Firstly I'd like to apologize to the people who followed this story since its inception, I have neglected the story and as such many of you may be disappointed and pissed off with me. But I have a long overdue chapter and personally, I think it's one of the best so far. I am slightly out of practice, having not written creatively for two years but hopefully I can restart the flow of this story for you all. So I'll shut up now and let you read.

The Forest of death.

Naruto, Hinata and Sakura leapt from tree to tree, staying where the light filtering through the leafy canopy didn't touch, Naruto suddenly stopped on a very wide branch and knelt down, his two team-mates joining him either side.

"What is it?" Sakura asked in a whisper, her emerald eyes scanning the treeline in front of them.

Naruto held up his hand flat and then nodded straight ahead of them "Three, heading west across our current path, hopefully they should pass by us"

"We're not attacking?" asked Sakura quietly with a tone of surprise.

"Not yet, we can't afford to leap blindly into fights, were probably the most advanced team from Konoha here, but we know nothing of these foreign ninja, some of them could have years of experience on us" Naruto whispered back.

"What good is being a Chunin if you're dead or crippled?" Hinata whispered softly.

"Exactly"

They waited a few more moments before they silently started to move ahead, further into the ever darkening forest.

It was another fifteen minutes before the three stopped, a low whistling noise carried by the air caught their attention as a slight breeze picked up all around them.

"This is a Massive Futon jutsu … BRACE YOURSELVES!" Naruto shouted as the immense pressure of wind blasted through the forest, Sakura was with first to be blown away followed shortly by Hinata and Finally Naruto lost his grip and was thrown back down through the forest.

Hinata.

'Ugh my head' Hinata woke slowly, rubbing her head, she slowly surveyed her surroundings to find herself alone, she looked up at the fading sunset and slowly got to her feet.

"I'm alone … that's not good" She muttered to herself as she brushed herself down.

"Not for you princess … but for us, it's quite a convenience … but I must say you are a pretty little thing"

Turning Hinata looked up to find three Boys staring down at her with predatory grins; she looked over their attire to find they were from kirigakure. She let her hand rest on the hilt of the Wakizashi Naruto had gifted her.

"We were hoping to fight that Blonde guy … but your blood will have to satisfy us for now" Spoke the one in the centre, he wore a blue long sleeved shirt with basic armour covering his hands and forearms, he wore black combat styled pants with a single shuriken holster on his left thigh, his Kirigakure headband was tied over his shoulder like a sash.

"She's a Hyuga … look at those eyes, disgusting" spoke the Genin to the left, he wore a grey camouflage jumpsuit with several belts carrying what Hinata guessed as bottles of water, His Hitai-ate hung around his waist like a belt.

The third just seemed to stare at Hinata with a Natural predator's instinct, like the way a cat would watch a mouse, he wore a dark blue sleeveless shirt and dark blue combat styled pants to match with his shuriken holster on his right thigh. Upon his back was a large cleaver styled blade.

"Oh Kami I hope she gives us a good hunt! I like it when they cry"

Hinata felt a fear start to set in, the same fear that had been with her in the back of her mind since her attempted kidnaping. She felt a shiver slowly crawl up her spine.

'In my current condition I would only last several minutes before they wear me down' Hinata thought to herself as she reached from the hilt of the Wakizashi to her utility pouch.

"Let's let her run a bit! I want to feel the same satisfaction of the hunt, I want to feel that same rush again, just like last time!"

Hinata withdrew three kunai, sending them sailing through the air at lightning fast speed as she leapt back away from the kiri-nin, the middle Kunai exploded into a huge cloud of white smoke whilst the other two detonated into explosions. Hinata though had not stayed to watch, she was already dashing through the forest as fast as possible to get some distance using her natural flexibility to dance around and over every obstacle in her way.

"Argh that little bitch!"

"We let our guard down, it won't happen again! Kozuki, find her!" the boy in the centre spoke as he looked to his right.

