Anko surveyed the teams left and let out a whistle. "Wow Ibiki! There are this many genin left? What happened?"

Ibiki merely shrugged his shoulders. "We got a good crop this year."

Anko merely pfft at this. "Yeah? Well don't worry. I'll cut these numbers to more than half."

A slam on the table could be heard shaking Anko from her talk with Ibiki. There were a few things that got under the purple-haired shinobi's skin. One of them was slamming a table. It irked the hell out of her ears. She turned her attention to the dog shinobi. Akamaru whimpered at his master's stupidity. She gave him a saccharine smile. She said in an all too sweet voice, "I hope that I'm not bothering you."

"You're taking up our time! We got too much adrenaline running through us!"

Kiba didn't see the looks of incredulousness coming his way. Adrenaline was a hell of a drug. Anko meanwhile sent a bit of Killing Intent his way causing the dog shinobi and his dog to shiver. She replied, "I'm very sorry for wasting your time. You're right. After all you only have a few seconds of life left anyway. Should be keeping them as precious as you can. Everyone, follow me. Your next examination is about to begin."

Naruto had a very bad feeling going up his spine. This woman knew much more than she'd let on and this was going to be something none of them were prepared for.

It took about 15 minutes to reach their next destination. With each step, the intensity grew. Naruto looked at his teammates to see if they were feeling the same way. From Sasuke's face and Sakura's fidgeting, it was easy to guess. He grimaced slightly as he saw his fox companion give him a worried look.

This wasn't going to be fun.

When they stopped, they felt a large wave of Killing Intent flow through them. It wasn't Anko that was providing the intent but what was behind the large gate. It smelled of fear and death. It made more than a few genin queasy. Anko gained a large smirk as she could feel the uneasiness going through the inu ninja. Maybe he should have waited to speak.

"Welcome my new prey, urm, genin. This is the second phase of the exams. Behind me here is one of the places that I like to call home. This is where real shinobi challenge themselves. This is Training Grounds 44 also known as that Forest of Death. In this forest, many a shinobi stronger than you have died just from the killing intent alone."

Kiba had to keep his bravado up. He asked confidently, "This is the Forest of Death? It doesn't look so tough."

Anko, who was getting quite annoyed with his antics, replied coolly, "Tough guys like you usually leave their blood all over this forest."

"We'll see."

"We most certainly will. Now there are many types of monsters and things that go bump in the night in these forests. We don't care about your life in the forest. You either live or die." She stopped her speech as she noticed Naruto was sniffing something in the air almost like it was a familiar smell that he couldn't quite place. Being annoyed by these fresh genin, Anko flicked a kunai right pass the boy.

Naruto had stopped paying attention to Anko as something caught his whiff. It was a strong smell. A smell that reeked of snakes. He could tell it was the same smell coming off Kabuto and Anko. But this. This was much stronger. It was very familiar to him. That's what put Naruto on high alert. Right now, he could feel his stomach twist like a coiled spring. His thoughts were immediately dashed as a kunai buzzed right passed him lightly cutting his cheek. A small droplet of blood cascaded down his face, much to his surprise. The hairs on the back of his neck rose as he felt someone come behind him. Whoever it was decided to lick his face where the blood drop was.

"My, my Naruto-kun. Your blood is absolutely delicious. I expect more of it if you don't start to pay attention."

Naruto stood stunned as the crazy snake lady licked him. Actually licked him! The rest of Team Seven, Team Eight, and Team Ten stood rigid as they didn't expect her to do such a thing to their friend and teammate. Before anyone could say anything, a genin smoothly walked to the purple hair instructor. She had long smooth black hair and black eyes. She had a straw hat on her head with her forehead protector underneath.

"Anko-san, it appears that you dropped this." The girl used her long tongue to lick the blood off the kunai before handing the woman her kunai. Anko blinked as she could feel the immense power of the shinobi in front of her. Something wasn't right about the girl. She graciously took the kunai.

"Thank you-"

"Shiore, Anko-san."

"Shiore." She nodded numbly. She recognized that Shiore was from Kusa. That didn't alleviate her suspicions about the girl. She was going to have a few ANBU teams look into this" Shiore". She said," Anyway. Let me explain the rules and what is going to be happening during this phase. "

It took Anko twenty minutes to explain the rules. She gave them waivers to sign. In addition, she gave them some time to look it over to sign it. Naruto sighed as he read it repeatedly. The waiver was talking about if they were to die and a bunch of legal nonsense. Naruto heard the murmuring of other teams. He knew his team could survive but would their cost of living drop from this? He would admit he was a little afraid of the answer. This however changed in a second as he saw a box on the floor.

"Ko? What are you doing here?"

"Crap! We were found out again! I thought the camouflage would have worked."

Naruto gained a sweat drop as he replied, "Uhh, it would have worked if it was camouflaging something other than rocks."

"Very astute, Boss!"

"Astute?"

"It means to accurately recognize the situation. Geez, Ko. Do you ever pay attention to Iruka's vocabulary class?"

"He's boring, Mo!"

Naruto could only blink as smoke filled the air. He had to give them props on creativity. "Very asute, Boss."

"Astute."

"Yeah whatever that word is. Point is you caught us! I expect nothing less of my rival!"

Naruto asked, "Don't you have homework or something?"

"Nope! Iruka thought it would be a great idea to see how real shinobi deal with the exams."

"Uhuh. So, if I were to go to him right now, he would say the same thing?"

"Of course, he would! Especially with you being involved."

"Maybe."

"Udon!"

Naruto pointed to Udon. "See, I believe him more than I believe you"

"Come on, Boss!"

"Naruto, what are you doing with these kids again?"

Something popped into Konohamaru's head. "Hey! I remember you. You're the Boss's bossy girlfriend!"

Naruto desperately tried to tell Ko that wasn't the case and to run away. But his plea fell on deaf ears. A cold shiver went up Naruto's spine as Sakura's face grew dark. Her jade eye glowed a brighter green with a face demon laughed menacingly behind her. Sakura cracked her knuckles before asking in an all too sweet voice, "What did you say?"

