

"But what in? You and Sasuke-kun have your bloodlines I don't have anything like that." She said dejectedly, looking down at her feet.

"Your good at facts and history right, so you know lots of the greatest ninja's of today and the past don't or didn't have bloodlines, look at the Sannin for instance and only one of the four Hokages has had one…" Naruto paused to pull her chin up so she was looking at him again before continuing.

"…You need to play to your strengths, you don't have much Chakra or physical strength but you do have great control and intelligence, Genjutsu or medical techniques would be perfect for you." He continued trying not to sound too critical but wanting to help her finally get serious.

"Really?"

"Yeah and who knows if you train hard and we all do well in the Chunnin exam me and Sasuke might give you that date with the both of us together you always dreamed of." He said teasingly, giving it as a goal of sorts to work towards, causing Sakura nearly drool at the idea of both her teammates on a date with just her, after saying it Naruto gave her a quick wink before he shunshined away.

-Flashback End-

'Even if I'm not as strong as Naruto-kun or Sasuke-kun I can still fight… I have to fight… I will fight.' She Pledged to herself determinedly straightening herself up and focusing her Chakra.

She formed a short sequence of handseals, slightly awkwardly and slowly due to the fact that she had so rarely used or practiced them outside of knowing them for the academy tests.

With them ended she pushed her Chakra to her right hand causing it to flare to life with a low hum caused by the 'Chakra scalpel' Jutsu activating a faint blue glow falling away from it, she had only gotten the basics of this technique down after her two months of training at the hospital that Naruto advised and had never used it as an offensive move on a living breathing creature before.

She glared at the cocky spiky haired Gennin in front of her all she needed to do now was get close enough to hit him and disable some of the muscles that moved his arms, a master of the technique she knew was quite lethal able to kill using it with ease, she though could only 'cut' deep enough to cause damage to surface muscle or tendons and that was difficult.

Pushing off the ground she sprang into motion as Zaku, who'd thought she was down for the count swore and brought his arm up to target her with the wind cannon implanted in them again.

"Die!" The sound gennin cried out as the compressed air waves blasted out of his arm towards her rippling through the air.

With previously un-shown speed gained from desperation and panic, Sakura hurled herself to one side just avoiding getting clipped by the wind blast, which tore down the remainder of the tree behind her.

Not having expected her to get out the way in time Zaku couldn't react as the pink haired girl threw herself across the remaining distance slashing a now brightly glowing palm of Chakra across his outstretched arms elbow joint.

With a sharp cry of pain the sound Gennin used his uninjured arm to cradle the now useless one into his chest throwing himself backwards away from Sakura as she went for another swing at him.

"You bitch!" Zaku roared rising back to his feet from where he had landed no longer smirking furious at being wounded by the weak Gennin.

"Not such a weak little girl now am I." Sakura taunted as her Chakra scalpel flickered and died away, due to her lack of Chakra and she tried to catch her breath.

"Gah I don't need two arms to deal with someone like you." With that he let his injured arm fall to his side and swung the other one around open palmed towards her the red Chakra jewel that focused his air cannon glowing with power as he pumped Chakra into it.

"Zankuha!"

More powerful than the last, the heavy duty wind blast sped towards the pink haired girl at unavoidable speeds, on impact causing her to disappear from view completely amongst the dirt and debris.

"Ha loser." The cocky Gennin crowed as he looked at the destruction his personal weapon had caused.

"Zaku watch out!" Dosu's panicked cry alerted him just in time, allowing him to avoid what could well have been a fatal stab from a kunai as Sakura flung herself at him from out of the treeline, he instead took the blade in the shoulder of his already injured arm.

"Ahhh!" The wounded boy screamed in pain and anger, flinging around his uninjured arm batting the much lighter Sakura away, causing her to give a startled cry.

-00000-

As awareness of his surroundings slowly came back to him, Naruto could feel the leather of some article of clothing over him and the dull throb of what he assumed must have been where Orochimaru had stabbed him in the stomach, his hand reflexively clenching and unclenching around the Hexagonal crystal it held as he recognized it's familiar shape and feel instantly.

Gripping the reassuring presence of the cool feeling crystal in his hand slightly tighter, Naruto groaned as the dawn light that filtered through the trees hit his eyes causing a sharp stinging pain bringing his other hand up he rubbed at them as he sat himself up.

A gasp of what sounded like surprise coming from the side was the only warning he got, before he was nearly flung to the ground as something or someone impacted with him.

