Title: Faith Arc - Faith in Humanity (PG-13)

Author: Karrafear

Summary: AU. What if Naruto survived a murder attempt on his life at the age of 6 and had to leave Konoha for his protection. Now 12, Naruto and Jiraiya returns to face the genin test. Chapter Seven: Orochimaru Part 1!!!

Sorry for the long wait people, but know that this chapter is LONG!!! The longest chapter yet! So enjoy.

Warning: Naruto OOC. PG-13. PEOPLE WHO HAVEN’T READ NARUTO BOOK 5 AND 6 WILL HAVE PROBLEMS FOLLOWING THIS CHAPTER!! Please for those who have NOT read the book, don’t feel discouraged, give me an email and I might find a way to retype the chapter and send it to you directly with all the holes filled in. Oh… warning.. uh.. LOTS OF SWEARING!!

I’m also trying to pack in a hell of a lot of events into one chapter so I might revert back into my fast-paced writing. I hope you guys don’t mind, I’m just kinda desperate to move onto the really interesting parts when my OC reveals herself after the prelims. There will be a lot of swapping perspectives because sometimes, Naruto isn’t located where the action is, so I’ll be focusing on Sasuke and Sakura (sort of like the Haku Vs Naruto part) – switching point of views.

Um… about the names of jutsus… Most of the time, I prefer using the Japanese names with the English translations in brackets placed afterwards. However, if I have a technique that I DON’T KNOW WHAT THE JAPANESE NAME IS I’ll just be using the English ones instead. Kay?

I’d also like everyone to thank SS (one of my friends) and Insanity (for suggesting the same thing) for helping me design the 2nd Tenkun no buki, presented in this Chapter. If it wasn’t for them, I probably won’t have created this particular Tenkun no buki in the first place. Give them both a big applause (especially SS for literary creating the damn thing from scratch).

""..."" means "thoughts"

xxxxxxxx means "time passed" or “different perspective” or “different point of view”

((...)) Author’s interruption

Chapter 7

Upon reaching their destination, the Forest of Death, the remaining 18 teams (1) of Genins all settled down on the ground waiting for Anko’s explanation of the second test in the Chuunin Exam.

“This place is creepy…” Naruto heard Sakura whispered beside him and had to agree.

The giant trees that loomed ahead of them gave off a sense of eeriness that was hard to dispel.  The sensation of danger surrounding the forest like a thick blanket, gave the impression of a spider patiently waiting for the fly.

“Before we start the second test, you must all sign these documents.” Anko announced holding up a packet of papers. “This is to ensure your perspective countries that if you die in this next test, it was not our responsibility.” She continued with a bright smile on her face.

Naruto’s eyebrow twitched. ""Geese… She’s cheery about our deaths. "" He thought sarcastically. ""Just get on with it! ""

Continuing on, Anko gave the genins a detailed description of what was expected of them – what they must accomplish in order to pass the second test.  There were no specific rules in how they accomplish the task as long as they complete it within the time limit and still remain in their original group of three.

Frowning at Anko’s explanation, Naruto mentally went over all the details again. ""A 50% chance of getting either a Heaven scroll or an Earth scroll, simple enough… Less than half the teams here will pass this test, due the amount of fighting as well as survival. Also an adequate observation… Five-day time limit, normal... Now, the disqualification rules… lose a scroll, don’t pass… lose a team member, don’t pass. All of these rules are pretty obvious. Except the last one, I wonder what would happen if we did open the scrolls before we reach the tower... Oh well, I’m not taking the chance no matter what the temptation might be. ""

After reading all the conditions, signing the forms and receiving their Heaven scroll, Naruto and company started towards gate 12, their designated gate into the forest of Death, as well as the beginning of the second Chuunin exam.

xxxxxx

Only a few minutes into the exam, the members of team 7 all heard an unnatural scream in the distance. They paused in their careful trek towards the tower and shivered slightly at the sound.

“That was a human scream… right?” Sakura asked, warily.

Naruto nodded silently to Sakura, watching her shiver again. After a few seconds more of silence, the group turned away as one and started on their journey again, only to be stopped by Naruto this time.

Naruto suddenly paused in mid-stride, waiting and listening to his surrounding. He then turned back to his team members and asked them in silence, lifting his eyebrows in question. ‘Did you sense that we’re being followed?’ (2)

The both of them looked intently at him, giving him a tight nod each, acknowledging his silent question as well as answering him with an ‘affirmative’ response. The corners of Naruto’s mouth slowly curved upwards into a smirk. ""Well, well, well. Looks like the action is gonna start immediately."" His smirk firmly in place, Naruto nodded back at his teammates giving them his permission to take on the enemy without his help.

Naruto suddenly threw a kunai in the direction of the invisible interloper. Releasing his invisibility Genjutsu, the formerly hidden man barely managed to dodge the kunai but revealed him-self in the process.  The masked enemy, wearing the head protector of a Rain Genin, immediately tried to hide again and escape the on-coming battle. However, he was already too late.

While Naruto had done his bit in revealing the interloper, Sasuke had instantly activated his Sharingan and launched himself at the enemy with Sakura right beside him throwing several charka-enhanced kunai at the man.

“Katon: Housenka no Jutsu!” (Fire type: Mythical Fire Flower no Jutsu) Sasuke performed the seal quickly and discharged many small fireballs at the enemy, whom had to zigzag his way through dodging the attack. The man avoided the fire blast and in return, threw several kunai with explosion notes attached to them towards Sasuke and Sakura. The man’s kunais impacted against Sakura’s own kunais and a resulting blast could be heard throughout the forest.

Both Sasuke and Sakura had already increased the amount of Chakra on their feet upon seeing the incoming explosion; this lead them to be even faster than before, and they easily jumped away, avoiding the giant blast caused by the explosion notes.

The man was surprised however when Sakura’s kunais continued on their way, advancing towards him, even after the giant explosion in the air. Sakura had enhanced those kunais with her charka control; they’ll keep going towards the enemy no matter what was blocking their way. The man dodged the kunais as best he could but eventually ran out of space to move and was struck on his chest by one then followed by the other kunais, slamming him to a near by tree.