The boy nodded and weaved three hand signs "Ninpo: Kirigakure Kankaku no jutsu"

Hinata stopped, hiding behind a tree to catch her breath, that wind jutsu had sent her for a rough fall and she was sure she had some nasty bruises under all her clothes, she steadied her breathing for a moment and rubbed her temples in an attempt to relieve herself of the growing pain building behind her eyes. She sighed, wondering if she had given the Kiri team the slip, weather Naruto and Sakura were okay.

Without warning the tree she was using for support threw her forward as it exploded in a shower of water and splinters. She felt like her body was on fire but she had little time to think as she forced herself to her feet and ran as fast as she could through the trees, it was only then that she noticed the thick mist now rolling throughout the forest.

Trees around her began to explode in showers of water and wood splinters, leaping over a log only to find herself now sliding down a muddy slope, she dropped off the end and landed hard on her back, opening her eyes she scrambled back, she pressed her body against the mud slicked vines and dead branches underneath the slope she had so gracefully traversed down to find a hollow opening under the decaying vines and leaves, she squeezed herself in quickly and threw herself down onto the cold earthy floor with a dull thud, she immediately began to control her breathing to calm herself as she clutched her arm as a sudden pain began to throb, she could feel a wet warmth, slightly sticky and what she guessed was wood sticking out of her arm just above her elbow.

Two thuds sounded directly above her followed by an angered voice.

"I told you not to use the water bullets! We'll catch her with the water whip technique you fucking moron!" she heard from above her.

"I'm excited, I can't help it!"

"Then leave it until we're done with her, then you can use your most destructive technique to tear her limb from limb as you please … spread out and find her, before her blonde team mate does!"

She heard the other boy grunt and they both leapt off in different directions leaving her alone for now, she activated her Byakugan and immediately inspected her wound, the large wooden splinter was embedded an inch into her arm and only seven millimetres away from an artery, that splinter had to come out lest she risk the wound becoming septic and potentially losing her arm completely.

She reached up to her arm, taking a firm grip of the blood soaked spike and took a deep breath; she tore it out of her arm with a squeak of pain. She would not allow herself the satisfaction of a pain filled cry, not with the mist team looking for her. She reached around to her first aid kit and retrieved a pair of surgical forceps. She looked at her arm and clenched her teeth soundlessly as she plunged the forceps into the jagged tear in her arm to retrieve the last fragments of wood.

After pulling out the last splint she sighed in relief and replaced the forceps in her kit, pulling out a sealed vial of liquid, her home made healing salve and a clean bandage. She bit the stopper off of the vial and poured the liquid into and around the wound on her arm, eliciting silent tears as she bit down on her bottom lip from the burning sensation so as not to make a sound. Once the pain had died down to a dull numbness she applied a thick layer of her healing salve to act as a barrier against infection before finally applying the bandages.

'Ouch' she sat there for a moment, taking the time to swallow a blood pill and drink from her canteen 'At least it's only cosmetic damage, a few more millimetres and I'd be dead' she thought to herself with a silent sigh, replacing her canteen in her utility pouch.

She leant back against the dirt and roots, it was then her Byakugan began to become fuzzy, she sighed and deactivated her doujutsu.

"I hate this Jutsu" she muttered quietly as the mist began to form thickly throughout the area.

It was then she heard two thuds land above her again "Anything?"

"Not yet, but as soon as she displaces the water particles from the kirigakure no jutsu it shouldn't be too hard to get a lock on her whereabouts. I'm surprised she hasn't tried to use my technique to cover her escape"

"We're not dealing with our usual prey, this one is smart, knows she can't face all three of us at once" spoke the other boy

"Let's find Shiro, if he finds her first there won't be enough left for a decent grope"

Hinata remained still as she thought about her options 'I need to move, otherwise I'm backed into a corner, but what can I use to cause a diversion? Come on … think Hinata, what would Naruto-kun do?'