"Your okay! I can't believe your okay!" Anko said happily glomping Naruto with an overly tight embrace, causing the blonde to realize who had grabbed him.

"Anko-san… my stomach please…" The blonde managed to wheeze out, the obviously very tender wound on his stomach flaring up with a sharp pain under the 'assault'.

"Oh…" She let go of him like a hot rock, causing him to slump gracelessly to the floor with an audible sigh of relief.

"…Sorry, I was just got a little bit excited is all." She explained sheepishly rubbing the back of her neck, as Naruto pulled himself back up, placing the necklace back round his neck as he did.

"Its fine, I'm guessing you were the one that took care of me all this time after all?" Naruto half asked half stated to her as he took in his surroundings.

"Yeah, not like those useless A.N.B.U. jackasses when I get my hands on them there will be hell to pay." She grumbled angrily causing him to quirk an eyebrow at her and allowing him to finally notice her state of dress or lack there of.

"Ah sorry, this must be yours." He said politely looking at the leather item he'd been using as a crude sort of blanket, which he now recognized as her trench coat picking it up and holding it out to her attempting to avoid staring at her body.

"Awww are you embarrassed…" Anko asked sweetly, grinning at him before continuing in a sing song voice, ignoring the offered coat that usually hid her provocative fish net outfit.

"…Dose little old me have something you haven't seen before…" She teased shifting round to try and force the blonde Gennin to look at her, causing Naruto to flush ever so slightly and her grin if it was possible widened even further.

"…Don't worry, if you need a crash course on situations like these we can catch you up now if you like?" She finished leering playfully at him, finally taking the offered trench coat from him and pulling it on.

Naruto looked rather pointedly around the clearing they where in seeming to consider her offer, before looking back at her giving her a sheepish smile.

"You know what thanks, but this just doesn't really seem like right time or place for me." He said politely, unsure as to how serious she was being causing her to let out a bark of laughter at him.

"Not a first date guy then eh?" She chuckled, grabbing her canteen of water from off the floor and passing it to Naruto, the blonde drinking from it gratefully ignoring her question, as she watched on.

"Hey I have a question…" Anko said slowly all of a sudden after a few moments had past in silence, causing him to look over at her curiously, wiping his mouth on his arm as he lowered the canteen.

"What's up?"

"That tattoo on your arm…" She said nodding her head towards the dark green salamander mark that wound its way up his bare forearm onto his upper arm.

"…It's a summon brand right?" She questioned her tone showing she already knew the answer though as she looked away looking thoughtful.

'Shit! I'm not supposed to let people see it, they aren't meant to know about that, stupid.' Naruto thought somewhat franticly, a slight amount of fear welling up as he imagined the training he would be put through by his master for this mistake.

"Salamanders… who have I heard of that summons salamanders…." Anko muttered to herself tapping her chin with a finger, suddenly she turned back wide eyed to Naruto who had still been lost in his own thoughts.

"…Oradela Hanzou the salamander?" She asked incredulously, glancing back at the tattoo again.

Naruto cringed confirming the answer to her question, huffing in slight annoyance he ran a hand through his long hair pushing it away from his face replying as he did.

"My master, I would be appreciative of you not spreading this information around, other than Hokage-sama no-one is meant to know." He explained seriously.

The purple haired special Jonnin nodded too shocked to properly respond, it was hilarious really now that she thought about it, the generally hated 'Kyuubi brat' was not only the much loved Haku, but also the apprentice of the Salamander Hanzou of Ame, having a sudden idea she grabbed a roll of bandages from the still open medical kit she'd used earlier and gestured for him to come closer.

"Well if it's a big secret you should at least cover up the mark it's kind of obvious to anyone who has or at least has seen a similar thing." She commented, pulling up his arm to make him hold it out and beginning to wrap the length of bandages around it.

"You can summon?" Naruto questioned as his mark disappeared under the roll.

"Yeah didn't you notice the mark, the snakes…" She muttered bitterly seeing him putting the pieces together she continued.

"…Same as Orochimaru… my ex-sensei." She spat out the last bit in disgust, almost expecting Naruto to flinch away from her in fear.

"That explains what people call you and why you were fighting him then." Naruto murmured mostly to himself, nodding slowly that at least made some sense he mused.

"Yeah… here all done." Anko said, finishing up securing the end of the bandages on his now covered forearm the bandages even going up to cover the part of the tail that went up onto his upper arm.