Sasuke followed up with another seal. “Gokakyu no Jutsu!” (Powerful Fireball no Jutsu)

Sasuke released the giant fire breath, aimed directly at the enemy. However, the man, seeing the giant fireball coming his way, immediately formed seals of his own to escape. Upon finishing the seal, the man seemingly merged into the tree behind him. The resulting blast of Sasuke’s fireball burnt the tree but the man was nowhere to be seen.

Sakura frowned at that development and quickly started forming seals of her own. “Genjutsu Kai!” (Genjutsu Deflection)

She called upon the Jutsu that had been taught to her by sensei Kakashi; dispelling the other man’s own Genjutsu since hers was more direct.

The man, having his Genjutsu dispelled so easily by a twelve year old no less, was suddenly angry at how these two brats were easily beating him. He tried to escape the battle but found himself unable to move from the spot on the ground. Looking down, the two Konoha brats surprised the man again, his legs were completely swallowed up by the ground up to his ankles and no matter what he did, and he simply couldn’t move them.

“Doton: Dosou no Jutsu!” (Earth type: Earth Claw no Jutsu) (3).

Saskue announced as both of his hands slammed onto the ground.  Kakashi had taught him this Jutsu just days ago. Using his Chakra to direct the attack, Sasuke was able to make the earth itself swallow his opponent’s feet into the ground, rendering them immovable.

Sakura immediately advanced towards their enemy and started fighting him with hand-to-hand combat while trying to tie him up with a string (pulled out from her ninja bag). The man tried to fend off her attacks but to no avail. Eventually, both his hands and legs were tied so Sasuke released his jutsu. Sakura proceeded to search through the man’s clothes but she frowned when she couldn’t find the scroll.

“His teammates aren’t here so he’s probably working alone. It wouldn’t be surprising if he didn’t have the scroll.” Naruto told them nonchalantly from the sidelines. He had avoiding the entire fight by staying on the outskirts of the fight, intent on simply watching how much his teammates had improved. And from what he had seen of their performance, he was very proud of their achievement.

Sighing in disappointment at not completing their task immediately, Sakura rendered the man unconscious with a Genjutsu sleep spell she placed on him. “Kyosei Suimin no Jutsu” (Forced Sleep no Jutsu)! (4)

Kakashi had taught Sakura this genjutsu technique. It can render the opponent asleep for however long the user wants them too, but depended on how much charka the user uses and how far the user will be.  In this case, she made the man asleep for the next 8 hours.

Leaving the tied up man the way he was, team 7 continued on their journey towards the tower. Looking at Sasuke’s slightly angry face and Sakura’s disappointed expression, Naruto tried to lighten their mood with some conversation.

“Hey. Don’t look so down, it’s not like we’re racing against time or anything. Just because the first guy we fought didn’t get us the scroll we wanted, but that’s nothing to feel bad about. And anyway, I think you two did pretty well.”

Smiling slightly at their shocked expressions, Naruto continued on his way, not looking back at his stunned ex-students. It was well known to both Sakura and Sasuke that Naruto never ever praises anyone unless he thought they have done exceptionally well. To be able to wiggle praise out of him was almost as impossible as motivating him when they first met, so the fact that he had voluntarily approved of their growth was quite amazing. 

Sasuke smirked in response. “Hn. You better be careful. I’ll be catching up to you very soon, so you better notice me and prepare to get off your high horse!”

“Ha. I’d like to see you try, Uchiha. I’d like to see you try.” Naruto rebuffed against Sasuke’s arrogant comment.

Sakura only smiled at both the boy’s antics. ""Sasuke has finally admitted to himself that Naruto may be currently superior in strength, but that has not dampened his spirits. In fact, now, he tries even harder to become stronger, just so he can one day show Naruto who was really the strongest. And Naruto, on the other hand, encouraged Sasuke to grow; so that one-day they will be able to fight on equal terms. Their rivalry is something to admire, I think.""  Sighing silently, Sakura continued with her silent thoughts. ""I hope I can continue to become stronger.  I don’t want to be left behind ever again.""

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

A few hours later, team 7 could be found resting under a giant tree’s canopy. They had opted to take their time and wait for their opponents to come to them. This strategy turned out to be counter-productive.

Suddenly, Naruto tensed in anticipation. He had felt something unnatural in the air that surrounded them. Looking up towards his teammates, he could tell that Sasuke had already felt the presence of something or someone underground listening in on their conversations, Sakura was still unaware. All of a sudden, the sound of birds and insects in the surrounding environment turn quiet, and not a sound could be heard. Naruto tensed further more and frowned, starting to feel slightly anxious with trepidation. ""This is not good. If the animals can feel how deadly this guy is, then there’s probably a good reason for it.""

Deciding that this opponent was probably too powerful for his teammates, Naruto turned to them once again, intending to tell them to run, but it was already too late. Out of nowhere, a giant gust of wind blew into their temporary resting place.

Sakura screamed at the onslaught and Sasuke yelled at them to grab hold of something, anything. Unfortunately, Naruto was standing directly in the path of the wind and so anything he grabbed onto was also pulled along with the strong squall of unnatural air. Naruto had no choice but to cover his eyes and mouth and hope that he won’t be landing too far away from his comrades.

Finally, the wind subsided, and Naruto was able to open his eyes, only to see a giant brown snake, its huge jaws wide open, and ready to swallow him whole. Naruto tried to run away but after tumbling through the large windstorm, his limbs were sluggish and he found himself wrapped up by the giant snake’s tail. Fighting to move his arms and hands to create some kind of seal, any seal, or even just to find a weapon, Naruto fought furiously against the binds of the snake coils but to no avail.

Naruto closed his eyes tightly as he felt the snake’s mouth close in around him and felt the inner muscles swallow him whole. ""GOD IT STINKS IN HERE!!!!"" Angrily, Naruto cursed himself for being too relaxed. ""STUPID! STUPID! STUPID!!! GOTTA GET OUT OF HERE NOW!!!"" Pushing his hands together and forcing the muscles around him away, Naruto quickly formed a seal that would help him blast his way out of the throat of the snake that had just swallowed him.