A few seconds of deep thought went by until she blinked and a smile formed on her face "Oh how silly of me … these idiot turned this forest into my playground without me realising it … okay let's hope this works" she muttered amusedly to herself, drawing six Kunai from her utility pouch.

"Stop! Got her! Follow me, both of you" one of the Kiri Genin spoke as he turned and lead His team toward Hinata at full speed, it took them only two minutes to catch up to and surround Hinata.

"I didn't think you would home in on me so quickly" Hinata glared as she sent her six kunai sailing through the air in quick succession, each of the boys dodged the blades with ease and laughed at her failed defence.

"You gave us our best chase yet, but we want to experience the fruits of our labour now" Spoke the boy who had stood in the centre of the group when they first appeared, the leader, Hinata guessed. The boy drew a curve bladed Kunai as he stepped forward.

Hinata drew her Wakizashi and took up a defensive stance, slowly all three boys closed in on her from every side, she spun on her heel quickly, aiming to sever their sensor's throat with the tip of the blade, the tip caught the boys chin instead as Hinata was dragged back by her hair and threw her to the ground, his team mates quickly grabbing one of her arms each and dragging her to kneel before their leader.

"I will be extra rough for that … all he has is his rugged good looks" The Kiri genin laughed along with his team mates. He stepped forward, grasping Hinata's throat roughly, forcing her to look up at him. He hooked the tip of his curved blade beneath her flak jacket and slowly started to cut through the tough fabric. She struggled against his grip. Hinata charged Chakra to her legs and managed to leap upward slightly, allowing her to strike the Kiri nin in the jaw with the heel of her Sandals with just enough force to send him reeling to the ground.

"You okay Kuroma?" asked Shiro.

"That fucking hurt!" He cursed, standing up and rubbing his now bruised jaw "I'm going to literally ruin you for that!" he growled as he stepped forward and back handed Hinata.

He grabbed either side of the collar of her flak jacket ready to tear it open when he heard her laugh.

"I can't believe you fell for my trap …"

"What?"

Kuroma looked down at Hinata's smiling face which bore a silvered glistening crack; he frowned slightly at this before he heard a distinctive familiar sizzling sound coming from Hinata's body.

"kaboom"

The resulting explosion was a spectacular display of sheer firepower as the blast engulfed the three boys and spat them out violently as dust, ash and splintered wood and leaves rained down over the area.

Kuroma cursed as he pulled himself to his feet, using a tree to support himself. He instantly grasped at his leg to find shards of ice protruding from his thigh, his eyes trailed up to find his forearm was literally peppered with small icicles, each no larger than a nail. Superficial wounds for him, he steadied himself once more against the tree as he tried to stop the world spinning about him, shaking his head, he tried to focus his vision to see through the smoke, he took a step forward only to fall to his knees to vomit violently.

His eyes focused better after a moment of blinking away tears, he wiped away the blood running down his nose and from his ears, looking around as he pulled himself back to his feet shakily.

It was the sight of Kozuki that greeted him first; he lay against a tree trunk, his body rent and burnt, though Kuroma could tell it had been the shards of ice that had finished the boy off, blood still made a pathetic attempt to pulsate from the boys jugular, indicating he was in the final throes of an agonising death.

"Sh-Shiro … Shiro! Where are you!?" he called out, looking around franticly.

"Here … Kuroma" Came the other boys voice as he stepped out from behind a tree, turning to face Kuroma sluggishly, blood ran freely down the side of his head from beneath his hair. Leaning heavily on the tree next to him for support, his right arm hung motionless at his side, blood running down and off his fingertips, shredded muscle and skin hung from bone, twitching slightly.

"Bitch g-got us with an ice clone … I can't f-feel my arm" Shiro spoke as he lost his balance slightly.

"I can just about walk … k-Kozuki's dead, let's just kill this bitch … call it quits" He spoke as he took a few shaky steps forward.