"That was a great idea, thanks" Naruto thanked her, while smiling gently in a manner that made her heart constrict in her chest not that Anko would ever admit to that.

"Whatever kid, anyone with half a brain would have thought of it..." She mocked him back, though the slight tint of red her cheeks had gone took any of the intended sting out of her words.

"…You're not planning to go running around the forest like that are you?" She asked amusedly, looking him up and down licking her lips in a serpentine manner to try and unsettle him.

Looking down at himself Naruto quickly realized what she meant, he was completely naked from the waist up, the blood stained bandages wrapped around his abdomen and the others concealing the mark on his arm all that covered him.

"I don't really have much of a choice I didn't really bring spares." He said gesturing to the torn and ragged top he had been wearing.

"Young ninja's these days…" Anko huffed pulling a scroll out of her trench coat pocket before slipping off the garment and tossing it to him, while she continued to moan to herself.

"…You're all so slap dash and unprepared about everything." As she grumbled she whipped open the scroll, biting her thumb and using the blood to unseal the contents as she did.

With a poof of smoke a second identical trench coat appeared, which she quickly slipped on ignoring the look Naruto was giving her.

"You keep a spare coat in a blood scroll?" He asked slowly disbelievingly.

"Of course stupid, I can't have anyone stealing my look now can I..." She said, like it was completely normal to seal clothing in high level scrolls all the time, Naruto just sighed at her excentraseas.

"…Well put it on then, I wanna see how you look..."

Sighing again, he was doing that a lot whilst talking to this woman he realized with a grin, Naruto pulled on the slightly tattered and blood stained tan trench coat, due to their similarities in height the garment fitting him just fine.

"…Hottie." Anko cheered giving him a thumb's up, which reminded him worryingly of the spandex wearing Jonnin he'd had the dubious pleasure of meeting and the man's sexily confused clone that he met before the first exam.

"This is a woman's coat…" He dead panned with a blank expression, raising his hands in a placating manner when she glared at him.

"...But its great thanks…" Naruto said quickly not wanting to suffer an untimely death, before turning to more serious matters than fashion.

"… Anko-san did you happen to get my sword?" He asked nervously remembering vividly seeing it break, moments before he experienced the razor sharp point of Orochimaru's own weapon.

"Yeah…" She said sadly, pointing out the pile of metal off to the side as she did, Naruto's eyes widening slightly as he looked down at it.

"…I'm pretty sure I got all the bits, I'm err sorry about that." Anko continued not being great with apologies, but feeling he deserved one, everyone knew after all that weapon users treasured their weapons.

"It's fine…" He said finally, causing her to look at him in disbelief.

"…If that's the price I have to pay for saving your life I'll gladly pay it." He continued, causing the snake summoner to beam at him as he glanced over to look at her, causing the two of them to end up just staring at each other in silence for a few seconds.

"You need to get going and make a report on all this." Naruto said finally breaking the look, as he turned back to gazing at the remains of the once great sword of his one time mentor, with a forlorn expression on his face.

Anko nodded, watching while he pulled out the scroll that he had original sealed Kubikiri in to allow for ease of transportation and shock value and placed it on the ground unrolling it before moving all of the pieces into a pile on it.

Bringing his hand down onto of it Naruto 'pushed' the parts of the sword sword back into the seal with a brief pulse of chakra and with a small pop and a cloud of smoke it disappeared.

"You gonna to be okay here all alone?" Anko asked sympathetically, it was easy to see the weapon had meant alot to him, as he rolled the scroll back up and put it back in his pouch.

Naruto nodded to her bringing his hands up together into a signal seal.

With a slight whine of air distorting twenty shadow clones burst into life with small puffs of smoke that lingered in the air as the copies streaked out the clearing into the surrounding forest at incredible speeds, that at once reminded her once more that this was Gennin that had faced down her ex-teacher of all people.

"Those will find my team for me while I wait here, I'm not sure if I'm healed enough to safely move about that much yet." Naruto explained.

"Alright I'll see you at the tower then." She said turning to leave.

"Anko-san wait…" He called after her causing the special Jonnin to stop and look back at him.

"…Thanks for everything." The blonde said with a smile bowing to her a little, causing the purple haired woman to chuckle at him.

"Just don't die back and we can talk about what you owe me or I owe you and how amazing I am, after you get to the tower." She replied jokingly, smirking at the indignant look he got.

Getting annoyed at the impossible woman, Naruto went to reply before shaking his head and laughing at the complex Special Jonnin.