""Kakuryuu Hon no Jutsu!!!"" (Black Dragon Flame) (5) Finishing the seal, a giant ball of black flame automatically surged out of Naruto’s left palm, It continued to grow in size, forcing the snake’s inner muscles to burn and expand. After a time, Naruto decided it’s time to stop the build up of black flames and release the dragon within the flaming egg (before he burns his own hands). Creating one more hand seal as a sign of release, the giant ball of burning flames suddenly exploded. Naruto immediately covered his eyes and ears from the release of the creature within.

A giant roar accompanied the birth of a Black Fire Dragon spirit as it easily burned and ripped its way out of the snake’s throat. Escaping from the blood and gore of the snake’s carcass slowly being burnt away by the Kakuryuu’s (Black Dragon’s) flames, Naruto breathed in a large gup of fresh air. He then nodded to his half-summoned, half-created fire spirit and asked it mentally to help him find his friends. The flaming spirit while twirling and floating in mid-air acknowledged Naruto’s plea for help with a short nod and immediately launched itself flying through the trees towards where it could smell battle and blood, burning anything within its path. Naruto followed the speeding spirit as best he could and prayed that he wasn’t too late to help.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx ((Same time as Naruto being eaten...))

Sasuke took several moments to catch his breath. He had just barely hidden himself in time to avoid the on-coming squall of wind that had separated him from his teammates. Listening for any extra movement for a time, Sasuke eventually got up out of his hiding place to start looking for his companions.

He only took a few steps before Sakura came out of hiding opposite of him. Sasuke stood still and looked back at her while Sakura in turn, reacted in relief at seeing him. Narrowing his eyes in slight suspicion, Sasuke determinately pointed a finger at Sakura and asked her: “If you are the real Sakura, tell me what is Kakashi sensei’s favourite book called?”

Catching on to his suspicions, Sakura immediately straightened herself studiously, as if to impress him. “Icha, Icha, Paradise.” She said confidently.

Sasuke gave an inaudible sigh of relief and slowly lowered his finger. At the same time, Sakura literally jumped to his side, she’s still a bit shocked at the previous events and would feel much better if they were together.

Suddenly, sounds of bushes being moved reached the two genin’s ears and they tensed instantly, almost drawing out their kunais in defence only to see Naruto stride nonchalantly out of the nearby bush. This time, Sakura gave a sigh in relief, at least now; she’s with both her teammates. Sasuke continued to be tense with suspicion however.

Holding his kunai in Naruto’s direction, he demanded to know. “Naruto! What is your favourite food? Answer or I’ll attack!”

Naruto stopped smiling and tilted his head in a confused manner. “What does that have to do with anything, Sasuke?”

The following reaction was immediate; Sasuke threw his power-enhanced kunai at the impostor. The impostor dodged the attack easily, proving once and for all that he wasn’t the real Naruto. The real Naruto, though powerful would probably try to block the attack instead of dodging it, because the distance between the two to begin with was too short for even him to dodge the incoming attack completely.

With a wide smirk, the impostor released his Henge no Jutsu (Transformation skill) to reveal himself as a ninja from the Hidden Grass Village. The man took off his straw hat and revealed underneath his long black hair.

“Heh. Heh. So you saw through my transformation. Very impressive.” The man hissed out as he continued to smirk at the two Konoha genins. His tongue rolled out of his mouth slowly and swiped delicately over his lips and jaw. Sakura’s eyes widened at how long the man’s tongue was.

Displaying his Earth scroll, the man continued. “You want my Earth scroll, right? However, you’re gonna have to try harder than that to get it.” The man gave a haughty laugh and then wrapped his incredibly long tongue around the object. Slowly but surely, to both Sakura and Sasuke’s horror, the man swallowed his own scroll. Touching delicately over one of his eyes, the man glared directly at the two genins. “Now… let’s begins, shall we…”

Immediately, Sasuke and Sakura both froze in horror as their minds were attacked by the deep bloodlust of their opponent. Pain, fear, blood, screaming, these four sensations ran through their body and mind continuously. They watched in vague understanding as their own body were being slashed, ripped apart, burnt, beheaded, and still manage to carry on screaming in pain and shock. As abruptly as the torture began, it just…stopped.

Both instantly fell onto their knees and sat on the ground heavily, gasping for breath as they tried to re-orientate themselves in their present surroundings. No blood, no pain, but then why was their bodies still shaking. ""Genjutsu!"" went through both their minds. However, identifying the problem and actually overcoming the problem was two different things. They may have realised that what they had felt was not real, that what they thought happened, hadn’t, but the fear they both felt now…that was very real.

""We have to run. We have to run. We have to run. There’s no way we can take this guy on!"" This litany kept on repeating inside Sasuke’s mind. He looked to his side and watched in anguish as Sakura freely cried while still shaking from the impact of what she had seen. ""If we don’t run, we’ll die!!!"" Sasuke realised in panic.

Slowly but surely, Sasuke moved his shaking hand to grasp onto a kunai with all of his will. ""We’ve got to move. MOVE!!! DAMN IT ALL! MOVE!!!"" He watched in slight horror as the man casually flicked two kunais in their direction, Sasuke instantly slammed his own kunai onto his own thigh and finally found enough strength to launch him-self off the ground. He grabbed onto Sakura on his way up and ran like all hell was breaking loose.

Jumping from tree to tree, desperate to get some distance between himself and the predator that followed, Sasuke’s panic mind continued to scream at him to run and never stop. However, even he needed time to breathe and recover. Finding a safely hidden area within a tree, he shakily deposited Sakura and slumped down himself.

Sakura blinked several times, trying desperately to gather her scattered wits together. It wasn’t until she heard Sasuke whimper in pain as he pulled his kunai out of his own thigh and watched in slight fascination and sickness as the blood slowly oozed out of the wound, that she finally came out of her trance. Ignoring how scared she had been just a few minutes ago, she quickly searched through her own pack (strapped to her waist) for bandages, finding the appropriate article, she began to wrap up Sasuke’s injury while the boy in question kept on darting glances around in terror, looking for their predator.