He didn't get a reply from his team mate as Shiro's head was sent sailing across the clearing.

Hinata landed in a crouch in the clearing, her head turned to look at Kuroma, panting but glaring at him none the less as she slowly stood, the now bloody Wakizashi in her hand.

Kuroma watched his team mates head roll to a stop and felt his anger bubble over, his eyes darted to Hinata as he ran through a series of hand signs as fast as his broken body would allow.

"Suiton: Suigadan!" Kuroma spoke before a spitting a continuous jet stream of water at Hinata.

Hinata's eyes widened slightly before she spun on the spot, discarding the Wakizashi to the ground and emitting the last of her chakra.

"kaiten!"

Her defence held true and the jet stream simply impacted and spun off the chakra dome.

Both Genin ended their attacks, panting while facing one another. This was it, they both saw it, one would die here … now. They charged each other, throwing shuriken, cancelling the others attack.

Kuroma drew a Kunai in reverse grip and struck for Hinata's throat but found his attack blocked by Hinata's open palm, he attempted to knee her in the stomach but the kunoichi palmed the knee away too and finally looked up to Kuroma, her Byakugan ablaze.

"I may not be the strongest in my clan … but I am still a Hyuga!" She spoke as she thrust her open palm into the boy's stomach and again into his right shoulder, forcing him to drop his Kunai, again her palm connected with his chin before bringing her palm back once more.

"Hakke Kusho!" her palm outstretched as her opponent was thrown back through the air like a rag doll to land roughly on the ground with a hard thud.

'Damn … that last attack has left me with little to no chakra, I can't even maintain my Byakugan' she though as her eyes deactivated, running at kuroma as he slowly moved to get up, she drew a kunai, ready to end it. Her blade was inches from him when he spun, catching her wrist, falling onto his back as Hinata used her full weight to bear down on his throat with the blade. His free hand shot up, grasping her throat tightly.

"Fucking die!" He growled as his grip tightened, he let go and back handed Hinata away from him, sending her skidding along the floor a few feet away.

Kuroma caught sight of the discarded Wakizashi and made a desperate stumble for it, his fingertips brushed the hilt gently before His entire body jerked back to the ground. Hinata bared down on him once more, attempting to pierce his chest with her kunai, again his hand shot up to her throat, squeezing tightly as pushing her away with all of his failing strength.

One hand each on the kunai trying to pierce Kuroma's flesh, one hand each at Hinata's throat. Hinata clawing desperately for air, felt her consciousness slipping, her world dizzying and the edges of her vision fading to black quickly, managing to think quickly she tore her Tanto from its sheath and brought it down in a vicious strike to kuroma's shoulder, loosening his grip on her throat. She twisted the blade and tore it out again, paying no mind at the boy's screeches of pain as she brought the blade up again.

"No! S-Stop Please!"

She brought her blade down into the boys side, sliding it between his ribs before ripping it out completely, leaving her victim wide-eyed and gasping, fear etched into his face as Hinata brought the blade down one last time into his chest down to the hilt. Kuroma's body stiffened, he coughed a small amount of dark blood as his body slowly relaxed into the dirt.

Hinata panted for air as she leaned over the body, her hand still tightly grasping the blade … after a few moments she pulled the blades out slowly and stumbled back to her feet. Before falling back to sit at the base of a tree, staring at the boy she had just killed.

Minutes passed and she just stared at the body a few feet away from her, a single tear rolled down her cheek before she wiped it away and slowly got onto her feet, walking forward. She stared down at the open lifeless eyes of her enemy before dropping to her knees and rolling him over, searching his utility pouch until she found what she was looking for. She smiled to herself, clutching the earth scroll in her hand before stuffing it into her own utility pouch, looking around the area before she jumped off into the trees to find Naruto and Sakura.

Sakura.