"Alright sure, take care." He said simply, before he sat back down to conserve his strength.

With a nod Anko leapt out of the clearing going off to make her report on the events that had unfolded during the Chunnin exam.

Standing alone now in the clearing where Anko had looked after him Naruto waited patiently, it wouldn't be long before one of his clones located his teammates and then he would get them all out of this accursed exam as quickly as possible.

-00000-

It was only a short while later that Naruto jolted upright as he felt one of his clones create a small piece of ice to both alert him to the location and allow for him to transport himself to its position.

'There' He thought as he closed his eyes and concentrated on the location getting to his feet.

His eyes opening as he flew through a sequence of seals causing the air in front of him to rapidly form into one of the distinctive versatile ice mirror that he used so often now.

With barely a pause he leapt into the shining ice mirror his image blazing to life momentarily on the surface before it disappeared, the ice structure melting away moments later to the now empty forest clearings floor.

Across the forest another mirror of ice had already been formed and Naruto emerged from it to find he was standing next to one of his clones high up on a tree branch, the copy nodded once to him before dispelling while Naruto canceled the clone technique causing all the others to follow after.

Looking down he confirmed what his clone's memories from here had just told him.

Down below lay Sakura, battered and beaten by the three sound Gennin she was attempting to pull herself up off the ground while they like wolves circled the weakened konoichi preparing to move in for the kill.

Seeing the girl of the three going in for just that kunai raised high to stab down on his pink haired teammates exposed neck, Naruto wasted no time throwing himself down towards them arriving in a barely seen blur of motion, no one noticing the shadow that had been reaching for the three Gennin stop then retreat as he appeared.

"What the-" Kin managed to get out as the kunai she held was sent spinning away by a kick from the person that had just appeared in between her and the Uchiha's 'bodyguard', the continuation of the attack smashing the air out of her lungs as Naruto's other leg was driven into as he pivoted in the air her sending her flying away.

Landing in a crouch with nary a sound Naruto rose to his full height, the coat he was wearing and his long hair tugged to the side by the light wind as he took in the stunned expressions of the other two sound Gennin a thud echoing around the clearing as their teammate landed in a heap off to the side.

"N-Naru-Naurto-kun?"

Naruto turned his head to look back at her as he heard Sakura's weak confused voice stammer disbelievingly from behind him.

"You've done really well Sakura, just relax now I'll handle this." He said confidently, giving her a reassuring smile.

"Handle us? You'll handle us!?..." Zaku gestured with his uninjured arm towards Sakura as he spoke up, getting over his shock of seeing his teammate get sent flying with barely any effort at all his usual brash and cocky attitude shining through.

"… What makes you think you can do any better than the useless little runt of a girl did?" He sneered nastily at the end of his little rant.

"What makes you think I won't do the same think to you as I did to her?" Naruto answered amusedly, jerking a thumb towards Kin who was just now pulling herself up off the ground a dazed expression on her face and he smirked slightly as the obviously hot headed sound ninja flushed with rage.

"Fine you asked for this you punk, Zankuha!" Zaku cried, unleashing his attack hoping to catch Naruto off guard stood over his defenseless teammate as he was.

With a roar of rushing wind the attack along with the debris that it picked up sped towards the blonde, leveling the area he had stood in obscuring both him and Sakura from view in a cloud of dirt.

"Ha! Got him and her in one what a loser." Zaku laughed loudly, covering his relief at not having to face the new arrival head on.

"So the stones on your hands allow you to use a wind technique of sorts without the need for seals… that's a neat trick though I do wonder how it limits you in terms of others." Naruto's voice echoed around the clearing as he spoke up from behind Zaku, Sakura no where in sight having been hidden by him during the attack.

"Die you prick!" Zaku screamed in anger and frustration, spinning around to fire off another blast at Naruto which was again effortlessly dodged.

"Repetitive… I mean really can you even use anything other than those air cannons?" A barrage of kunai forced Naruto to halt his mocking and sway out the way artfully avoiding them as the other two sound ninja came at him from the side.

"Zaku calm down he's too much for you to handle alone." The heavily bandaged teammate that had just attacked called over to his taller companion.

"I don't need you two to help me with this Dosu." Zaku shouted back flushing angrily.

"Don't be stupid you saw what he did to Kin, we all need to work together to take this guy down." The hunch back leader of the group shot back, a trace amount of panic detectable in his tone.