Finished with the bandages, Sakura watched in shock and nervousness as Sasuke continued to panic. ""I’ve never seen Sasuke-kun so scared before."" She thought slightly detached. She tensed suddenly as a snake slowly slid down from a branch above them. She tried to warn Sasuke but the boy, being in his panicked state, immediately shoved his hand onto her mouth to silence her and continued on gazing around his immediate surrounding.

Sakura stared in horror and frustration as Sasuke ignored her. Finding as much strength within her, she decided on taking action herself. With her free hand, she grabbed onto her own kunai, enhanced it with power, waited until the right moment before slamming the kunai deep into the head of the snake, shocking both the snake and Sasuke.

Sasuke instinctively jumped in reaction as he felt Sakura attack him, but when he saw the dead body of a giant snake resting on the tree he had just vacated, he understood that she wasn’t attacking him; she was saving him by attacking the snake. ""IDIOT!"" He chided himself mentally. ""DAMN IT! I WAS PANICKING SO MUCH I DIDN’T EVEN NOTICE THE SNAKE!!""

Landing himself on a nearby branch, he looked towards Sakura who was on another branch and nodded to her in gratitude for her rescue. If she hadn’t attacked the snake, he may well have been lunch. However, his gratitude soon turned to horror as the scales on the deceased snake’s head slowly ripped open and revealed the same man that they had been trying to run away from.

“Being the prey, you can never relax, only keep on running. Especially when you are hunted by a predator…” The man’s tongue lapped around his face to clean up all the saliva from the deceased snake.

Before he could launch himself on his prey however, a giant roar in the near distance could be heard. Soon, a large and strange flaming creature rushed pass, in between Sasuke and Sakura, aiming directly towards the strange but dangerous snake man. Seconds later, Naruto revealed himself, landing not some distance away from his compatriots.

“NARUTO!” Sakura screamed in relief. Finally, she no longer had to face this dangerous creature alone with only a panicked Sasuke by her side. Though she never admitted it out loud, it was obvious that Naruto was the strongest in their group. And if they were working together, perhaps they could win against this opponent. Sasuke too, gave a small sigh in relief as his other team member joined him.

Trying to regain some semblance of balance and confidence, Sasuke shouted back at the annoying blonde. “What took you so long, slowpoke?”

Naruto did not deign to reply but concentrated on watching and analysing how this new enemy easily dodged all the attacks from his Fire Dragon. He frowned as he continued to watch the snake man perform several water jutsus that a ninja of the grass country could never have learned. ""This guy is NOT a GENIN!! He is strong…"" Naruto clenched his teeth together. ""Probably stronger than me…""

Indeed, the battle between his trusty Fire spirit and the enemy was not going well at all. Upon reaching the clearing, the Black Dragon Spirit immediately launched itself at the enemy. The man slithered and jumped from tree to tree like a snake, avoiding all of the Dragon’s fire blasts and fire balls. Getting irritated, the Black Dragon pursued its prey doggedly, following its track up, down, around trees and branches, over the ground, through the air, pretty much everyway. The Dragon tried to swallow its prey and burn him from within its fiery stomach. However, after finally cornering the man and upon contact on the man’ skin, said skin began to swivel up and burn due to the close proximity of the Dragon Spirit. Naruto noted that the man was no longer there, only his snake skin.

Finding its opponent appearing somewhere behind it, the Dragon spirit roared in anger, turning itself around in mid-air and tried to charge its prey again. But this time, the prey was ready. “Suiten: Water Dragon Blast no Jutsu!” (6) yelled the man as he completed his long list of seals. Upon completion, the man grunted and poured huge amounts of water from his mouth. The water formed and moulded itself into a giant Water Dragon ready to attack Naruto’s own Fire Dragon. Naruto tensed, he knew how this confrontation would end.

Just as he expected, the water Dragon formed by the enemy gobbled up his own Fire spirit. But being a spirit, the Dragon did not give up until it was completely obliterated. It continued to force the water that surrounded it into perspiration, while the Water Dragon Jutsu deteriorated itself after its attack. Soon however, both dragons were drained of their innate Chakra and both died out forming a draw between the two opponents.

Naruto straightened himself and finally looked back at his two uneasy comrades. His silence had made them very nervous and watching the result of the battle, they had a feeling they would not like what Naruto was about to tell them. Indeed, they didn’t want to hear what came next at all.

Naruto didn’t want to lie and didn’t even try to reassure them that they could take this guy on. However, he did give them a very determined look instead and calmly told them what to do. “Sasuke, Sakura. Get out of here now.”

“WHAT!!” Sakura shouted back at him in mild shock and Sasuke shivered in slight fear.

Naruto shook his head to emphasize his point. “You can’t take this guy on. He’s on a completely different level to all of us.”

Trying to summon her wits back, Sakura asked him: “Then aren’t you coming with us?”

“No. I’ll keep him busy; you two immediately run towards the tower and tell the people there that there is an intruder in the forest. This guy is no Genin.” Naruto answered her calmly and detachedly.

“But...”

“GO SAKURA! SASUKE! THAT’S AN ORDER!!” Naruto screamed at them both.

Deciding to take action, Sasuke jumped to where Sakura was, grabbed onto her securely and started jumping away from the scene. Turning their back on their fellow comrade, they could hear his last orders. “DON’T TURN BACK!” Shutting his eyes in shame and a little self-hate, Sasuke proceeded to leave the vicinity as fast as he possibly could.

Finally, both his teammates are no longer within sight of the new battle arena, and Naruto released his breath. Now, the real battle began.

As if a silent countdown had reached zero, both combatants immediately launched into their initial attacks. The snake man performed several seals quickly just as Naruto was trying to counter with his own seals. Biting his right thumb to draw blood, Naruto completed his seals as fast as he could and then slammed both of his open palms together and shouted as he released his Chakra. “Kuchiyose no Jutsu! Tenkun no buki! Come forth! Kakuhouou no Hane! (Summoning no Jutsu! Black Phoenix Feather!)”