Sakura opened her eyes, squinting slightly in the light as she heard a muffled voice calling her name. She diverted her limited view to the face of Ino who was still calling her name.

"i-I'm fine Ino … just took a hard hit is all, give me a minute" Sakura grumbled as she slowly sat up, rubbing her head.

"You're lucky we found you before someone else did Sakura, people are dying in this forest" Ino stated as she helped Sakura to her feet.

"I don't doubt it? … Naruto and Hinata?" Sakura asked as she looked at Ino.

"Missing, Shikamaru and Chouji are doing a scan of the surrounding area, see if they can find them"

"We were hit by a massive futon jutsu and blown off in different directions, and we only got hit with the backlash from what I can tell" Sakura spoke, getting to her feet just as Shikamaru and Chouji arrived back.

"Troublesome, you're awake" Shikamaru commented.

"Nice to see you to Shikamaru" Sakura smirked as she checked her equipment over.

"So what will you do now?" asked Chouji.

"I'll stick with you guys, at least until I find Naruto and Hinata or we get to the tower.

"Troublesome, we don't have both scrolls, actually we're lucky we've kept ours up to this point" Shikamaru stated as the group started to move through the forest at ground level.

"Then let's get your scroll and get to the tower then"

Team ten just watched as Sakura walked past them all and further into the forest.

Naruto.

Naruto awoke lazily, leaning against a felled tree, he opened his eyes groggily and the first thing he felt was numbness over his body, giving himself a few moments for his body to awaken fully. He pulled himself to his feet and took a step forward when he heard a hissing noise behind him. Slowly turning he came face to face with a gigantic python, glaring down at him with yellow silted eyes, its forked tongue flickering lazily in his direction; it moved its body into position and struck forward at the blonde, its mouth wide open in an attempt to snap up the meal before it.

"Fuck! off!" Naruto growled out in barely contained rage as he leapt up into the snakes open maw, ejecting his wrist blades and driving them up into the snakes skull as its jaw snapped shut.

The snake realigned its jaw bones before moving forward slightly, then it stopped for a moment, the top of its scaled head exploded into a shower of blood, bone fragments and brain matter before it slumped down onto the forest floor in death.

Naruto cut the flow of chakra to the blades and hopped out of the gaping hole in the snake's head., shaking off as much blood and gore as he could.

He focused his senses, reaching out into the forest, slowing his breathing. He could hear the faint sounds of battle not too far away. He immediately leapt off in that direction, taking to the trees to maximize the distance he could cover at the fastest pace.

He could hear the battle getting closer and closer as he leapt through the trees. He would be in the thick of it with less than a minute. He drew his Katana, bursting through the treeline and landed on a huge, wide branch baring his weapon down viciously into the path of what Naruto could see as a head with its neck stretched.

The head retracted back to its body to avoid the decapitation. Naruto pulled his blade back to rest on his shoulder, he looked right to see Sasuke staring between him and his attacker wide eyes with fear. Naruto then looked to the left to find a tall figure with flayed and burnt skin and long black hair and a single yellow predatory eye glancing out from behind the burnt flesh. A Kusagakure headband adorned the ninja's head.

"Sasuke … you look exhausted, why don't you sit this one out" Naruto suggested calmly as he turned to face the Kusa Genin. Sasuke didn't reply, he only nodded as he pulled himself to his feet and jumped away to regroup with his team.

Naruto locked eyes with his new enemy; he felt it, the raw power practically radiating from this figure. He tightened his grip on his weapon.

"You let my prey escape boy … I have no interest in you, step aside or die" The Kusagakure genin spoke calmly with a sickeningly sweet tone to his voice.

"He may have believed you were an ordinary genin … but I don't, I'm your opponent now, so why don't you stop playing dress up and we get this show on the road" Naruto retorted loudly with confidence.

The Kusa genin reached up and tore the burnt flesh from his face, revealing sickeningly white skin and yellow eyes and His headband had changed from Kusagakure to an Oto symbol.