As the grandchild of the Hokage, Konohamaru was not keen to see the subtle red flags of danger. He replied, "You heard me. You're the Boss's bossy girl- mmph!"

Naruto quickly closed the boy's mouth before he met the end of the boy's existence. He whispered into the boy's ear, "If you value your life, I would suggest running. Now!"

"Sakura, leave him alone."

Everyone looked up to see Sasuke swirling a kunai on his finger in a tree. Konohamaru's eyes went up in surprise as he finally met Naruto's other teammate and rival. A fire took over his eyes as he struggled from the confines of his rival. He ran up to the tree and pointed his finger at the raven-haired boy. He shouted, "I know who you are! You're the Boss's other rival, Sasuke Uchiha."

Sasuke merely raised an eyebrow at the boy. He remembered the boy as the Hokage's grandson. But who was the Boss he spoke of?

Konohamaru continued, "If you are the Boss's rival then that means we are rivals! I'll beat you then the Boss!"

Sasuke nodded dumbly as he looked at his two teammates. He said, "If you say so. Right now, I need to talk to my team. Do you mind leaving."

"But!"

"Hey Ko. I'll talk to you when the exam is over. I promise. Now get going."

The finality of Naruto's voice left no argument. Ko said, "Uh right Boss! You better make it! I need you alive to help with Iruka-sensei. Promise me you'll live."

"Ko, you know I can't make that promise."

"Then I won't leave! You must promise me!"

Naruto could hear the edge in the boy's voice. It was a plea. A desperate plea for him to survive. Naruto sighed as he said softly, "Ok. Konohamaru. I promise I'll make it."

Konohamaru wiped a tear from his eye as pointed at Sakura and Sasuke. He said, "He better make it back alive. Don't let him do something stupid. Remember he's your boyfriend and rival!"

"Boyfriend?"

"Rival?"

Before they could even get to the boy, he threw a smoke bomb and the three children scurried away. Naruto sighed as he had his hand on his head. This was going to be super annoying. Once the smoke cleared, Naruto said, "Well that was something."

"Something? You got these kids believing I'm your girlfriend! You need to stop before Ino gets word. You know how she is."

Naruto put his hands in his pockets. He said with a small edge, "Trust me Sakura. You don't have to worry about that."

Sakura was taken aback by this. It was a simple confirmation on Naruto's part, but it was the way he said it. It struck her for some reason. Naruto turned his attention towards Sasuke. His eyes became serious as he said, "What is it that you wanted to talk about?"

Sasuke jumped down from the tree and said, "We're a target. A pretty big one at that."

"Agreed."

Sasuke continued, "I heard a few of the teams talking about us. They are after us and we need to make sure we are ready when they try to sneak us."

"I was thinking about that as well. They might try to henge into one of us. We need some way of identifying ourselves. Here." Naruto flicked a card to both Sasuke and Sakura. They looked at the cards with some suspicion. Naruto said, "After meeting with that Kabuto guy, I was intrigued by those cards he had. I created some clones to find some of these cards from the sealing shop."

"But how? You didn't even make a move."

"It was when we were running here. The supply shop was on the way, so I created some clones to get it. While she was talking, they came back and got them to me. The purpose of these cards is to be identifiers. While normally not useful, they serve the purpose of identifying teammates. All we have to do is pour some chakra into them and they'll show a secret word that only we would know."

"What is the word?"

"Pour some chakra in to see it."

Sasuke and Sakura nodded as they poured chakra in. The card glowed before showing the word "Ameyuri". Their eyes lit up as they realized that only they knew about what happened with her. It was a brilliant move on Naruto's part to use that word. They silently put the card in their pockets.

Naruto said, "Now. We all signed the consent forms. But there is something else that we need to understand. We need to get in and out as quickly as possible. The longer we're in the forest, the worse of a chance of making it out alive. We need to take out some of the weaker groups. Since they know us better than we know of them, I'll be using clones to disguise as us to give us some time. It might limit me a bit, but we should be fine."

"Good. But there is one more thing."

"What's that Sasuke-kun?"

"We need to stay away from that Sand team as much as possible."

Naruto nodded. "We'll only fight them if we have absolutely no choice. That Gaara guy needs to get beat but we need to see what we're up against first."

"Naruto-kun, are you really afraid of him?"

"Afraid? Not really. But we need a plan and the only thing we know is that team has a puppet user and a wind user. I'm more intrigued on how they work together."

"We also need to be wary of that Neji kid. He might want to come after us after Naruto's altercation."

"Agreed. Sakura, you are the only one with the medical ninjutsu training. We need you to be on your game as I have a feeling we'll need you more than you'll need us."

Sakura was surprised once more before nodding. She was the one that was needed. She said with a big smile, "You can count on me!"

The time period that Anko gave the genin had elapsed. It was at that moment that Team Seven realized just what they were going to be up against. They saw Team Eight, Team Nine, Team Ten, the Suna Team and others. But at the moment, they didn't care about them. No, they were only worried about two things. One was surviving. The second was winning. It was with that cockiness that it didn't surprise them that teams were looking at them like a prize.

Kill them and that team would be legends.

Naruto sighed as his mind wandered to Anko. The Jonin put her hands on her hips. With a toothpick in her mouth, she said, "I would like to thank you all for your waivers. Just know that Konoha is not responsible for what happens to you in the forest. Your objective is to get both scrolls, Heaven and Earth and bring it to the tower. If you die, well you weren't good enough to be a shinobi. If you or one of your teammates cannot continue, you lose. Simple as that. To begin, each Team must send one person on their team to me to collect a special card. Once you get the card, all three of you will pour chakra into it and begin. Am I understood?"

"Hai!"

With a sinister smile, Anko distributed the cards to the team leaders. Once every team gained one and put their hands on the card, she gave them the nonverbal okay. In an instant, all the shinobi disappeared in a plume of smoke.

Anko frowned as her hands were on her hips once more. She didn't know what it was, but something felt incredibly off.