Upon completing the summoning, Naruto felt a very hot presence on his back. He literary felt all of his Chakra being drained from the rest of his body to start forming the wings on his back. He would never forget the first time he had used this Tenkun no buki during his training sessions with them almost 2 years ago.

[FLASHBACK] ((There you go, a flashback into the time of Naruto’s training with my OC – OC not exactly present at the moment…))

“Kuchiyose no Jutsu! Kakuhouou no Hane!” A hot flash of pain burned a strange tattoo on a ten-year-old Naruto’s back as he summoned forth this Tenkun no buki. Of all the Tenkun no buki, this was the only one that was directly attached to the user’s flesh. Others, like the Ginshi no Himo, may have had metal strings stabbed into his veins to suck Chakra, but they were nothing compared to the extent of human flesh and blood consumed by the Kakuhouou no hane during its formation stages.

His shirt was discarded earlier and so he could easily see what the tattoo on his back had looked like from across the mirror in front of him, directing his gaze to the mirror behind him. The tattoo had a central oval shaped orb, ruby red in colour and currently burning brightly as it continued to suck up Naruto’s Chakra. It pulsed like a living creature, slowly growing in size and power, like a parasite feeding off its host.

Soon, black feather-like patterns are formed surrounding the red orb; more and more of them appear until the whole of his upper body’s backside was filled to the brim with theses feathers-like tattoos. Now came the pain.

Naruto instantly fell on one knee, unable to withhold his scream of pain as he felt sharp blade-like objects slowly forcing its way out of his skin. Looking at the mirror, Naruto was shocked to see that the previously flat feather patterns were becoming real, and were slowly poking its way through his skin and forming real feathers. He screamed again at the agony of having his flesh ripped apart, his back muscles strained and burning as it was also being consumed in the process for the Tenkun no buki to grow it’s own appendages. The feathers grew in size, and when reaching its final stage was pushed forward again by those feathers underneath the ones that had formed.

It was an agonisingly slow process for all the feathers to slowly emerge right out of Naruto’s backside. He continued to scream in pain as all of his lifeblood were either consumed by the absorption process to create the wings on his back, or were surely flowing out of him in gallons as the feathers continue to pierce his skin.

Minutes dragged on like hours until finally, the wings were complete. If he were to stretch them he would find that they have a wingspan of about 3 metres each and could fold in among them to comfortably hold themselves behind his back.

The weight they added to the small child’s back was definitely something to get use to as well as the flight abilities that they had enabled their new master.  It took him months just to learn how to control his extra limbs well enough to even attempt flight and even longer for him to learn all the different attacks that can be done with these magical wings. And it took even longer for him to learn how to speed up the process of agonising minutes into a short 10-second leap of intense pain but well worth the effort for the final form.

Eventually, the pain of using this Tenkun no buki subsided just like all the other pains that Naruto had gone through and accepted, he had simply gotten use to the pain and it became ignorable.

[END FLASHBACK]

Back to the present, the same sensations ran through Naruto just as his first time with the Kakuhouou no Hane, but this time, the process went too fast for him to scream in pain or even react in any fashion. Soon, he had fully formed the reddish-black wings behind him, shredding his shirt and jacket apart in the process.

Each feather tip was sharp and deadly with poison. Contact upon one of the spikes and the opponent would die eventually, there was no cure for the Black Phoenix’s poison feathers. Completing his transformation, Naruto made another Katon seal and ignited his wings with fire. Unlike normal fire, the flames that accompany his wings were black. All it took was a small spark to re-ignite the full power of the deceased phoenix, and this time, Naruto had enough control over its powers to not lead to his own downfall like the first time he had used it.

Glancing back at his opponent, the man had just completed his own seal and launched his attack at Naruto. “Doton: Doryuudan!” (Earth type: Earth Dragon Missile) (7) Yelled the man, as a giant head of an Earth/mud dragon appeared beside him on the ground. The mud dragon opened its giant jaws and immediately spurted out large balls of mud at Naruto, whom was still standing on a large tree branch.

Naruto instantly jumped off the tree to avoid the incoming mud balls. Flapping his new wings a few times lifted him many metres above the treetop and easily avoided all of the missiles that his opponent was trying to aim at him. The man, realising this attack pattern was useless, released his Jutsu and the Earth Dragon soon disappeared back into the ground.

“Is that one of the infamous Tenkun no buki?” The man smirked at Naruto, whom was still flying up in the air.

Naruto glared back at him with eyes full of hate and righteous anger. ""HOW DARE HE MOCK ME!!!"" “You always smell like a treacherous snake! OROCHIMARU! Don’t think I don’t know you, one of the three legendary Sennin of the Hidden Leaf, now nothing by a common S-class criminal.” He sneered back at his opponent.

The smirk disappeared instantly form Orochimaru’s face. “I didn’t think you would recognise me, brat.” Orochimaru decided then that it would be more productive for him to finish off this fight with Jiraiya’s unofficial student quickly, so that he may chase after Sasuke. Decision made, he summoned two of his famous giant snakes, though this time, he didn’t intend to use Manda.

“Kuchiyose no Jutsu!” Slamming both his palms onto the ground, immediately two giant snakes were summoned. They were larger than the one Naruto had fought before hand, and stood towering over the clearing. Orochimaru stood impeccably on top of one of the snake’s head and returned to smirking at Naruto. “Now the fun begins… brat.” Naruto had a feeling that he would regret his decision to ever take on one of the three Sennins but for now, he had a score to settle with the snake man.

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After half an hour’s worth of running away from the battle, Sakura and Sasuke were still many hours away from actually reaching the tower. Sasuke was up ahead and continued to ignore the sounds of a fierce battle in the distance. ""Don’t think about it! Just don’t think about it.""

Sakura on the other hand, trailing further and further behind him, started to give in to her doubts about whether the course they were taking was actually the right course of action. Thinking back to all the times that Naruto had pulled them out of a bind, she started feeling more and more depressed. ""Am I… am I still so weak? Did I even improve?"" She asked herself silently but then shook her head in denial. ""No, I’ve become stronger... I know I have.""