"Very good, allow me to introduce myself to you before I kill you, I am Orochimaru" The pale man mocked a bow as a predatory grin etched its way onto his face as he recognised the child in front of him.

"So today I kill the leaf villages' jinchuuriki, and tomorrow … well let's not spoil any surprises" Orochimaru spoke as he dashed forward at Naruto with near blinding speed, spitting up his own Blade from his throat.

Naruto leapt forward, meeting the rogue sannin half way as their blades clashed and sparked slightly, they sprung past one another and turned.

Once more they lunged at one another, their blades locking in a stalemate but Naruto knew he would lose to the snake sannin's superior strength and experience, he knew what his opponent was capable of .

"You're rushing headlong to your death boy, like father like son" Orochimaru's snarling grin met Naruto's gaze as they leapt away from one another once more, Naruto launched several shuriken at the rouge sannin only to have him dip, dodge and deflect the weapons effortlessly.

Naruto dashed forward with inhuman speed as his blade buzzed to life with a slight blue glow, he aimed for the snakes face only to have the Kusangani blade block his attack.

In response Naruto spun low and brought his blade up in an upper cutting motion, Naruto inwardly cursed as Orochimaru landed several feet away grinning and chuckling.

Naruto quickly ran through several hand seals and inhaled deeply "Katon: Karyuu Endan!"

The blonde spat forth a searing torrent of white Incandescent fire to engulf everything before him

Orochimaru's eyes widened slightly as he leapt back repeatedly to avoid the white hot incineration headed his way. After a few seconds the flames died out leaving a panting Naruto glaring at Orochimaru through the now incinerated and blackened trees of the forest.

Orochimaru surveyed the destruction that jutsu had caused, noting the charred trees starting to crumble and disintegrate slowly ' If I had been caught in that, I'd have been in trouble' The snake sannin thought to himself as he took a step forward putting a smirk on his face.

"Didn't your teachers ever teach you not to waste chakra on attacks doomed to fail?" the man taunted the blonde.

Naruto stood up straight and calmed his breathing slightly before he looked Orochimaru dead in the eyes "I didn't waste my chakra"

Without even sensing them, four of Naruto's shadow clones appeared around Orochimaru, their blades poised and glowing. Each clone impaled the blades into the snake sannin. Orochimaru felt his insides tear and shred with the wind element chakra of the blades, throwing his head back in an agonising shriek of pain.

Naruto leapt forward, readying his blade to go through the snake's neck. His clones twisted their blades simultaneously before the real Naruto made his strike. Orochimaru's head slid from his shoulders, collapsing into a puddle of mud, quickly followed by his body.

"Tsuchi bunshin …" Naruto glared at the mud as his clones dispelled and he was forced to turn, just in time to raise his blade to deflect Orochimaru's own blade.

"That was beautifully executed boy … but I'm afraid you'll need a lot more than fancy tricks to beat me" Orochimaru sneered as he leapt away from Naruto.

Naruto fell to a knee panting and glaring at his enemy "One day … One day you will look back at exactly what you've done with your life … what you've thrown away and you will realise that your life was without love, without true purpose … wasted"

Orochimaru grinned at the blondes speech "And I suppose if I kill you now, your life had more meaning than my own?" the Snake summoner laughed, however his laughing was cut short by Naruto's response.

"Yes" Naruto stood up and took a deep breath "But I refuse to die here today … Not before I become Hokage of the leaf, not before I marry the woman I love and have a family of my own …. And I certainly will not accept deaths embrace until I have seen your twisted mangled corpse at my feet! That is my promise to you! That is my promise of a lifetime to you!" Naruto spoke with sheer conviction.

Orochimaru stared at the boy before him and while outwardly he didn't seem fazed in the slightest, the promise this boy had made had somehow sent a shiver down his spine on this day. He raised the Kusanagi blade to point at the blonde.

