Shikon

Lesson

A giant snake appeared and slammed its tail right on the giant branch they were own. Naruto pushed Sasuke out of the way and received the full blunt. A shell shocked Sasuke could only looked on in silent horror as the strange Genin ordered the snake to eat his blond teammate. Naruto retaliated to the order with a glowing whip, almost blinding the snake. His momentum caught up and he fell to a lower branch.

The mysterious Genin laughed, "How interesting! Sasuke, it is now your turn! What will you do I wonder?" He surfed the injured snake toward the Uchiha and Naruto suddenly appeared, taking the full impact of the snake's head. Despite that, Naruto grinned in mad excitement, "Oi Sasuke? What's wrong with you, scaredy cat?"

Sasuke stared in the face that Sakura once told him in great detail, a face that does not belong on a human. He thought she was just being obnoxious when she called Naruto monster. Naruto laughed, "This is fun,"

Sakura cried, "Naruto! This is not the time to play around!"

Naruto chuckled at her, "Wrong Sakura," He turned golden eyes at her, "This is exactly the time for me to play around. It's in the blood,"

Kurama's furs bristled, "Oh yeah..."

Sasuke stared at the sight, unable to believe that this was the Academy's Dead Last. Then again Naruto always said that his failure was due to technicality. He never really explained what it was and his graduation have always been a mystery with nothing more than hearsay to fall back to. Just who...who exactly is Naruto?

Naruto licked his blood, "You want to play game, snake?" He growled, his whiskers grow bolder, "Let's play...the old way," He raised his head and howled. A familiar howl that had silenced the three before the Genin had shook off whatever it was and continued his taunt of the team.

The Genin scowled, "Finish him,"

Naruto growled, he raised his fist and punched the snake with youkai strength, breaking it's snout and dislodging the Genin. He draw his blood and slashed, "Hijin Kessou!" Blades of blood flew from his bloody claws, slicing the snake's face as it screamed in pain. It started to shudder and trashed around as Naruto's deadly toxin entered its system.

Quelling his bloodlust, he grabbed Sasuke and created a clone to grab Sakura to take them out of the battle. No matter how he would enjoy hunting, he need control or the balance in the Shikon will be disrupted. He kept his mind on his first duty even in the height in battle just like he had been taught.

The Genin hissed, "Not so fast!"

A different snake appeared right next to him and Naruto threw Sasuke to Sakura just as he was slammed into a tree, knocking the air out of him. The Genin chuckled, "You...have really grown into an interesting one...I so would love to learn more about your condition however...I need you out of the way," Dazed, something wrapped around his neck and squeezed before he could breath, causing him to struggle when something slammed right into his seal.

Pain erupted as his chakra was disrupted. He could hear Kurama cursing colorfully in his head but even that voice slowly disappeared. It seemed that even with supernatural abilities, it was nothing before experience...

Kagome looked over him, "Naruto!"

He opened his eyes to see her head lying on Kushina's lap while Kagome looked over him, "What happened?"

Naruto coughed, "There's this weird Genin. He kept summoning giant snakes to attack us,"

Minato stared at the dome, "Unless there's another snake summoner, then it must be Orochimaru..."

Naruto looked at him, "Orochimaru?"

Minato nodded, "He's not a common Shinobi. A traitor of Konoha and one of the three legendary Sannin. A Sage for the Snakes. He's...a frightening opponent to face. He was Sandaime-sama's student and a prodigy. He was ousted as a traitor for experimenting on citizens of Konoha..."