It had been about two hours since the teams were transported to their respective areas. The cards had turned into scrolls. Either Heaven or Earth. Each team had the same objective. Finish their enemies quickly and get to the tower as fast as possible. Naruto and his team had been pretty lucky to have not found a single team yet. The team was silently in the trees while their clone versions were on the ground walking casually. Naruto had used Zorua to go ahead to do recon. Naruto was silently thankful for Zorua's shadow ability as it made it easier for the team to get the drop on another team. In the meantime, Naruto instructed his clones to act naturally.

"This is so boring!"

"Naruto! You have to be quiet!"

"Come on Sakura. There's nothing here! We don't have to be quiet."

As the clones kept bickering, Naruto and the rest of Team Seven were watching silently. Sakura was quite happy that Naruto devised this plan as it gave them the opportunity for a bait and switch. Get the scroll and keep moving. The real Naruto put a hand up to tell them to stop. There was a team coming their way. They silently crouched down and prepared for the upcoming battle.

With a snap of a twig, the clones were alerted of the presence of another team. The Naruto clone frowned as he recognized the team was from Kiri. The clone knew that Kiri was known for their bloody roots. However, he knew after Zabuza's class they moved away from that. It was obvious that this group was not exactly the cream of the crop.

The leader of the group was cocky. He had dark black hair with a reddish streak going down the side of his face. He had a snagged canine tooth that was more rounded. The boy said, "Well, well, well. If it isn't the little leafies. I guess it really is our lucky day. Why don't you give us your scroll and we'll be on our way."

The Naruto clone chuckles as he pulled out his kunai. The clone replied, "It's not very polite to not give us your name before beating us."

The female on the team jumped of the team in front of "Team Seven". Her bluish hair waved behind her as she pulled out her sword. She pointed it at the clone before saying, "Knowing our name is worthless. You won't be alive long enough to remember it."

The Naruto clone gently moved the sword away from his face with a finger. "Now. now. We don't need to do all that. That's so uncivilized. Let me start. I'm Naruto Uzumaki. It's nice to meet you Miss-"

"None of your damn business", the woman snarled back.

Naruto clone shrugged his shoulder, "Suit yourself." With a glint in his eyes was the only warning he gave the team. The woman's eyes went wide as she looked back to see her team unconscious. Fear crept up her body, but it only lasted a second before she, herself, fell unconscious. Naruto's clone gently put her down and took the scroll she had.

"Naruto-kun, that was brilliant."

"It's Naruto-kun again."

"Shut up, Baka."

"Much better."

Naruto merely smirked as he looked at the scroll. He gained a frown on his face as he realized the scroll was the same as theirs. He was hoping that they could be one and done. He said, "It's the same one as we have."

"Kuso!"

"Hn. Well if they are as easy as these guys are, it's going to be a cake walk."

Naruto agreed but something told him that this wasn't going to be the case. He had the jump on these guys by having two clones on the ground that knocked them out. But the odds of that happening was slim. He turned his attention to the breeze going through the trees. The birds hastily leaving put a knot in Naruto's stomach.

"No! Please!"

Naruto and the rest of Team Seven went on guard as soon as the voice went totally silent. They could feel their hearts beating out of their chest as Naruto silently turned his head to Sakura as if to say. "I told you so."

As Team Seven was dealing with the team from Kiri, Gaara and his team were enjoying themselves. Well one of them at least. Gaara found himself enjoying his time with the monsters. They were like him. Feral. Unrestrained. Dangerous. He found it to be quite freeing to be those of his kind. Maybe he can challenge and kill them as well. Maybe he could even get some sleep.

What a delightful dream!

If he could, he would have a small smile grace his face. But none of that. As he walked in silence ahead of his team, Gaara felt a few teams coming around him. His face twitched a little as his hands started to itch. He wanted to kill. No, he needed to kill something. He had hoped that one of the teams was the team with that blond-haired boy. The boy had started to bother him immensely. He didn't look like much, but it was the way he spoke to him. No. it was more than that. The boy was the only one that had actively made his mother nearly go insane to kill the boy. It nearly ruined all of his father's plan. Not that he truly cared about that.

He needed to kill the boy. One way or another.

Nonetheless, He saw a team drop down in front of him. His two teammates got into a defensive stance as he crossed his arms. The team was nothing spectacular to look at. It was two older boys and a younger girl. Typical Konoha standard he bristled to himself. The girl had her kunai out of in front of her. The only thing that caught Gaara's eye was the blond streak that was a stark contrast to her otherwise black hair. It intrigued him slightly as to why someone would change their hair.

"Give us your scroll or we'll be forced to use force."

Gaara stood passively at the girl's attempt to intimidate the team. He realized the other teams around them were waiting to see what would happen. Some of the teams must have heard stories of his team's accomplishments including killing Chunin. He bit back a scowl as his face remained blank.

"Did you not hear what I said? I said hand over the scroll or you'll regret-"

"Gaara wait!"

While the girl was talking, sand slowly left Gaara's gourd and moved towards the other team. The other team looked down to see sand had started to form around them. They tried to jump out of the way but to no avail as the sand was quickly coming up to their knees. Panic and fear became apparent in their eyes as they felt sand coming up their legs. Gaara stood still. He could see it. The end of their lives. His mother's wish.

'Blood!

'Give me their blood!'

'All of them!'

Gaara's face remained stoic but his eyes told the whole story to the other team. They were going to die. There was no hope. The sand had quickly covered their body. The girl begged and pleaded to the red-headed demon that was masked as a human, "No! Please!"

With a snap of Gaara's fingers, the team disappeared into a pile of sand. Nothing was left. Nothing to bring back to their families. Nothing to even say they existed. Just sand. A small smile cracked onto the normally stoic shinobi. But this; this did put a smile on his face. His eyes darted towards the other teams that watched in horror of the deaths of the unlucky team.

Gaara wasn't done.

"Ino, we gotta go! Now!"

"B-but you saw what that monster did?"

Shikamaru in a frantic voice replied, "Yeah. We'll be next if we don't move!"