"Don't make promises you can't keep"

"I don't!" Naruto replied as his wounds started to visibly heal before Orochimaru's eyes, a red haze of chakra slowly bubbling around the boy as a single tail of chakra and a pair of elongated chakra ears formed around the boy, his eyes darkening red and his whisker-like marks darkening.

Orochimaru charged forward to strike with his blade only to have Naruto block the strike with ease using his own blade.

Hinata.

Hinata leapt through the trees using her Byakugan to periodically scan ahead and around her when she spotted Sakura walking with team ten to her far right a couple hundred foot away. She immediately shot off in that direction. She leapt down just behind them, panting as they turned to see her.

"Hinata!" Sakura ran over too her and hugged her tightly.

"Where is Naruto-kun?" Hinata questioned as she returned the hug.

As soon as those words left Hinata's lips something shot into the ground with enough force to crater and kick up dust. The five Konoha genin turned toward the blast area not 20 meters away from them to hear a sick chuckling as a figure pulled itself out of the crater.

"Ku ku ku ku ku … You hit hard when you use its power but it's still not enough boy"

It was at that moment that an exhausted and beaten Naruto appeared in the tree above the figure.

"It would seem your power is spent and you've barely been able to land a few superficial hits on me" Orochimaru smirked as he glanced to the five genin behind him.

Naruto used the trunk of the tree to support himself as he noticed the Hinata behind Orochimaru, his breath hitched in his throat and fear gripped him for the first time in a long time. It was at this moment he felt a slight tug on his mind and a fiery burning power radiating from his very core. It spread through him like a fire. He felt a huge surge of raw un-tamable power at his fingertips. He stared down at Orochimaru who raised an eyebrow at him "not spent after all"

Naruto shot down from the tree and attacked Orochimaru with his sword, having his blade blocked by the traitor. It was then that Orochimaru felt two other sources of power behind him, insignificant but noteworthy to man of his skill.

"I would love to stay and play with all you children … but my prey has long escaped and I simply must give him my gift before this exam ends" Orochimaru laughed as he leapt back away from Naruto and slowly sank into the ground.

"Bastard!" Naruto growled out in frustration as he dropped to his knees to try and catch his breath, all of his power leaving him. Hinata was over too him like a shot, her arms around him.

Naruto threw one arm around her, trying to catch his breath. It wasn't long before he noticed the bandage around her arm.

"What happened to your arm?" he questioned with worry.

"I ran into a Kiri team … its nothing; please don't worry about my arm whilst you're so exhausted" Hinata spoke softly as she helped him to his feet.

"It's getting dark" Sakura spoke as she slung Naruto's other arm over her shoulder to help Hinata support their blonde team-mate.

Ino, Shikamaru and Chouji formed up around them in a triangular position.

"Sakura helped us gain our scroll to pass this test" Ino spoke as she took point as the group started walking, Chouji flanked the left side and Shikamaru on the right with team thirteen in the centre. She turned her head slightly to look at the blonde and his team "We will escort you to the tower in return"

"Thanks, Ino" Hinata nodded at the girl with a smile.

With that said, they all took to the trees, Naruto's now unconscious form being hauled along by his team mates. Hinata allowed herself a worried glance at her boyfriend. Never before had she seen him so exhausted. She looked over to Sakura who noticed her look and gave her a reassuring smile.

"He'll be fine Hinata, we'll get to the tower, hand the scrolls in and once he's had some rest, he'll be fine" Sakura spoke quietly.

Hinata nodded with determination and activated her Byakugan, seeing the tower little more than a kilometre away from their current speed. They continued on in silence for about an hour longer when Shikamaru spoke up.

"We have to stop here" Shikamaru announced to the group, halting their progress, they all landed down on the Forrest floor.

"What's up Shikamaru, we should get to the tower as quick as we can" Ino berated her team-mate.

