"Don't think lightly of the Sound." The bandaged boy said as a girl with long hair and boy with blue haired walked forward and stood by him.
"Yeah! By the end of the exam all three of us Oto nin will be..." The boy started to say but suddenly stopped when he felt something on the back of his neck. Between him and the bandaged genin stood Naruto with a kunai held up to both of their necks.
"I think that the two of you should calm down." The blond said in a monotonous tone. "Unless you want to start something..." Naruto finished, pushing the blades even closer to their necks.
The Sound shinobi were astonished, they had seen the blond genin leaning against the wall and away from the rest of the group before they attacked. None of them sensed him move until he appeared between them.
Before things could escalade, the doors to the room were pushed wide open and the instructors appeared. "Quiet down!" A Leaf nin with scars on his face exclaimed, causing many of the genin present to jolt in surprise, before he walked into the room followed by several chunin. "I do not want any trouble between Leaf and Sound." The tall man firmly stated as he glare down at Naruto and the Oto ninjas.
The blond looked straight back at the older shinobi's eyes, but never the less he pulled his blades back and moved away from the Sound genin.
"Now... My name is Morino Ibiki..." The man announced to the rest of the room. "And I will be your instructor for the first part of the Chunin Exam!" He declared before slamming the large stack of papers he had been carrying in the desk at the front of the room. "Take your seats so we may begin." The jounin finished.
Quietly, Naruto moved to his seat without saying anything to his teammates or to his former classmates. As he sat there, the spiky haired boy look to his side just as a very nervous Hinata took the seat next to her.
Every so often, the Hyuuga would steal a glance at the blond as she fidgeted with her fingers.
The Uzumaki could see that the kunoichi was a nervous wreck. Whether it was because of the Exam or because of his display with the Sound nin, the Sharingan user did not know, but still felt guilty about it. So then, for the first time in the last month, Naruto gave a small smile when he knew she was looking, hopping it someone reassure the young girl.
Her face got several shades redder, but nevertheless the Hyuuga seemed calmer afterwards.
A couple of hours later, the members of Team Seven were waiting for the second part of the Exam to start. "At least that tedious first part is done with..." Naruto thought. "That test's intentions could not have been clearer." He reasoned as his hand checked that all his gear was ready for the next phase. "With all the chunin in the room and so much emphasis on cheating, it was obvious what they wanted." The Jinchuuriki reasoned.
Even though the Uzumaki had deduced the objective of the written test, he had decided to temp his fate and prove his theory.
A light chuckle escaped the blond. "I kind of wish I could see that jounin's face when he finds my test." He thought as his mind drifted to the piece of paper back in the room in which he had only written his name and left everything else blank.
Hearing his teammate's quiet laugh, Sakura glanced at Naruto nervously. She had been beyond shock at how much he had changed in such a short time and the fact that he had barely said anything to her or to Sasuke made her even more worried.
Feeling eyes on him, the Sharingan user glanced at his side once again, this time finding his pink haired teammate observing him.
The Haruno waited a couple of seconds as she gazed at the blonde's sapphire eyes. The twinkle in those eyes that the spiky haired boy had always directed at her was completely missing. Instead, they seemed passive, perhaps even dull, as if he could not care any less about what she had to say.
Gathering her courage, Sakura finally spoke up. "Uhm... Naruto..." She started, but her words were cut off when the gates to the forest suddenly opened.
Immediately, all the genin rushed in to start the second phase of the Exam. The killer intent emanating from the forest was enough to wipe everything else away from the genin's minds.
"I had expected to run into more challenges by now..." Naruto pondered as he and the rest of Team Seven sat on a small clearing, taking a break five hours into the second part of the Exam. "So far all that we have seen was a weak group of Rain nin... And they ended up running away soon after..." The blond thought with a bit of disappointment.
During these last couple of hours, the members of Team Seven had come to the silently agree to continue to make their way deeper into the forest while keeping an eye out for any team that might be carrying the Earth Scroll they needed to pass. In all honesty, Naruto had expected to find several teams within the time period that had passed, but he had been severely wrong.
"I'm going to go ahead and scout the area..." The blond suddenly announced, surprising the other two genin with the longest sentence he had said to them since that fateful day on the bridge. Before either of the two was able to recompose and object, the spiky haired boy had already disappeared among the trees.