Team Ten ran as hard as they could from the monster. They heard and read the stories and tales of Gaara of the Sand. But for them, originally, it was just tall tales. Now, they had seen the error of their ways. The stories were true. Ino felt green from seeing a cocky team that had the misfortune of crossing paths with that demon. How could a demon that powerful be a genin?

While they ran as hard as they could, they heard the violent screams of their fellow genin go silent. This gave them the extra motivation to run even faster away from the monster trio. They didn't care which way they went as long as they were out of the way. It took them about 15 minutes or so until they felt they were in the clear. More like Choji couldn't keep up any longer and had to stop. Shikamaru cursed as they hid behind a group of trees.

Shikamaru could feel his heart pound out of his chest. This was the first time in his life that he had ever felt fear. True unadulterated fear. His hands shook as his nerves were absolutely shot. Was this the life of a shinobi? To kill that easily; that effortlessly; that remorselessly? This couldn't be real life. His eyes darted to the other two members of Team Ten. The fear that emanated from their face told Shikamaru everything he needed to know.

This was real.

This was life or death.

What would his father do? Would he run away? Would he try and fight this monster? His mind couldn't for the moment truly process what to do?

"Well, well, well. If it isn't the Konoha Rookie 9?"

Team 10's attention darted to the other team. It raised their already shot nerves even higher. Shikamaru pulled out a kunai. The issue was that the other team could see the fear that flowed through the team. It also didn't help that Shikamaru's hands trembled like none other. The male's face gained a smirk. This was too easy. He pulled out his kunai and went to strike Shikamaru. Shikamaru put up a feeble defense just barely stopping the attack.

The man wasn't surprised that he was blocked. However, he put more pressure on the pineapple-haired boy forcing the boy up against the tree. The girl on the other hand said, "Shigeri, stop. They are already ready to give up. Let's just take their scroll and get going."

The now named Shigeri snarled as he punched Shikamaru in the face. He said, "Fine. Just give us your scroll and you'll live."

Ino was about reach into her pouch before Shikamaru coughed. He spat up a little bit of blood and said, "We don't have it."

"What? Where is it?"

Shika for the first time in his life needed a punch in the face. It actually helped him to clear his thoughts of the Suna genin. He was able to process what was happening. While he was in better shape, his teammates were not. He could use this moment to his advantage. He said, "We lost it to the Suna team. They used their sand technique to steal it from us."

"You gotta be kidding me! That Suna team is going to hoard all of the scrolls! Can you sense any deceit in his voice?"

The girl was more interested in what spooked the team. It wasn't them. She knew that for a fact but her sensory ability couldn't make heads or tails of if they were being truthful. She cursed herself for not taking training of lying under duress seriously. She made a split-second decision and said, "Hai. I couldn't tell anything."

Shigeri grunted in frustration before punching the shinobi once more knocking him down. He said, "Pathetic leaf. We should kill you right where you sit. But we have more important things to worry about. Rookie Nine? Hah! What a waste." He turned his head to a team and continued, "Let's go."

"But-"

"Let's go. We don't need to worry about these scrubs. They can't help us."

"O-Okay."

It took a few moments before the team had left Team Ten in their miserable state. Once they no longer heard their footsteps, Shika gained a smirk on his face. It worked. He was able to save his team. Choji let out a relieved sigh. Ino was a lot worse for wear. Shika whispered, "Are you okay Ino?"

Ino's eyes had the face of that of many genin in their first real instance of life and death. Her mind was truly able to process what happened. Could she do what Shikamaru did? Could she keep her mind on the mission? Could she save her team? She wasn't ready for this. Her body still had goosebumps with a lingering feeling of coldness. Choji enveloped her in a hug as tears started to leak down her face.

Shikamaru sighed as he nursed his bruised face. So, this was the Chunin Exams.

"We should have taken their supplies!"

Teo yelled at his two teammates. He was frustrated that his teammates didn't even check to see if they had the scroll. What type of shinobi are they to not check? It frustrated him to no end. He hated that his Kage had forced him to join Shigeri and Karin. He missed his old teammates.

Shigeri looked at him with a look of disdain. He said, "Teo, Karin said that they weren't lying. Plus, they're from Konoha. They were clearly not competent enough for this. I highly doubt they had anything that could help us."

Teo seethed, "But you don't know that! You are assuming when we could have easily checked them. This is why you guys are-"

"Shut up", Shigeri snapped. "Listen. You shouldn't be talking. Your team had already become Chunin. They left you. We ain't them. This is my team. Remember that. We're going after that Suna team and we're going to beat their asses."

Karin nervously twirled her red hair. This was her fault. Maybe if she had said something, this wouldn't have been a problem. She sighed as she felt knots in her stomach about the Suna team. She remembered reading the reports of the team. They were impressively destructive. It scared her on how fast they were able to kill their opponents with relative ease. Her eyes went wide as her sensory skills kicked into overdrive. She felt over five teams' chakra just barely lingering.

Contrary to popular belief, when someone dies, they're chakra doesn't immediately disappear. They linger for a little bit. Karin knew this well after seeing her father die in front of her and seeing his chakra surround her and keeping her safe. She held back a tear thinking about it. Nonetheless, the chakra that lingered had felt disgusting. Almost as if it were corrupted in some way. Karin bit her lip before saying, "There are five teams dead in front of us."

"Five?"

Shigeri bit his lip as he asked, "Do you sense how they died?"

Karin shook her head, "No. But I have a feeling it has to do with that Suna team."

Shigeri balled his fists as he replied with venom, "It's that Suna team again. I'm so sick of hearing about them. They aren't anything special. Can you sense them?"

Teo threw his kunai on the ground in frustration. He yelled, "Not special? If what Karin said is right, then they are more than special. They'll kill us in a matter of moments. Why do you want to fight them so bad?"

