The Tail Of A Beast {A Naruto Fan-Fic)

Chapter 9

(Ookami's POV)

I stood, bored out of my mind as Anko tried to intimidate us with her little, "It's the Forest of Death, and you'll soon find out why."

Apparently Naruto felt the same way and made a face, sticking his butt out and mocking her.  "'It's the Forest of Death, and soon you'll find out why'!  Yeah, right!  You'll have to do better than that to scare ME!"  He boasted, crossing his arms stubbornly, and I suppressed the urge to giggle like one of Sasuke's fangirls.  If only the boy knew what he was doing to me...

Suddenly, - well, I saw it coming, but no one else did - a kunai flew past and grazed Naruto's cheek, leaving a scratch.  Suddenly, a very familiar freakishly long tongue shot out and caught the kunai, holding it out to Anko, who had appeared next to Naruto. 

"I'm returning your kunai."  The freak said, and shockingly enough, you could understand even with its tongue out like that.

Anko seemed to look at it, and then smiled, grabbing the kunai.  "Right..."

The freak, who I was trying to place, grinned creepily.  Scary, but the whole long tongue thing was SO familiar....  "Sorry, but the sight of blood got me excited."

Ew.  Now, usually, yes, I would be with the he/she thing, but when it was a teammates blood it was different.  But Anko just laughed, "Seems we've got some bloodthirsty ones in this group!  This should be fun!"

"If you say so..."  I muttered under my breath, already growing bored of this exam.  The group was nothing special, just a bunch of bratty Genin...

When we were given consent forms to sign I scoffed.  "I don't plan on dying, but whatever."  So I signed anyways.  As if her little forest or Genin could harm me in the least, let alone kill me.  It was simply... unthinkable.  Impossible, even.

We were all given a scroll - our group got a Heaven Scroll.  You could either get Heaven or Earth, and in the five days we would be in here we had to get both scrolls and bring them to the tower.  Simple, really.

"And...GO!"  The signal for us to enter the forest sounded and we ran through our designated gate into the woods. 

Not long after we had entered a loud scream ripped through the air, causing Sakura and Naruto to jump slightly - and by slightly, I mean almost out of their skins.  "Th-that was a human scream, wasn't it?"  Sakura asked nervously.

I sighed.  "How about I go and scout out the area - you know, check to see if there's any good water sources nearby, how close the nearest teams are?  Sound good?"

The others hesitated, but Sasuke nodded.  "How will you find us again?"  Naruto asked worriedly, and Sakura nodded in agreement.

I smirked, "I'll sniff you out."  Giving my team a mock salute, I took off into the forest, scanning the surrounding area for any signs of life, something we could eat, or something we could get water from.  I knew that I could last a while in the woods with nothing, but my team couldn't.  And if one of us was killed, we would be disqualified.  Besides that, as much as it kills me to admit it, I had allowed myself to grow attached to them, and I wouldn't let anything harm them anytime soon. 

My sharp eyes zeroed in on someone and I stopped, silently landing in a tree above them, it was the grass ninja from before with the tongue thing.  Where had I seen that...?

And then, suddenly, it all clicked together, like I found the missing piece of a puzzle. 

My lips pulled back into a snarl, and I growled, catching what I now knew to be a man's attention.  "Orochimaru."

He seemed surprised, and then grinned that sadistic grin I knew.  How had I not recognized him sooner?  "What are you doing here, you filthy snake?"

I leaped down out of the tree, advancing on him quickly, eyes narrowed hatefully.  Orochimaru seemed surprised still, but confused.  "I apologize, but how do you know me?"

I scoffed.  "You're rather unique, you know.  There aren't many pedophile snakes that go around biting people, marking them as though they're theirs."

His eyes narrowed.  "Who do you think you are, girl?"

"Your killer."  I growled, feeling my features itching to transform, though I didn't.  I appeared behind him with lightening fast speed and slashed at him with my growing claws, but he dissolved into a clone.  My eyes narrowed dangerously into slits and I threw a kunai at the tree I knew he was hiding in.  "Come down and fight, coward!"

I heard his chuckle in the air as I felt him appear behind me.  "You know, I think I want you..."  (A/N:  EW!  CREEPER ALERT!)

I snarled, yeah right!  As if he could lay a finger on me!  Not even in his dreams. 

Actually, this could be good.

How the hell could this be good?  A pedophile wants to leave his mark on me!  Oh, god that sounds so wrong...  And I can't believe I'm talking to myself.  Where are Kyuubi and Shukaku when you need them?

Oh, grow up!  And I mean that it could help unleash your demon form - your true form!  These marks are meant to bring out the dark power in people, an evil power!  It isn't going to make you any stronger - Orochimaru isn't strong enough to do anything to you, but it could help you...

I was a bit skeptical still, but allowed it, seeing as I hadn't steered myself too wrong in the past, minus the occasional slip-ups.  I heard the woosh of the air behind me as Orochimaru's neck extended and suddenly I felt it - his teeth penetrated the skin right above my collar bone, at the base of my neck, and I tried not to gag as I felt his tongue on my skin.

I finally - after what seemed like an eternity - felt him release me, and I felt relief wash over me, as I turned and glared fiercely at him, putting on a marvelous act as he grinned.  "Goodbye, and I will see you soon. You will come to me, eventually.  I have another I would like, though, in the exams..."

I smirked as he disappeared, shaking my head.  "Orochimaru, I never thought I would say this to the likes of you, but... thank you."

I breathed deeply, debating whether or not to go back to my team or to look for food and water.  "They can handle themselves for a little while longer.  I have to find out where we can go to get food and water, though.  And I should check to see if we might have any upcoming battles... or I could always just eliminate any competition up ahead."  I grinned at the thought, "Yes.  I think it's time I had a bit more fun."

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So... I wanted to make up what she did suring this part of the exams, because, well, I wanted to!  XP  And there ain't nothing ya'lls can do 'bout it!  Heh, heh, naw, I hope you liked it and all that jazz, I'll have another upload up soon, don't worry!