"It's getting dark … even with Hinata's Byakugan, we can't traverse the forest at night, not with Naruto in that shape, if we keep going, we risk fatigue and the closer we get to the tower the greater the chance of ambush, we cannot afford to be caught up in a fight with all of us in a weakened and tired state." Shikamaru explained.

Sakura sighed "He's right Ino, besides it's safer on the ground in this forest of a night time than up in the trees, trust me … you don't want to know what hunts up there during the night" Sakura spoke her agreement.

Ino sighed and nodded, crossing her arms over her chest.

Hinata took Naruto over to a tree with a hollowed out base and set him down gently inside, it was then she noticed the pained expression on the blondes' unconscious face. She quickly checked his pulse and found it to be racing. She quickly started checking him over until her hand landed on a warm wet patch on his leg. She removed her hand to find a mixture of dark blood and puss smeared on the palm of her hand; she looked to his leg and found a small tear in his pants over his thigh.

"Sakura, Ino, get in here! I need assistance!" She called franticly as she delicately pushed both index fingers through the ripped fabric and tore it apart as wide as she could to reveal the small, deep cut on his thigh. The cut itself was little more than maybe a centimetre and a half in length but the flesh around it was raised and inflamed and there were thin black veins darting outward over Naruto's leg from around the wound. The wound itself oozed a putrid dark yellow puss mixed with flecks of congealed blood.

It was this sight that greeted Sakura and Ino as they headed in to see what was going on. Sakura paled slightly at the sight but Ino, being less used to sights of gore then the other girls, wretched at the sight. Sakura recovered from her shock first.

"Poison? What do we do?" She asked as she knelt down and quickly removed her first aid kit, handing it to Hinata who took it immediately and set it down and pulled on a pair of black surgical gloves, her Byakugan active to help her better understand the situation.

"We … We need too-" Hinata started to stammer as tears started to well up in her eyes.

"Hinata! Look at me! Naruto's been poisoned, we act fast to treat this as best we can, now what is our course of action!?" Sakura Said, snapping Hinata out of her stupor before it could turn to panic whilst applying her own pair of gloves.

Hinata took in a deep breath "From what I can gather, it's a complex toxin that replicates itself inside its host, feeding on muscle tissue, its already pooling inside his leg" Hinata spoke, wiping the tears away with her sleeves.

"Course of action!?" Sakura asked sharply, keeping Hinata from falling apart.

"Firstly, we drain and clean the wound as best we can, then we try to slow down and neutralize what has already seeped into his circulatory system" Hinata spoke evenly but Sakura could still tell that the girl was at the breaking point.

"What do you need me to do?" Ino asked from the entrance of the hollow.

"I have most of what we need … Ino I need a common honeysuckle and a cats claw plant as quickly as you can find them! Go!" Hinata ordered as removed a small scroll from her medical kit and unraveled it, revealing a storage scroll. She quickly unsealed the contents, a small wooden box with a hinged lid. She opened it and pulled out several vials of liquid. She then set out a set of surgical tools.

Hinata looked to Sakura "Could you bring Chouji in here please? I'll need some brute strength for this" Hinata spoke softly and shakily. Sakura nodded and left the hollow to retrieve the boy as requested. Hinata looked down at Naruto and wiped his forehead with a damp cloth she had soaked with water from her canteen, a fever had started to take hold of the blonde, his time was starting to run out. She steeled her resolve and stroked his cheek gently as she whispered too him, her voice cracked with sorrow "I'm sorry Naruto-kun … but I'm going to have to hurt you … to save you"

Chapter end.

I always hate it when chapters end on a cliff-hangers, but … I do take a certain sick delight in denying you all a happy fulfilling ending once in a while and these days I have to get my jollies wherever I can. I have a renewed direction for this story and I hope the readers that were with me along the way so far will join me in future. Furthermore, I have unanswered mail in my inbox, I will try and get to those people to answer questions over the next few days. Thank you for your patients and I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Until Next time,

Kirikage.