Shigeri sighed as he picked up Teo's kunai. As he contemplated what he should say, he inspected the kunai. He said in a melancholy tone, "Suna is gonna pay for what they did to my family. My family was originally from Suna. We loved it there. It was beautiful. In fact, I was once a childhood friend of the triplets." Shigeri let out a mirthless chuckle before continuing, "That was until the red-head decided to kill my mother. It was quickly covered up and we were forced to uproot to Kusa. I'll never forget that look on his face when we were forced to leave. It was one of evil."

Shigeri slammed the kunai into the tree startling his teammates. He said, "I'm going to wipe that smile off his face. I don't care if it's with or without you."

Teo was taken aback by Shigeri's determination. He didn't expect that from the boy. Shigeri was always laid back but something snapped in him. He sighed and said, "Well the odds aren't in your favor but nothing I'm going to say will stop you. Might as well help you out. You better not die."

Shigeri gained a smirk on his face before saying, "Don't plan on it. Now let's go. Besides, if they killed five teams already, they must surely be tired."

Gaara and his team walked leisurely through the forest. Gaara's face stayed impassive after killing the five teams. He felt his chakra grow from taking their chakra, but it had not sated his Mother. She wanted more. More blood. He was upset with himself since he missed one team because another team tried to blind him. He let a small smile grace his face as he particularly enjoyed their screams of their despair. Never get in the way of a beast's meal.

Temari sighed as there was something morally degrading seeing people die in such a way. It was repulsive and morally irreprehensible. Yet she couldn't look away. It was like an incoming collision. So disgusting but beautiful in its own way. Was she mentally fucked up? Probably. Then again being the sibling of a monster can do that to you. She sighed as she said, "Well at least we have the scroll we need. We can just make it to the tower and be done with this. This place gives me the heebie jeebies."

"I thought it was just me,'' Kankuro said in relief. This test had made him more afraid of his sibling than anything else. It was as if this place was his element. He knew other teams were weak but the slaughter he saw was one for the books. It was not fair in the slightest. The worst part was that there was no blood left. Nothing.

Gaara said nothing as he felt the presence of another team. One of the members felt familiar in a sense. He couldn't put a finger on it as he saw a kunai coming at him. He effortlessly flung it away with his sand. Kankuro and Temari quickly went into a defensive stance as they didn't feel their presence. Temari yelled out, "Come out and face us cowards." Soon a flurry of kunai came at the team. Temari reacting quickly pulled out her fan and blew the kunais out of the way.

What Temari didn't realize was that the kunais were tagged with smoke bombs. They went off clouding their vision. Soon another flurry of kunais came at them. It was only because of Temari's training in wind trajectory that she was able to put up a defense for her and her brothers with her fan. She looked at her youngest brother and was surprised his face didn't contort in any way. He was truly something else.

Soon she felt pressure coming at her pushing her into her brothers. She gritted her teeth before using her strength to push whatever that was back. She huffed as she didn't expect that attack. Soon the fog dissipated to show Shigeri and his team. Temari blinked before saying, "Shigeri? I didn't expect to see you."

Shigeri spun the kunai on his finger before saying, "Sorry princess. I guess it has been a while."

Temari shifted into an attack position. She said, "If I had known it was you, I would have whacked you to kingdom come."

Gaara turned to his sibling and said, "Do we know him?"

Temari nodded, "Yeah. His mom was one of the people that tried to kill us when we were little."

Gaara's eyes never blinked. He said in a simple voice, "Oh. Can I kill him?"

The nonchalant tone of Gaara's voice sent shivers down Temari's spine. He didn't care if this was someone that's family tried to kill him. No emotion. Just death. She hesitated before Shigeri yelled, "My mother didn't try to kill you. You killed her, you bastards!" This didn't leave the emotional impact that Shigeri hoped to get out of Gaara. He stood there with an impassive look. It was almost like he was bored already.

Temari took the initiative and said, "Whoever the other two are, I would highly suggest running away now. Shigeri isn't coming back after we're done with him."

Shigeri gained a smirk on his face and said snidely, "Is that so princess?" In an instant, Temari realized that there were tags on her fan. Her eyes went wide as she poured chakra into her fan. With a roar, she threw her fan at the team. The wind chakra that was gathered caused the team led by Shigeri to scatter into many directions. Unfortunately for Shigeri, the explosion caused him to hit a tree.

He groaned as he rubbed the back of his head. He opened his eyes to see a very irritated Temari and a highly impassive Gaara. Temari angrily kicked him in the ribs. She said, "First your family comes to kill us then you tried to destroy my fan."

Shigeri coughed up blood as he gave a grin. He knew he had lost and was close to seeing his end but maybe if he could get a simple rise out of them, it would all be worth it. He mocked the blonde, "Sorry, Princess. I couldn't think of a better way to hurt you than to destroy your mom's fan."

Temari's blood boiled as she was about to strike this loser. However, she was stopped by the feeling of sand around her arm. She looked to see that it was Gaara that was holding her arm back. His face was still stoic as he calmly stood in front of the boy. Shigeri taking a chance to get back at Gaara spat blood on him. The blood merely went down Gaara's face. It didn't cause a rise or any emotion out of the Sand-nin. Soon sand started to form around the injured shinobi causing instinctual fear to consume him. Gaara didn't even blinked as the man thrashed. Gaara said simply,

"You will join your mom."

"Know what? I truly hate bugs."

Sakura whined to no one in particular. It had been a day since they entered the forest. Team Seven wasn't having the best time exactly. Come to find out, where they were transported to was the longest road to the center. If it was completely cleared of monsters and shinobis, it would take approximately two days to get there. That dampened their moods a little bit. What made it worse was that they heard that the groups they had met up with all had the same scroll.

What are the odds of that?

Honestly, Naruto thought this might have been a cruel, cruel joke someone is playing on them. Someone wanted to teach these rookies a lesson. Naruto sighed as he surveyed the area. No trace of shinobi. He had once again sent Zorua to go ahead and check out the area in front of them. He was silently thankful that the fox was on their team as this helped them tremendously.