"Fine, but when we get him I want his head." The hot head demanded as the three of them prepared to attack.

Wordlessly they all charged in attempting to encircle Naruto between them all and take him down.

Speeding forwards Naruto intercepted the bandage covered leader of the group's charge with a brutal elbow to the face before flipping away to avoid some hastily thrown needles and Kunia the boy's teammates had tossed in an attempt to help, landing in front of the currently one armed male of the sound team he drove a quick knee into the boy's stomach then twisted around kicking out to send him flying away.

Intercepting the second wave of the girls thrown needles with some of his own Naruto ducked well under the wild haymaker the hunch back of the three had thrown towards him, with the bizarre metal device on his arm outstretched, blood now seeping through the bandages that covered the ninjas face coming from the wound caused by the elbow he'd just taken.

Jumping back Naruto shook his head to try and clear the slight ringing noise that had penetrated his ears, giving a suspicious glance towards the large metal bracer.

'That thing whatever it is uses sound like the girls bells to affect your perception and balance, that explains what happened to that Kabuto guy before the first exam...' He thought slipping away from a wind blast fired from the recovered Zaku and into the path of another wave of thrown needles curtsy of Kin.

'…This could start to get annoying their teamwork quite is good, I'm going to have to step it up if I want to end this quickly.' Naruto decided jumping back as all three closed in again starting to make one handed seals at a rapid pace.

"Zaku, Kin, stop him!" Dosu shouted as he charged towards Naruto both his teammates sending there respective long range attacks towards the blonde as well the two mixing together as they approached him.

As the wind carried needles reached him Naruto finished his technique and released his gathered up Chakra thrusting his hand out with a cry of.

"Fuuton: Daitoppia!"

The two wind based techniques meet and battled briefly before Zaku's gave out to Naruto's and it along the needles Kin had thrown were sent flying back as the wide area jutsu he used leveled the area in front of him.

Racing forward in the aftermath of his technique he caught up to the still disorientated Dosu and grabbing him by the scruff of the neck as he ran by and flinging him into the stunned face of the other male of their team before going after the last member of it.

Seeing Naruto coming towards her at speeds she knew she couldn't match, Kin panicked slightly and went to jump away only to have her ankle caught in a firm grip as he reached her and slung her off into a tree at the side impacting against it with a sharp crack.

Turning Naruto made to go after Dosu and Zaku before they could sort themselves out, only to stop suddenly as a wave of vile Chakra swept over him.

"What the?" Naruto asked to no one in particular, turning to look over at the base of the tree where Sasuke was moments ago laying unconscious, the young dark haired Uchiha now standing in a raging vortex of purple Chakra that reeked of evil as flame like marks spread across his skin and Naruto realized after a moments thought that this was the same thing that he'd managed to repress on himself.

The sound Gennin who had been so intent on attack before stood frozen with fear at the power that was washing across the clearing in almost suffocating amounts.

Sasuke covered in Chakra moved slowly purposefully, looking down at Sakura who was very nearly passed out next to him, bloody and battered from her own fight before he looked over at Naruto his Sharingan already activated the tome whirling rapidly almost madly in his eyes.

"Naruto…" The red eyed boy said darkly, his voice twisted and distorted by the cursed seal as he looked up from Sakura to his other teammate.

"…Who did this?" He asked coldly, Naruto though not having time to give an answer even as he went to try and calm his teammate down Zaku the ever hothead Oto-Nin answered.

"It was me!" The spikey brown haired boy declared with a smirk, causing Sasuke to turn his deadly gaze upon him.

"Zaku what the hell are you thinking? He has a cursed seal something's going on here!" Dosu exclaimed to his teammate as Kin pulled herself up holding her injured ribs and unable to stop trembling at the power following off Sasuke.

"I can take him with my air cannon Dosu just watch!" He declared raising his palms up to point in Sasuke's direction only to here a cry of pain coming from Dosu as Sasuke moved as nothing more than a blur to deliver a powerful kick to the bandage wearing sound ninja flinging him away, Kin moving to help was unable to falling to the floor due to the injures she'd recived fighting Naruto.

"How th-" Zaku started to say turning towards the Uchiha, but was cut off as Sasuke in another piece of high speed movement appeared behind him wrenching both his arms back and forcing him to his knees.

The Uchiha grinned as he placed a foot on Zaku's back holding him down, the sound Gennin crying out in shock and pain when the corrosive energy coming off Sasuke bit into his skin where he was being held burning him.

