It didn't take long for Sasuke to come up with a plan to recognise if they've been infiltrated. He recited the Shinobi Code and declared it their secret password. Naruto only pouted in disappointment. "Sasuke, teme, Uchiha duck-ass, could you repeat that?"
"No."
"You asshole. I need to go tinkle. Make sure pinky doesn't die."
"Naruto!" Sakura shrieked, both disgusted that the blonde would even mention his need to pee and angered that he had just called her weak.
Sasuke glared at Naruto, as if daring the Jiinchuriki to leave him with the banshee fangirl. Naruto smirked as she left into the woods, enjoying the feeling of Sasuke's desperate glare on her back.
Only minutes after she had relieved herself in the midst of some bushes, she gaped at the giant snake that lunged and swallowed her whole.
"WHAT THE HOLY RAMEN?!?!?!"
Kit! Summon me! I'll eat the damn thing!
Where did the damned thing come from! Naruto gagged internally. Ewww!!! Snake slime!
Kit, I have a very bad feeling about this. We need to get to your Team now!
Alright, Kyuu. I'm counting on you!
"KUCHIYOSE NO JUTSU!"
With a mighty growl, the seal released a building sized Kurama, causing the snake to bloat. The bijuu took no time in sinking his teeth into the reptile's flesh, tearing it apart from the inside until they were free. "We need to get to Sasuke and Sakura," Naruto gasped. "C'mon, Kyuu!"
And so climbing atop the bijuu, they took off to search for the other two members of Team 7, hoping they were still alive.
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Blood...
Gaara froze as his stomach gave a sudden jolt. Since the beginning of the first exam, mother had been extremely tame, speaking with no killing intent, and it bothered him. Now that mother was back to asking for blood, his muscles could finally relax.
Tamara and Kankurou paled as they watched the usual yet recently absent bloodthirsty look appear on Gaara's pale face.
"Now," the Jiinchuriki said. "Mother needs blood."
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"That stupid fox is free?!" Shukaku screamed in the mindscape. "That's impossible and so unfair! If he was actually free, he'd be rampaging on the forest and killing off most of the teams. But this chakra is purely his!"
"Did that vixen release him? No. As much as we hate each other, we still understand how the other thinks," he said through gritted, sharpened teeth, mercury eyes flashing with rage. "He hates humans as much as Son Goku, Gyuki and I do. So how?!"
In the deserts of the brat's mindscape, Shukaku's roar echoed endlessly, willing himself to be released as his brother was.
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Kurama knew his siblings well. Even when they had to fend for themselves after their creator, the Sage of Six Paths died, they fought and made up each time. Despite their differences, they were siblings after all.
His terribly tempered brother, Shukaku, had always declared a rivalry with him. Shukaku hated that Kurama always claimed the more tails a bijuu had, the more powerful they were. It was a childish dispute, but it made for quite the grudge, for Kurama could sense Shukaku's bloodlust in the air.
If not for the fact the Orochimaru might be after the Uchiha and Haruno brats, Kurama would gladly accept his brother's challenge and fight, Bijuu to Bijuu. But at the moment, Team 7's safety took first priority.
As expected, the snake bastard had disguised himself as a participant. "Oi, teme!" Naruto grinned. "I forgot the password!"
Sasuke turned to the blonde, about to reprimand him, but in shock at the fox Naruto was riding. It was different from the usual foxes, for one, because it had more than one tail.
"Get lost, Oro-pedo, and leave my teammates alone!"
Orochimaru marveled at the sight of the Kyuubi no Kitsune, in all its glory, somewhat smaller than he had last seen it. "My my, it seems I've found myself yet another interesting target."
Sasuke panicked, deactivating his Sharingan. "Look, I will give you the scroll. Please...take it and leave us."
Naruto's eyes flashed dangerously at her teammate, disbelieving as Sasuke was about to hand over their scroll. She swiped a shuriken from her weapons' pouch and aimed at the Uchiha's feet. "He doesn't want our scroll, teme you coward!"
"Clever, aren't you?" Orochimaru hissed in pleasure. "Yes...my aim is not your scroll. My true aim..."
The Sannin's impossibly long tongue shot out of his mouth, licking his lips. "Is Sasuke."
The team froze in fear at the Sannin's bloodlust. Naruto was the first to react after that exclamation. She barred her teeth, Kyuu's chakra bleeding into her system. Kurama could see her eyes darkening and turning into slits, her whisker marks darkening with his blood red chakra.
"YOU SHITTY CREEP!" Naruto roared. "TOUCH MY TEAMMATES AND DIE, YOU BASTARD!"
Orochimaru chuckled. "How fortunate for you, kunoichi. You have an Uchiha and the Kyuubi Jiinchuriki to make up for your lack of usefulness."
Naruto growled. "Kyuu, I'm counting on you. Don't kill anyone."
Kurama gaped at his Jiinchuriki. "You're giving me full control?"
"I trust you."
The fox watched Naruto's eyes for a moment, finding nothing but pure and absolute trust and confidence. His grin grew, flashing sharp, menacing teeth. "Alright, kit, let's do this."
Naruto giggled. "SECRET ART: CHAKRA TAKEOVER!!!"
Naruto's body went limp as Kurama's body glowed a bloody dark red, his chakra overflowing with murderous intent. "Alright, pedo. Time to die!!!" Kurama shot a mouthful of Hellfire at the Snake Sannin, who barely dodged, staring at his burnt leg in fascination. The fox easily kept his fiery attacks going at the Sannin, who dodged with 2nd degree burns staining his white skin.
"Fascinating," he said, licking his lips with his insanely long tongue. "To think there was such a method to free the Kyuubi."
In his moment of building up to a monologue, everything surrounding him set on fire, leaving him nowhere to go but up as she shrieked in pain, the flames licking his body, his skin melting off. "I'll get you next time, Kyuubi. But I'll leave Sasuke-kun with a little gift for now."
His neck elongated, and as Kurama was about to bite into it and kill the snake, the Sannin's teeth quickly sank into Sasuke's bare neck, and as the Kyuubi extinguished the flames, the Sannin had disappeared, leaving Sasuke unconscious. Kurama, frowning, returned Naruto control of her chakra. The blonde woke, horrified that her teammate was on the ground, writhing in pain. "Sasuke!" she gasped. "Kyuu, what happened?!"
"His neck was faster than I thought," he grumbled. "Looks like the brat has a curse mark."
Naruto paled. "We need to get him to the tower now!"
"But you can't go without the scroll set. You still have your Heaven scroll, but you need an Earth scroll to pass."
Naruto's voice started crying in her throat. "AH! Dammit! Why me?!" she whined. "Kyuu, come back. I got an idea."
The fox shrugged and poofed back into her seal. Naruto did a quick summon of a fox with a yellow coat of fur and long green leaves for ears and a tail. "Sakura, I'll leave Shinba here with you. Take care of Sasuke for a bit, I'll go find an Earth scroll! Don't move an inch, got it?"
"Shut up, I know what to do!" Sakura shouted, her voice cracking. "Just go!"
Naruto took off into the forest, looking for a victim to take out her anger on.
A/N: HI! I'm sorry for the late update! I've been procrastinating on both my stories and homework, surprise surprise. I'm a Year 10 now though, so maybe I should stop. -_-...Nah. I'll keep procrastinating. I'll try to update more often, but don't be mad at me if I don't, please. Ah! Feels so good to update again! \(^o^)/ Also, if you're thinking about how Shinba sounds a bit like Leafeon from Pokemon, that's because I've no idea how to imagine different foxes, so from now on, a lot of the fox summons will be based off of the Eeveelutions. I do not own Pokemon, though!