Sasuke decided to speak up, "I read up on these bugs. They supposedly dampen your senses as their shells release a genjutsu when they fill threatened." Sasuke decided that he would look ahead instead of seeing his shocked teammates' faces. What? He can't have a hobby of reading? He just shook his head and kept walking.

Naruto's ear twitched as he heard a rattle. It wasn't in front of them or behind him. It was coming from the East. His heart started to pound in his chest as he stopped walking. His team turned to look at him. They gave him an inquisitive look before he said, "Something's here and it isn't natural." The way Naruto sniffed the air put them on high alert. Naruto pulled out his kunai as he tried to calculate where the abnormality was.

Yet, nothing happened.

Naruto sighed as he whispered, "Let's keep going. But be on high alert. Whatever it is, it isn't good."

The team merely nodded their head as they trekked on.

'Kukuku'

Orochimaru watched in silence of his prey. He knew the Forest of Death better than even his former student. He knew every crook and cranny of the place. It wasn't a surprise that Orochimaru had a relatively small lab hidden inside the place. After all, it did have exotic creatures and other types of plant life. Why wouldn't he be interested? With that in mind, he used this lab to conceal himself from the other teams in order to find his prey.

Team Seven.

It was his adopted son's team. What father wouldn't want to see how his son's development was going? He did ask Kabuto what he thought of his interaction with Naruto was. Kabuto begrudgingly said that the boy was stronger than he appeared and was pretty sharp. He was able to snuff out Kabuto's plan to start some mistrust between the teams. Orochimaru simply dismissed this with a wave. This didn't tell him what he needed to know.

Speaking of Team Seven, he was quite interested in Sasuke Uchiha. The last loyal member of a once powerful clan. The boy from what he's heard was nowhere near as strong as his brother. That's to be expected. Itachi was on another level by the time he was Sasuke's age. Orochimaru learned that first-hand after his unfaithful encounter with the boy. However, Sasuke did have the Sharingan. Or at least he should. What better way to get back at Itachi than to get his younger brother?

Then there was the girl. To be honest, he really didn't care for the girl. No. She really didn't matter all that much. But her mother though? Oh, He remembered her very well. She completely foiled his escape plan. She destroyed some of his labs. Some of the specimen in those labs were impossible to get back! Then she cursed him with that blade of hers. That was utterly infuriating! Unfortunately for Sakura, that made her a target for Orochimaru.

Orochimaru was quite eager to meet them. But he knew he needed to be patient. Patience was a virtue, he reminded himself. As he silently watched the team pass him without even noticing, he silently did a hand sign. In a small puff of smoke, one of his larger snakes appeared in front of him. The snake zapped a little bit before inquiring why the man had summoned him. Orochimaru said barely in a whisper, "Rakurainiau, long time no see."

Rakurainiau zapped at him, "This better be important. After the shit you and Manda pulled it's been hell in the summoning realm."

Orochimaru bit down a frown as he said, "I've heard. I thought you would like to see an old familiar face."

"Who is it to say I wanted to see your face again?"

Orochimaru truly frowned. He really did enjoy the company of Rakurainiau. It's such a shame that their friendship had strained so much. He said, "Listen, I'm sorry for what Manda did- "

"Enough. What is it that you want?"

Orochimaru decided now wasn't the time for that talk. He pointed over to the direction of Team Seven. He said in a whisper, "Do you recognize the boy over there?"

Rakurainiau looked over and his eyes went wide in surprise. Rakurainiau instinctively wagged his tail. Naruto was alive! The boy was still alive! Soon the gears in his head started to turn as he looked over to his summoner. He asked, "Why are you showing me the boy?"

Orochimaru remarked, "The boy is doing the Chunin Exams. I want you to distract him away from the rest of his teammates. I want to test him. See how far he has developed."

"You would know how much he's developed if you didn't decide to abandon him", Rakurainiau hissed at him, "If you think that I'll help you take over his body, I'll- "

"Kill me where I stand. I know. I know. Right now, he's not on my list. I just want to test him."

Rakurainiau sent him a glare. Orochimaru already knew where Rakurainiau's loyalties lied and it definitely wasn't with him. So, any false steps might mean his untimely death.

"Very well Orochimaru, I will assist in your task."

It had been a few hours since Naruto had felt that presence. He kept his guard up, but at the moment, his bodily functions were taking priority. He said, "Hey guys. I need to stop for a minute."

"What for", said an irritated Sakura.

Naruto went flush as he rubbed the back of his head. He said embarrassingly, "I need to pee."

"Ugh! You gotta be kidding me", Sasuke said. They were finally getting somewhere almost to the halfway point and now the boy needs to go pee? Sasuke berated, "I told you do not drink all that water."

"Hey! I was thirsty!"

Naruto defended himself. He knew that wasn't going to work by the look of his irate teammates. He replied, "Just give me two minutes and I'll be done lickety split." From the look on their faces, they relented. Naruto gave them a smile of gratitude and ran east to relieve himself.

Sasuke sighed as he sat on the ground. To be completely truthful to himself, he was already sick of the forest. It stunk. It was dangerous. Can't get a good night's sleep. To top it all off they had the furthest to go. This was an absolute nightmare. It didn't help that Sakura tried to strike up a conversation on a relatively opened wound.

"Umm, Sasuke-kun, can I ask you a question?"

Sasuke's eyes told Sakura that he wasn't in the mood. Nonetheless, he nodded.

She said in a whisper, "What happened between you and Naruto. You two really became close and the -"

"Massacre", Sasuke spat. While he had grown and developed bonds with his teammates and sensei, the event still burned brightly in his heart. He could still feel the heat that was born that day. His hands shook in a bit of rage while his eyes flared. He continued, "Naruto- Naruto knows pain. He knows the feeling of being alone."

Sakura's eyes went wide as she uttered back, "Alone? What do you mean? He has us! He knows that, right?"

Sasuke muttered, "We both know that he's an orphan, right? No one would adopt him. Hell, people openly treated him with hostility. He doesn't ever talk about it out loud, but you can't help but notice."