Pushing more Chakra into her feet to increase her pace, she easily caught up to Sasuke. Even though Sasuke had more Chakra in reserve than her, but she still had finer control. And one of the best features about having fine control over her Chakra was that she could easily manipulate it to enhance any part of her body within an instance and still not waste a drop of it.

Jumping from treetop to treetop, Sakura took some time to look at Sasuke’s expression from the side. ""He’s afraid. So am I."" Resolutely looking forward and telling herself again and again that her mission was to inform the Examiners of an infiltrator. However, no matter what she tried to tell herself, her heart just wasn’t in it to find an excuse. ""I’m running away… running away from my friend, my teammate, my comrade, whom may very well be dead because of us…""

Sakura could feel tears sting in her eyes as she tried to push the impulse down. ""God… why do I feel like I just abandoned someone who trusted me…"" Closing her eyes for a brief moment, she remembered a time when she had made a promise to herself. A promise that demanded her to be become stronger, to stop being so useless, to stop hiding behind other people’s protection, to stop her loved ones from being hurt. ""What did I say again… oh yes.""

[FLASH BACK] ((Part of Chapter 3, You can ignore it if you want))

Sakura made a silent promise to herself then, she wants to improve the relationship between the members of team 7 so that they will never feel so isolated again, especially Naruto. She really wanted all three of them to work as a team.

[END FLASHBACK]

""And look what I’m doing NOW!!! Running away! I’m leaving him alone again! I’m isolating him again! I’m… I’m… such a hypocrite and a COWARD!"" Her inner self screamed at her conscience and Sakura stopped jumping subconsciously.

Sasuke, noticing that Sakura had stopped moving, also stopped in his progress to ask her what was wrong. “Sakura? Come on, we have to keep on going! We have...”

Sakura interrupted him in mid-sentence. “I’m not going.”

Sasuke blinked at her and quickly scanned his or her surroundings to make sure no one was listening. “Sakura?!”

“I’m sorry, Sasuke-kun. But I can’t leave Naruto behind. I can’t help feeling that I’ve betrayed him somehow.” Blinking back tears, Sakura nodded to herself as she made her decision. “I’m going back.”

“ARE YOU INSANE!!??” Sasuke shouted back at her, completely stunned at what she was instigating. “Look, Sakura. There is NO way we can beat that guy! He’s out of our league. We have to run. Even Naruto said we have to run! Do you want to die so badly, Sakura?!” Sasuke demanded, trying to force some common sense into her, but to no avail.

Sakura turned her back on Sasuke. “I’m sorry, Sasuke-kun. I know our top priority right now is to warn the others, but I just can’t turn my back on a friend who is fighting a loosing battle just to protect us. I don’t want to live a life full of guilt later on. I almost lost you in the fight against Haku…” Fighting against her tears, Sakura knew that this was the very first time she had ever denied her crush anything. “I don’t want to go through that again and lose Naruto this time. You’re both too important to me. Please, go on ahead without me. I… thank you for your concern.”

And with that said, Sakura immediately launched herself back towards her friend and comrade, not ever turning around to look at the shocked expression on Sasuke’s face.

“SAKURA THIS IS SUICIDE! IF WE GO BACK THERE WE’LL DIE TOO!” Sasuke screamed at the top of his lungs, trying to convince himself as well as his teammate that what they were doing was right. It had to be right… but even his fear could not suppress the wave of self-hatred that churned inside of him. ""WHY AM I SO WEAK!!!???""

Shutting his eyes tightly, Sasuke remembered those horrible words that his own brother had said to him the day of the Uchiha massacre.

[FLASHBACK] ((Um... You guys all know this. It’ s ignorable.))

“Foolish brother.  If you want to kill me… then hate, spite!! And survive pathetically!! Run and run... and cling desperately to life!”

[END FLASHBACK]

Bidding the memories away, Sasuke suddenly felt a fresh surge of hate and anger inside of him. Some directed at his hateful brother, but most on himself. ""NO!!!"" Opening his eyes, a new wave of determination overlayed the hatred and anger. This was a determination born of trust, not for vengeance. ""I always believed that I have to live so that I can kill my brother one day. But if I don’t even have enough courage to face this guy… Then what chances do I have against my brother? NO!! I won’t runaway anymore! I can’t runaway anymore.""

Breathing deeply to calm himself, Sasuke immediately launched himself back towards the direction they had come from, following Sakura’s trail. ""I don’t want to lose the people close to me either…not ever again.""

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“Shit!” Naruto cursed to himself as he dodged the tail of one of the snakes trying to grab onto him in midair. ""One against two is so bloody unfair!"" He thought as he quickly countered with his own attack.

Flapping his mighty wings once, Naruto directed a large barrage of burning feather arrows towards at the snake where Orochimaru stood atop. “Kaku Haneya!” (Black Feather Arrows) Naruto shouted his attack.

The snake escaped using its skin moulting technique (8) and dug underground to avoid further attacks. In the mean time, the second snake took this opportunity to try and bite Naruto from behind but Naruto was already prepared. Doing some quick hand seals, he pointed his last seal at the ground the snake was jumping off of and yelled: “Underground! Swamp of the Underworld!” (9) Immediately a giant swamp appeared directly underneath the large snake, making the snake as well as many of the surrounding trees to submerge into it completely. No matter how much the snake struggled, it only led to sinking faster and soon, the snake puffed out of existence altogether so Naruto released his Jutsu after that.

""One down, one to go."" Naruto mentally counted as he found himself taking deeper and deeper breaths. ""Damn, the Kakuhouou no Hane is really starting to hurt…"" Naruto winced slightly when he felt the Tenkun no buki burned off more of his muscle tissues to compensate for the burning arrow barrage that he had just used against Orochimaru to no success.

Mentally calculating how much longer he could last using the Kakuhouou no Hane, Naruto was caught completely in surprise when he felt hot acid splashed onto his right wing. The acid attacked and burned his black phoenix wings, eating away much of the feathers and flesh, displaying the black bones underneath. Naruto mentally scolded himself for being distracted during a battle and quickly turned around to face his enemy. Again to his shock, Naruto found himself directly in front of a giant snake’s open mouth. Immediately closing what’s left of his wings completely around him to protect himself, Naruto felt the jaws of the snake completely clamp him in.