A sight escaped Sakura. "What... What do you think happened to him...?" She asked the raven haired boy near hear, her worries about their teammate's sudden and drastic change havening become too much to bear in silence.
"I don't know..." Sasuke responded simply with a frown. "He definitely feels... Odd..." He added as he recalled how the blond acted the last time the Uchiha had seen him and how different it was from his current attitude. "It's like he..." The boy stopped in mid sentence when he suddenly felt a terrifying amount of chakra being gathered somewhere close by. Too close for the Sharingan user's comfort. "Sakura! Move out of the way!" He shouted.
The two Leaf nin jumped from where they were sitting just before a powerful blast of wind burst right through with enough force to tear a tree off its place.
Immediately activating his Sharingan, Sasuke started to look around the forest for the source of the attack. "So there you are..." A menacing voice echoed through the surroundings. "Sasuke-kun..." It added before a Grass nin appeared in front of the two genin.
"Amaterasu!" Naruto exclaimed seconds after activating his Sora Sharingan. Immediately, the giant snake that was about to swallow him whole was completely covered in black flames.
To its credit, the giant reptile continued its attack as its entire body burned, forcing the spiky haired boy to jump back a couple of branches. Eventually, the snake stopped advancing and, after some squirming, finally dropped dead in the middle of the forest, the black flames still eating its body away.
The Uzumaki observed the dead animal for a couple of seconds. "That was weird..." The Jinchuuriki said to himself as he remembered how the snake had ignored its wounds to continue attacking him. "It almost looked as if the snake had been sent after me specifically." He commented before the Sharingan disappeared from his eyes.
Suddenly, Naruto felt two chakra signatures spike in the direction in which he had left his teammates. One of them was familiar and around the level of a chunin, the blond could easily recognize it as Sasuke's, but the other one he could not readily identify. It felt like a jounin, and a very powerful one, not as strong as Itachi's, but just as menacing.
Not liking the feeling of that chakra, the Jinchuuriki dashed off back towards his teammates. It took him a short while to get back to the clearing, but what he found there shocked the young boy to the core.
A disfigured Grass nin was biting Sasuke on the neck as the raven haired genin agonized in pain.
Rage started to fill the blonde's body.
The Grass nin finally let the Uchiha fall limply to the ground. "Sasuke-kun!" Sakura screamed, rushing to catch the raven haired boy's unconscious body.
Taking advantage that his presence had not been noticed, the blond quickly formed a series of hand seals. "Goukakyuu no Jutsu." He said before blowing a large fireball out of his mouth towards the Grass nin. Unfortunately, the strange shinobi saw the large fire jutsu approaching and had more than enough time to move clear out of the way of the blast.
The long haired man took a few seconds to regard the blond in amusement. "I thought that my snake would have been enough to take care of you." The disfigured nin said.
Naruto narrowed his eyes. "Who are you?" He asked. "There is no way you are a genin." The Jinchuuriki stated firmly.
A chuckle escaped the Grass nin. "Well, well... Aren't you more perceptive that I gave you credit for, Naruto-kun." He commented before bringing one of his hands up to his face and actually ripping the skin off. What was left was an incredibly pale face with yellow eyes that resembled a serpent's.
Despite himself, the spiky haired body took a step back on the branch he was standing on. He recognized the face, not just from the Konoha history books, but also from a picture in the Sandaime's office. "You... the Snake Sannin... The Old Geezer's former student, Orochimaru!" The genin exclaimed.
A delighted laugh escaped the pale man. "Right again, Naruto-kun." The legendary shinobi said with amusement. "So now... If you know who I am and what I am capable of, why don't you just take your teammates and walk way." He smiled wickedly. "I would really like Team Seven to continue to the third phase of the Chunin Exam." The Sannin added.
Naruto narrowed his eyes and let out a growl. "Do you think I'm scare of you?"
The snake summoner's smile widened. "Well, there are several villages that are still recovering from missions I carried out in there that would think so."
The Jinchuuriki's at being made light of. "I'm not stupid." He stated. "I know that you were chased out of the village by the Sandaime and are still considered a high priority Missing Nin." The spiky haired boy pointed out. "If you were to use your full power, it would be the same as to lighting up a huge neon sign over your head saying Please, Third! Come and get me!"