Sakura took a moment to digest the information. She really never thought about it until now. She had wondered why they had been given dirty looks when they walk around together. She just shrugged it off. But now it started to make sense. Well, no. It opened even more questions as to why. Sure, she knew that Naruto was known for pranking. That shouldn't equate to the open hostility he received. She asked, nervous of the answer, "Do you know why he's treated that way?"

Sasuke looked her straight into her eyes. The eyes made Sakura quiver in fear for a moment.

"No."

The silence that occurred right after was palpable. Sakura didn't know what to say as Sasuke looked around in the distance. These were the times that Sakura wished Naruto was here. He would know what to say. Yet, the pit in her stomach grew as she remembered what Sasuke had told her. She said softly, "Naruto-kun."

"Did someone say Naruto-kun?"

Naruto rustled from the bushes. Yet, there was something off with his smile. The scratching of the back of his head was spot on but something was off."

Sasuke's eyes narrowed.

Naruto was having troubles of his own. He was hit by a powerful wind attack and was taken by a large snake. As much as he struggled to break free from the grasp of the snake. It was utterly useless. Surprisingly, Naruto was not in any type of pain. Just a little uncomfortable. He didn't know how much farther away he was from his team, but he needed to get away. He yelled at the snake, "Let me go! You big worm!"

"I can't do that Naruto-sama."

Naruto's eyes went wide as he heard the snake speak to him. 'He called me -sama. This isn't an ordinary snake. That must mean-!" Yes. This was like the snake that attacked him months ago. It was a summon! With that he struggled much harder to break free making the snake quite squeamish. However, the snake's hold was firm as the two reached about 300 meters away from the area. Once the snake reached its destination, he dropped the boy unceremoniously.

Naruto unconsciously rubbed his lower back from the sudden impact. He quickly got into a defensive stance as his scales came out in full force on his arms. His right eye went up in surprise as he saw that the snake was bowing to him. This caused his heart to beat a little quicker. He recognized the snake wasn't an ordinary snake from the Forest of Death. This one had three horns adorning his head with a beautiful cobalt blue skin and yellow stripes. Naruto could feel the strength emitting from this snake.

"Naruto-sama, I'm sorry for capturing you away from your team."

Again with this Naruto-sama nonsense.

It was getting on his nerves. He asked in an irritated tone, "Why did you capture me and why do you keep calling me, Naruto-sama?"

The cobalt skinned snake wagged its tail as it said, "You may not remember me, Naruto-sama. But us summons will always remember you."

So, he was right. This snake was a summon. But why would the summon remember him? He didn't remember them. He inquired more, "Who are you and how do you even know me?"

The snake wasn't surprised that the boy didn't remember him. After all, it's been years since he last saw him. In addition, Naruto was still very young when he last saw him. He said in a proper tone, "My apologies, Naruto-sama. I am Rakurainiau. I used to take care of you when you were much younger."

Naruto took a step back as he digested what he just heard. This snake had taken care of him? That's impossible. He only known of one to do so. He asked fearfully, "Take care of me? The only snake I knew who took care of me was Orenji."

Rakurainiau nodded his head. "Yes. Orenji was one of the main ones to take care of you. It was many years ago. I was much different then. Once I leveled up, I was able to speak without zaps."

Naruto's memory started to focus. It was fuzzy, blurry but still enough to get some type of picture. He could see static of yellow and blue lights flying passed his eyes. He remembers how much it hurt. How much the pain hurt. He remembered screaming. What were the words?

What were the words?!

Naruto clutched his head as he fell on one knee. The snake looked concern as it slithered over to the boy. Instead, Naruto threw a kunai in front of the snake telling him to stay away. Naruto put his back to a tree as his face drenched with sweat. He wiped his brow as he felt his heart pumping faster.

Was that a dream?

Was it a memory?

Rakurainiau asked wearily, "Are you okay, Naruto-sama?"

Naruto began to focus on the snake once more. He saw the genuine concern on the snake's face. From the visage he just had, he could tell it wasn't the first time that snake had that concerned look directed at him. He asked, "You said you took care of me, right?" The snake nodded. Naruto continued, "What happened the last time you took care of me?"

Rakurainiau sighed softly as it thought about the last time that he saw the boy. The electricity that poured out of the boy was the stuff of nightmares. The cries and pain that boy experienced were forever ingrained into the snake's mind. He whispered with some regret seeping through, "It was when you were in a very bad accident. I was summoned to rectify the mistake."

The tone of Rakurainiau voice implied there was a lot that was left unsaid. Naruto tried to formulate words, but none could come out. Instead, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. If the snake wanted to kill him, he would have done so by now or at least try to. The snake merely slithered to the boy and nudged against his arm. Rakurainiau said softly, "Naruto-sama, you have grown up so much. After the incident, I didn't expect for you to make it."

"After the last time you saw me?"

The snake shook his head but decided to not speak about it. Instead, he said, "Naruto-sama, there are some dark times approaching you very soon. You must get yourself ready. You will be tested in ways that you haven't experienced before. If you make it through, I will find you and tell you everything. Now that I know you're alive, I can do more to help you. For now, get back to your team and help them."

Before Naruto could speak, Rakurainiau disappeared in a puff of smoke. Naruto coughed as he waved the smoke away. What did he mean that dark times are coming and that he'll be tested? Why are snakes always talking cryptically? First Orenji when he left, now Rakurainiau. He was getting frustrated really quickly. "Always in the dark," He muttered to himself.

Now wasn't the time to dwell on such matters. He needed to get back to his team. There was clearly a reason why Rakurainiau had captured him in the first place.

"You're not Naruto."

Sasuke got into a defensive stance as he and Sakura looked at the person impersonating their blond teammate. Sasuke noticed the differences between this impersonator and Naruto. It included the way the impersonator walked, the speech pattern, and his reactions to certain things. In addition, this man was toning down his chakra immensely and wasn't compatible with Naruto's. Sasuke casually asked the hidden question about Nami no Kuni. The impersonator was off. Way off. Sasuke quickly activated his Sharingan. Now wasn't the time to play games.