"Your very proud of these arms these air cannons of yours aren't you?..." Sasuke stated manically from above Zaku, his eyes glinting darkly a small grin forming on his flame tattoo covered face.

"…I wonder how you will react to them being taken away?" He continued tightening his grip on the defenseless gennins wrists.

"No wait plea-arghhhh!" Zaku attempted to pled with the out of control Uchiha only to be cut off as Sasuke wrenched his arms from there sockets with a vicious jerk.

"And now you die." The dark haired boy wrapped in the purple shroud of chakra said coldly his eyes taking on a hint of madness, releasing the now disabled Gennin's wrists to allow himself to form some quick handseals.

"Sasuke no!" Naruto yelled, realizing what his teammate intended to do, but was too late and too far away to stop him surprised at the violent action.

Sasuke ignoring him as he clapped his hands together in the tora seal sucking in a deep breath as Zaku rolled himself over allowing the spiky haired Gennin to see his fate.

Katon: Goukukyu no Jutsu

With a roar the flames burst white hot into existence the grand fireball attack of the Uchiha clan covering Zaku's whole body as the defenseless boy screamed in pain as he died, everyone staring in horror at the burning body as it thrashed franticly on the ground.

"Your next." Sasuke uttered darkly turning towards the trembling form of Kin, who couldn't seem to take her eyes off of Zaku's now smoking corpse as it lay slient blackened and blistered on the charred ground.

Pulling out a gleaming kunai the Uchiha boy advanced on the unresisting girl drawing back his arm to stab her as he did with a savage grin he dropped towards her swinging the blade down, aiming to plant the Sharingan guided blade through her temple.

"Sasuke!" With a burst of speed Naruto managed to get himself to react this time, kicking his out of control teammate away from the female Sound ninja with a loud crack as his foot met with the Uchiha's chin.

Naruto looked over at the smoking and charred remains of the now ex-Sound nin while Sasuke pulled himself back to his feet from where the kick he received had sent him and Kin crawled away from her savor panting erratically terrified at how close she had come to dying.

"Naruto!" The tattoo marking covered boy growled out angrily, glaring furiously at his teammate for daring to interrupt him.

"Sasuke please stop what you're doing." Naruto pleaded with the Uchiha sadly as the last of the flames on and around Zaku's corpse died down.

"I'm doing what you wouldn't, what you couldn't, if you won't let me kill them you'll have to fight me Naruto!" Sasuke warned darkly, as the dark waves of Chakra flowing off him increased slightly the markings on his face flaring before spreading further across it dying more of his skin black the evil leer on his face widening at the power he now felt.

"Sasuke get a grip of yourself this isn't you, don't let it control you." Naruto continued to plead with his teammate, as the blood red of the Sharingan eye locked onto him.

Ignoring him Sasuke charged forward at high speed with a roar of anger sending a cloud of dirt and dust flying around him, propelled by the excess Chakra that whipped about him as he did.

"SASUKE-KUN NO!" Sakura who had pulled herself up to her feet leaning against the large roots of the tree shrieked out in horror.

There was a muffled boom that sounded through the clearing covering over the sound of Sakura's scream for Sasuke to stop as Naruto caught the incoming fist in his hand halting Sasuke's movements before flipping the enraged boy over his head using Sasuke's own momentum against him.

As he turned to watch Sasuke roll away to regain his feet, Naruto heard a faint hissing and glancing at the hand that he used to push away Sasuke saw the palm of it was red and blistered.

'That chakra he's using from the curse mark is extremely potent to anyone who isn't the user.' He thought as he dimly registered the stinging pain in his palm the burn was causing him.

Clenching his hand to form a fist Naruto sent Chakra to his feet and moved rapidly back away from Sasuke thinking how best to deal with him while making sure that he didn't allow the Uchiha eyes to copy any of his jutsu, or show his bloodline to the others that were watching and unaware of it.

Sasuke started forward again charging madly after him with impressive speed, catching up and swinging for Naruto, as the blonde tried to get away.

Rolling round the wild punch the ice user pulled two Senbon from the pouch on his belt before ducking as Sasuke followed his missed punch up with powerful a kick, placing his unarmed hand on the ground Naruto used it along with his legs to push himself up over and into the air upside down almost face to face with the Uchiha, trying to capitalize on the precious seconds that he had while his teammate made to regain his lost balance.