""DAMN IT! THAT’S THE SECOND TIME I’VE BEEN SWALLOWED BY A SNAKE TODAY!!!"" He fumed. And his anger fuelled his power as Naruto slowly but surely felt the rage built up from inside of him. The same rage that had completely consumed him the first time he released his anger after discovering Ellie’s body; the same rage that belonged to Kyuubi. It gave Naruto power, more power than he could handle but it also scared Naruto. He never wanted to lose himself again.

Clamping on the influx of hate and rage, Naruto threaded the power into a more controllable form. ""After all, I shouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth. If Kyuubi feels frustrated enough to lend me his power without me asking, then I shouldn’t complain either."" (10) Concentrating hard, Naruto directed Kyuubi’s enormous power supply into healing his injured wings. Once done, Naruto immediately launched his counter-attack to escape the mouth of the snake.

“Hou Ou Fukatsu!” (Phoenix REBIRTH!) Naruto yelled from inside his safely enclosed wings as he built up the massive amounts of black fire and emitted it all out of his wings. The resulting giant sphere of firestorm quickly burnt the snake’s flesh and freed Naruto from within its jaws. From a distance, the attack could be seen as a giant ball of white and black swirling in the atmosphere, just like a new sun being born or a small planet being destroyed. The light continued to glow and expand exponentially until it reached its peak power supply and just burst into millions of tiny light glittering in the surrounding trees. Right in the middle of the previous firestorm, Naruto could be seen hovering in midair, undaunted by Orochimaru’s attacks and uninjured.

In one of the surrounding trees, Orochimaru glared hatefully at the boy. ""DAMN! It’s harder to beat him than I thought! I’m wasting my time and this BRAT is starting to REALLY annoy me!"" He had been surprised when he felt part of the ancient Chakra belonging to Kyuubi actually emerging from the child’s body. He had heard rumours that that the Kyuubi-brat was dead, or at least, that someone had tried to kill it 6 years ago. He had assumed that they had succeeded since no more news about the damnable brat was later heard. Unfortunately for him, he not only had to deal with just any brat tutored by none other than his eternal rival, Jiraiya, it just had to turn out to be the Kyuubi’s container as well. ""CURSE THEM ALL!"" Orochimaru was through being nice, he was threw playing, now, this time it’s serious.

Opening his mouth and tilting his head, a small snake emerged from Orochimaru’s throat. Opening its mouth a sword’s tilt was pushed out of it. Orochimaru reached for the tilt and drew out his favourite weapon, the Kusanagi. Ready to attack, Orochimaru took some time to do another complicated and long sequenced seal, once he finished, he slammed his hands on the ground again. “Doton: Doryuuoh no jutsu!” (Earth Type: Earth Dragon no jutsu!) (11)

A loud rumbling sound followed the activation of the Jutsu. By that time, Naruto had verified the location of Orochimaru and was just about to launch himself at his enemy, a giant Dragon’s head had emerged from the ground. Expecting only just the head, Naruto was stunned when a long neck followed the stone Dragon’s head, and then followed by a large body and claws present by its side. Naruto’s mouth hung agape at the enormous foe that Orochimaru had created without using any summoning technique. It was even larger than the two snakes that Naruto had just defeated.

Naruto gulped nervously, he was running low on Chakra, even with the added bonus of Kyuubi’s power healing up all his previous injuries, he’s still finding it very difficult to come up against Orochimaru. ""Damn it! All of the previous fights, I didn’t even land a single hit on Orochimaru. Yes, I may have defeated his snakes but they’re nothing compared to him. The master is always stronger than the summon itself. SHIT!!"" Naruto swore as the Earth Dragon roared its displeasure, opened its huge jaws and started hurling giant balls of mud towards Naruto.

Naruto desperately manoeuvred himself, dodging all of the Dragon’s attacks and managed to launch his own Kaku Haneya (Black Feather Arrows) back at it, but the attacks just got stuck on the hard stone surface without penetrating the Dragon itself. Naruto decided that fleeing would be a good option right about now and immediately tried to distance himself from the raging Dragon, flapping his wings desperately to get some leverage, Naruto didn’t notice that Orochimaru had just appeared right in front of him because he was too focused on the Dragon behind him.

Naruto came to an abrupt halt in midair but was to slow to avoid Orochimaru’s attack. “Senei Jyashu” (Sublime Snake Hands), Orochimaru shouted as he directed many snakes to appear from his right arm’s sleeve. The snakes stretched through the air, wrapped themselves completely around Naruto (excluding his wings) and left Orochimaru free to attack. Naruto yelled in surprise and tried desperately to manoeuvre his wings to cut all the snakes off of him. However, with every scratch, he began injuring more of himself than the snakes and they were curling tighter and tighter around him. Behind him, Naruto could still hear the slow advancement of the Earth Dragon and in front, Orochimaru was preparing to stab him with the Kusanagi.

""SHIT! I’m don’t have time!"" Naruto thought frantically as he came up with a suicidal plan. Twisting himself in midair using his wings, so that his free left arm faced the incoming Orochimaru and his right arm faced the dragon, Naruto waiting for them to advance. Ignoring how the snakes curled around him trying to slowly crush his lungs, Naruto concentrated Chakra onto the palm of both his hands while trying to hide it from his opponents. Swirling and twisting, the Chakra continued to flow faster and faster until all the eye could see was a seemingly perfect sphere. Finally, within milliseconds of being crushed on both sides, Naruto released one of his most powerful attacks.

“Rasengan!!!!” Naruto yelled as he pushed the concentrated Chakra ball out of his left palm so that it may sour through the air and hit Orochimaru. At the exact moment, Naruto manoeuvred his wings so that he flew closer to the Earth Dragon, and slammed his other palm, the right-handed Rasengan, directly onto the head of the Dragon.