As she held Sasuke's body, Sakura was being quickly overwhelmed by fear. In front of her was a man that people said was as powerful as a Hokage and as vicious at a Bijuu, and to top it all off, Naruto was challenging him. The blond had changed yet again. Gone was the cold and aloof boy that she had seen walking toward them at the beginning of the Exam and in his stead there was menacing warrior giving off wave after wave of killer intent.
Suddenly, Orochimaru started to laugh out loud. "Hahah! I knew you were unpredictable, Naruto-kun, but I never thought you were this much fun!" He exclaimed as he continued to laugh. "Very well then... I will fight you at the same level I fought Sasuke-kun... Let's see how long you can last." The Sannin finally agreed before staking a fighting stance.
In a flash, both Naruto and Orochimaru lunged towards each other. Fist met fist, sending a small shockwave that shook the leaves on the trees. The pale man tried to kick the spiky haired boy, but the blond was able to block the incoming strike with ease using his forearm.
The Jinchuuriki then tried to deliver a punch of his own to the Sannin's jaw. However, before his attack could connect, he saw another fist flying straight towards his face. Naruto switched from offensive to defensive in less than a second as he moved his arms to block Orochimaru's punch. Unfortunately, the attack still carried more than enough strength to send the young boy a couple of feet back.
"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" The genin immediately called out, making two clones appear next to him. The three boys immediately charged forward at the Sanin, the clones moved in from the sides while Naruto went for a frontal assault.
However, older shinobi was able to block all of the attacks simultaneously and push Naruto and his clones back.
All three blondes took out a couple of shuriken each and hurled at Orochimaru.
As the spinning blades flew through the air towards their target, Naruto and his clones cried out in unison. "Shuriken Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Immediately, the six blades in midflight multiply to over a hundred.
Orochimaru jumped off the branch he had been standing on to avoid the massive amount of weapons flying towards him. The moment he landed back on a branch he was instantly surrounded by the three blondes, each already driving their attacks towards the black haired man as they started to pump more chakra into their movements.
At his current, heavily restricted, power level, it was starting to prove difficult for the Sannin to keep up with the genin and his three clones. Despite what his intel had gathered, the original Naruto was actually faster and stronger than Sasuke, while his clones were at least on par with the Uchiha.
After being put on the defensive for far longer that his pride would allow it, Orochimaru finally found an opening and managed to deliver powerful blows to both of the clones.
When the Bunshin disappeared in a cloud of smoke, the real Naruto use it as cover to land a powerful punch at the pale man's face, sending the Sannin flying straight into a tree.
However, before the blond was able to continue his attack, the older shinobi rose on of his hands and a pair of snakes immediately came out of his sleeve, lunging themselves at the boy.
Naruto quickly took out a kunai and beheaded both snakes with one swift movement. The Jinchuuriki wasted no time and charged towards the Sannin as he readied his blade.
Orochimaru easily blocked his opponent's kunai strike, but the genin immediately dropped the weapon and used his now free hand to grab onto the pale man's forearm.
The spiky haired boy spun his body in the air and delivered a powerful kick onto the Sannin's head, sending him flying off the tree branch. Even his body landed, Naruto was already making hand seals. "Enten Kawa no Jutsu!" The blond exclaimed. Immediately a powerful blast of hot air shot out of the genin's mouth hitting Orochimaru with full force and slamming his body on the ground far away with a thunderous impact.
Instead of relaxing, the Jinchuuriki started to frantically search his surroundings.
The next second, Orochimaru suddenly burst out of the grown below the genin's branch and jump straight towards the boy with a kunai in hand.
Acting out of instinct, the blond jumped to a higher tree branch to avoid the attack.
"Kukuku... I must say, you are leaving me quite surprised, Naruto-kun..." The Sannin commented as if he was having the time of his life.
Naruto glared down at his opponent. "You shouldn't have underestimated me..." He said. "I'm strong... Stronger than you could ever imagine!" The Uzumaki exclaimed as he activated the Sora Sharingan and looked straight into Orochimaru's eyes.
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Goukakyuu no Jutsu – Great Fireball Jutsu
Enten Kawa no Jutsu – Blazing River Jutsu (Made up)