Not wasting any time Naruto's other hand was already in motion delivering a sharp stab with the two fine pointed Senbon needles to the side of Sasuke's neck with flawless precision and incredible speed going to knock the other boy out in one clean and precise blow.

"Shit!" Naruto exclaimed as he continued on his Chakra aided flip to land on the side of a tree discarding the two warped and buckled needles as he did, the Chakra that was following off Sasuke in waves had damaged them making him unable to perform what would have been the knock out blow he needed.

'It's gonna have to be Ninjutsu then, I can't put a Genjutsu on someone with such erratic Chakra at my level.' The blonde thought as he considered his options.

Down below Sasuke glared up at him muscled tensed and ready to spring back into combat, as the tome in his Sharingan eyes spun wildly the blood red orbs locked onto Naruto's icy turquoise ones, those same blood red eyes widening when Naruto threw caution to the wind and began sealing for a Jutsu he'd never seen before.

'Hyouton: Hyouro no jutsu.'

Naruto thought with a snarl, stamping his foot down firmly on the tree trunk under him, a layer of ice spreading from it moving rapidly down the surface tree and down onto and across the ground between them in the blink of an eye as a wave of bluish white.

Sasuke seeing it coming for him leapt away, flipping backwards rapidly as Naruto controlled the technique chasing him backwards across the open ground slowly catching him up and once it reached him rising up in an instant appearing to encase Sasuke as he attempted to leap away once more.

Trapped from just above the waist down not having expected the attack to be so fast and having been unable to get a proper read on it due to it being a bloodline move Sasuke glared furiously at his captor, his hands which had been at his sides imbedded in the ice as well, making it impossible to form seals to escape.

"Fight me properly you coward Naruto!" The dark haired boy roared, attempting to free himself the dark vortex of Chakra around him fighting constantly with the hold of the ice prison technique as he did.

"Get a grip of yourself Sasuke, or I'll finish this now." Naruto warned him, his tone as hard as the ice his bloodline made while he watched his teammate battle against the ice that held him pushing more Chakra into the Jutsu to withstand the vile curse seal's Chakra.

Sasuke just snarled in response losing himself to the power of the cursed seal, thrashing around wildly in a mad attempt to free himself desperate to defeat someone more powerful than himself and prove his power.

Unable to see another option and knowing his technique wouldn't hold for ever under that kind of strain, Naruto hardened the ice once more and sprang off the tree, crossing the distance between the two of them at speeds that Sasuke's Sharingan eyes had a hard time catching and the boy's body held down with the ice bonds as it was an impossible task defending against.

With a thump and a whoosh of escaping air Naruto buried his fist into the other boys gut doubling him over, he resisted the impulse to wince as the tainted Chakra bit at his skin once more, continuing to move he spun around Sasuke and used the same hand as a knife edge on the back of the dark haired boy's neck sending the winded Uchiha down in a crumpled heap to the floor as Naruto let the ice holding him melt away.

Shaking his hand to try and rid it of the pain as it stung from the chakra burns he had gotten, Naruto sighed in relief as the markings and Chakra resided back into the seal on his teammate's neck.

Glancing around the clearing he noticed that the two remaining Sound Gennin had made their escape during the fighting, not that he expected the two to stick around he was just thankful they had left the wounded Sakura alone.

"Naruto-kun are you and Sasuke-kun ok?" Sakura called over cautiously, as he gazed down on their defeated teammate.

"I'm going to take you both to the tower now at full speed." Naruto said back finally, not answering the question as he bent down and hefted Sasuke up onto his shoulder before he moved over to where she now stood leaning against the tree.

"I can run there myself Naruto-kun there's no need to carry me." She stated bravely pushing herself off her support and attempting to walk, but swayed drunkenly nearly falling and Naruto was forced to hold out the hand not holding Sasuke to steady her.

"We need to get Sasuke to the tower as soon as possible, your tired Sakura just let me help you." Naruto ordered as it wasn't really a suggestion, bring his hands together into the seal for the Kage Bunshin technique even as the pink haired girl began to make a weak protest.

Two clones formed quickly on either side of Naruto one for each one of his teammates, the blonde passing the unconscious form of Sasuke over to one the boy being flung over it's shoulder, while Sakura was picked up by the other being carried bridle style, which even with the seriousness of the situation the girl couldn't resist blushing bright red at.

"Let's move." The original Naruto commanded, having used two clones to keep himself free incase of attack and with nods of agreement the three set off blurring through the trees at speeds that should be impossible for a rookie Gennin especially weighed down with passengers as they were, heading straight for the center of the forest.