"What do you mean Sasuke-kun? I'm Naruto!"

Sakura cracked her knuckles before saying, "The day Naruto calls Sasuke, 'Sasuke-kun', will be the day hell freezes over. Now, stop playing games and tell us who you are before we beat it out of you."

The imposter merely chuckled before shimmering his appearance. The 'imposter' turned into the girl known as Shiore. "Well done, Sakura and Sasuke-kun. Not many can see through my disguise." It was a sincere compliment. Nonetheless, it put the two members of Team Seven on edge. The lady casually strolled to them with no issue. Sasuke's eyes narrowed as he felt the pure Killing Intent coming towards them. This was something he hadn't experienced since they met the Sand Kid.

"What do you want? We're not giving you the scroll."

Shiore merely smirked. In an instant, Shiore came at the two. Sasuke quickly used his kunai to block the senbon wielding shinobi. He was utterly surprised that this shinobi was putting this much pressure only using a senbon. Shiore smiled as she said, "Much too slow, Sasuke-kun. I expected better." With a spin, Shiore was able to disengage with the black-haired shinobi and kicked him back a few meters much to his surprise. Using her momentum, Shiore threw her senbon at the pink-haired shinobi.

Sakura was frozen in her spot. It was at a speed that Sakura had never seen before. Was it the Killing Intent that was causing her to freeze or was it because the mere speed that got to her? Her body shook. She saw glint of metal whiz by her.

Clank!

"Sakura! Move!"

She saw that Sasuke had thrown his kunai to deflect the senbon. 'I almost died!'. She quickly knocked the cobwebs out of her head and heeded Sasuke's advice. Shiore inwardly frowned as that should have taken the girl out. No matter. The one she wanted was doing as well as she hoped. She quickly dashed to the girl only for Sasuke to jump in between the two. He was able to block her attack with his forearm. Yet the impact was strong enough to make Sasuke's arm go numb.

'Shit! She is super strong! If I get hit again, I could be in big trouble!'

Shiore smiled as she started to exchange punches with the Sharingan wielding shinobi. She had accepted that the boy had been training it but wasn't anywhere close to its potential. With each punch getting quicker, Sasuke could keep up with it with his eyes but not his body. Sasuke had been close to getting hit numerous times but just narrowly dodged it. He didn't know how much longer he could be on the defense.

"Faiaboruto (Firebolt)!"

As if his prayers were answered, a crackling lightning bolt of fire came towards Shiore. Sasuke took this opportunity to disengage from Shiore and move away from her. Shiore was calm as she jumped away from the incoming attack. 'It couldn't have been the girl. Her mother never had the proficiency for that type of attack. Hmmm.'

The devastation of the attack left a hole in the ground. Shiore said in a sickly-sweet tone, "Hmmm. So, I guess there is another member of your team. I must say I didn't expect that. I guess I should take you more seriously." Shiore quickly started to weave some hand signs at a speed that neither Sasuke nor Sakura had seen. Shiore slammed her hands down onto the ground. She said softly, "Doton: Ganchūsō (Earth Release: Rock Pillar Spears)!"

Soon a few pillars of the ground started to protrude from the ground coming towards team. Team Seven cursed as the jumped into the trees. A black blur passed from behind Team Seven towards the enemy. With a quirk of her eyebrow, Shiore saw the blur disappear only for the blur to land in front of her. "Faiaboruto (Firebolt)!" Shiore mentally cursed as she could only block the attack. The firebolt was strong enough to push the girl back.

However, it gave the other two an opportunity to be on the offensive. Taking this opportunity, Sakura threw three kunai in the air. Sasuke quickly did the hand signs Rat, Tiger, Dog, Ox, Rabbit, Tiger. He yelled, "Katon: Hōsenka no Jutsu (Fire Release: Phoenix Sage Fire Technique)!" Soon a volley of fireballs connected with the kunai in the air and came towards the girl.

Shiore clicked her tongue as she dodged the fireballs. She kept her eyes peered in on the fireballs mixed with the kunai. This wasn't as difficult as the attacks were nowhere near the level as say a Jonin, but it was merely tedious at best. Plus, her mind was on the blur that hit her with the firebolt. 'Annoying.' Shiore had finally jumped out of the way before feeling another attack coming at her.

"Dāku Furea (Dark Flare)!"

An emboldened fire mixed with black smoke clouded the area. Shiore's eyes widened as she saw the black fog encase her. The heat in the fog was becoming an issue. She cursed inwardly, 'What the hell is going on?' She started to spin the air. She said, "Fūton: Daitoppa (Wind Release: Great Breakthrough)! The wind was strong enough to send the black flare towards the rookies. Shiore was surprised as she saw the trees that once covered that area were blacked in ashes and scorched. For a moment, she was worried she failed her objective. But that quickly escaped her mind as she saw pink and black hair running away.

She frowned as she patted the flames off her clothes. She looked to see that there was burn marks all over her body. She hated the smell of burnt hair. She sneered as she realized part of her flesh coming off her porcelain skin. She sneered as she ripped off a part of her skin containing a seal. She said to no one in particular, "I'm really impressed by your team, Kakashi. Didn't expect them to work so well together. However, I'm more intrigued by that mysterious thing that attacked me."

Shiore's face was slowly deteriorating causing her to laugh. She said, "So they are going to go find Naru-chan. As if that's going to help them. I wanted to face him alone. Pity. I will test him soon enough." Shiore's right eye became slitted with a yellow iris. "Sasuke-kun, you will have my mark."

A/sN: This chapter is done! I know it's been a few months. But it is done! So, I made some changes from canon. Team Ten witnessed the Gaara massacre. Karin's team had some background to them. I wanted to do a call back to the early chapter with Rakurainiau making a return. I also wanted to open the dialogue of Naruto's past to Sakura.

We're getting into Orochimaru and Naruto's encounter. Naruto is about to find out the truth next chapter. It's going to be fun writing Naruto fight Orochimaru. Hopefully, it won't be as long of a wait.

As always, read and review.

Jk10 is out.