Translations:
Zankuha
C-rank The standard attack of the air cannons that were implanted on the gennin Zaku's arms, allgedly there is a bigger version involing two arms but the leaf gennin Sakura disables that possiblity.
Fuuton: Daitoppia
C-rank Creates a blast of wind now practically damaging designed to blow not shred or cut like some wind jutsu.
Kage Bunshin
A-rank clone made of solid Chakra, very draining, able to transfer it's memories to the user on it's release.
Hyouton: Hyouro no jutsu
A-rank Ice prison techinque, similar to the shadow bind jutsu of the Nara clan can also be formed the same way as the water prison technique is.
Katon: Goukuyku
C-rank the standard Uchiha fireball attack.
Hyouton Hinjutsu: Makyo Hyou Shou
S-rank Demonic ice mirrors the signature technique of Naruto's Hyouton bloodline, ranked due to various usages.

And there you go, as always feedback would be appreciated and once again sorry to those people who like this story and have had to wait so long for an update, I can relate as there are plenty of stories that I like that haven't been updated.

Next time we have the prelims which will not go to cannon considering the Sound team has already had to bow out and some surprises regarding Naruto's future.

(spoilers so if you don't read the manga don't go on)

For the people that hated the cursed seal or thought it should be burnt off i hope this chapter helped, Naruto's resistance of the seal is based off the fact that he has some resistance to it due to being used to having other presences in his body so he was able to use his own energy to hold it down, similar to how the additional seal did for Sasuke or Sasuke dose for Orochimaru himself after he ...eats? lol him so Naruto's seal is in a dormant state for the moment.

My problems with this chapter (and Naruto in general)

Hanzou turns out to be a bastard in league with Danzo in the Manga, that was a kick in the teeth though I'm hoping we see some more of him fighting soon.

I didn't like Anko, then again we know very little about her so she's an open book but i used a pretty common idea of her the acts out due to how the villages treat her but actually a nice person under the act, well i got rid of my stories Naruto so now i have her at least :)

I didn't like how crazy Sasuke went in this chapter and feel i'm being lame blaming it all on the CS, but you have to imagine how he would feel, this isn't cannon Naruto is better than him and Sasuke's desperate to surpass him prehaps i went to far?

Trying to make Sakura come into her own is hard but she's getting there i feel, honestly second to Hinata she's my least favorite character in the whole show, but i promise not to start bashing people left and right, though unlike the manga people (rookie 12 included) will die... and stay dead.

In the cannon story every things gone crazy, I don't honestly like sage mode, don't get me wrong its awesome but the fact that Naruto had to get it is such a smack in the face its like the elemental training arc all over again, hi i went away training for three years progressed i basically squat but using random methods of training i can get up to the level of a god in a week, ah well it was still cool to read.

Hinata's confession (the whole 5 seconds of fame them splat) made me want to laugh it was so ridiculous, before people start hating me for disliking her I'll explain my reasons, to me she is worse than 99% of the other people in the village why? Because she sees how hard Naruto tries and how he's treated and doesn't make the effort to talk to him, despite what lots of stories do (really well I add), in cannon Naruto is just ignored by most people, she sees that and dose nothing just watches him for her own benefit.
Now lets remember here that she's not some random girl from a normal family, she claims that she's similar to Naruto in someway when she's the utter opposite of him, he has nothing going for him, she has everything heir to the most powerful clan in the village, a great bloodline, a family, training in a family style thats world known honestly it makes me sick, plus the fact that she's done nothing good in CANNON the dreadful filler arcs don't count for squat (thank god i just wish they'd end i've stopped watching the anime because of them) I also don't get how (or why now that Nagato brought everyone back to life yay SHIZINE and Kakashi :D) she didn't die Pain doesn't miss dammit he is god god is perfect.

I could rant about that and lots of other things all day pretty sad really but there you go sorry if my opinion offended anyone that bothered to read it remember it's just that my view.

I'm gonna stop now because when ever i see people that go on this long without making good points i start to think it's for the word count so here we go.

Oh I'm thinking of going back and redoing quite alot of the story due to both the changes (what I hope is improvement) in my writing and the fact that after reading lots of other, much better, stories I've decided mine needs some serious work to deserve to be posted alongside them, hopefully I'll try not to let that get in the way too much of new chapters but I have no idea how busy my summer will or won't be so we shall see.

Till next time Pain Out