Given no time to dodge, Orochimaru placed his beloved Kusanagi in front of him and concentrated, forming a Chakra force field to protect himself from the Rasengan. ""FxxxxK! I’ve never seen the Rasengan being thrown before!"" The impact of Naruto’s Chakra ball onto Orochimaru’s sword and shield was so strong that it sent Orochimaru flying through the air.

At the same time, the impact of the Rasengan’s concentrated power shattered through out all the stone structures forming the Earth Dragon. Shattering and crumbling, what was left of the original Earth dragon eventually disintegrated into soft soil, landing onto the ground below. Naruto, too exhausted from using one of his ultimate attacks, could no longer hold up the Kakuhouou no Hane. He had to release his Tenkun no buki and he had to release it NOW.

Struggling to form the seal, Naruto eventually dispelled his Tenkun no buki. Instantly, a hot flash of pain burned all around his back, especially his shoulders where his flesh and blood had been consumed to regenerate the wings. His scream of agony helped distract him from his direct fall from midair onto the ground. For a small eternity, all Naruto could feel was pain, the pain compounded even more when he dimly felt himself slamming onto the softened soil underneath him. He vaguely noted that the hardened stone of the Earth Dragon became soft enough to take his fall without killing him. And he also noted that the snakes had disappeared midway through his fall, probably because their master is no longer in the vicinity.

He groaned in pain as his eyesight started to turn grey in colour. ""SHIT! I’VE GOTTA GET OUT OF HERE!"" His frantic mind noted, but his body protested every single movement he tried to perform. ""When Orochimaru comes around again, I’m a dead man for sure! I’ve got to… got to get away…"" But still, his body didn’t move. Painfully turning his head to the side, Naruto saw that the sand underneath him had turned blood red.

He looked up as he caught some movement in the corner of his eye. ""Is that… Sakura?"" Indeed, his female teammate had pushed herself quickly out of the surrounding bushes and immediately knelt beside him inspecting his injuries. He could clearly see her mouth moving but he couldn’t hear anything and was too tired to even try to lip-read. ""Gomen ne… Sakura… Sasuke… I couldn’t… I couldn’t kill him…"" and with that last thought, Naruto fell into unconsciousness.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx ((Um… just a different perspective, that’s all nn; ))

Sasuke landed silently beside Sakura and looked over Naruto’s injuries himself. What he saw frightened him. “Is he… is he dead?” He asked quietly.

Sakura shook her head vehemently. “NO! He’s still breathing…” Fighting against tears, she continued but this time in a softer tone. “He’s lost a lot of blood though… and I don’t know what the hell happened to his back!” She said, as she looked at all the blood on the ground.

When the two genins had turned Naruto’s back over for inspection, what they saw shocked them both beyond any horror movie they had ever seen. Naruto’s back muscles were all clearly visible (or what’s left of them), and blood oozed out of all crevices. The arteries and veins can be seen desperately pumping blood into injured areas even though the blood itself would eventually find its way out of the body’s system. In some parts (like the shoulder pads), even bones and the intricate ligaments binding what was left of the muscles together could be seen by the naked eye.

Sakura tried to fight against the nausea but soon lost. She turned away quickly and threw up, while Sasuke had to shut his eyes tightly and concentrate on regulating his breathing. Seeing Naruto so injured hurt his pride and it upped his self-hatred a notch, knowing that his comrade would have really died if they hadn’t turned back.

“Oh god! Oh god! Oh god! Oh god!” Sakura choked and shuddered, tyring desperately to pull herself together. ""He’s not dead! He’s not dead! He’s not dead yet! GOD DAMN IT! Pull yourself together! He needs you right now!!!"" Forcing herself to calm her breathing, Sakura pushed away all the fears of Naruto dieing and instead, focused on the lessons she had ever had learnt about how to react to injures and wounds. She may not have been a medic Nin, but anything she had ever learnt was photographically captured in her mind.

Making up her mind, she asked her other teammate for help. “Sasuke. Please. Help me get him up; we’ve got to bandage his wounds before it becomes infected.” Her voice becoming calmer and calmer as she forced herself to concentrate on what to do now to help Naruto, not to dwell on what would have happened if they hadn’t returned.

Bringing himself back from his own self-recrimination, Sasuke nodded. “Yeah. Okay. But we have to leave soon.”

Shocked, Sakura glared at Sasuke. “WE ARE NOT LEAVING HIM BEHIND!”

Sasuke glared right back at her. “I never said that. We have to take him to a doctor ASAP! Whether we pass the exam or not is no longer important! Keeping Naruto alive IS! Not to mention, I don’t think the guy we fought is dead yet, so he may well come after us. This place is not safe! We have to leave as soon as possible, for our own survival as well as Naruto’s.”

Stunned beyond silence, all Sakura could do was nod and the two of them quickly applied all that they had learnt about bandaging and how to help deter infection. Once done, Sasuke lifted the silent Naruto onto his back, piggy backing him and all three of them immediately set off on their way towards the tower once again.

What the two didn’t notice in their haste, were two small foxes following them inconspicuously; one had golden brown fur, and the other, a darker brown fur. Both pairs of reddish-brown eyes completely focused on the blonde haired boy being carried away from the previous battle.

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Several hundred metres away, Orochimaru stood dazedly and gazed at his surrounding. ""DAMN THAT BRAT! The next time I see him, HE’S DEAD!!!""

(1) In the original manga/anime, there were 26 teams, but since Naruto didn’t dispel their worries, there are less numbers in this story. Well… as long as the end result is 7 groups, who cares, right?! n_n

(2) Okay. I know this is highly improbable that they can communicate with each other using just their eyes or body language. It certainly didn’t exist in the manga/anime between them, but it worked for the Jounins. Well, anyway, just work with me here, okay?! Naruto did spend a long time initially teaching them in the Wave country, so he had also taught them how to look for signs and communicate with hand gestures or certain looks from the eyes.

(3) Original Jutsu, I wanted something similar to the “Doton: Shinjuu Zanshu no Jutsu” (Earth type: Inner decapitation skill), used by Kakashi against Sasuke, but without the whole body being embedded in the Earth. n_n

(4) Also another Original Jutsu. It’s something similar to what Kabuto used in the actual Chuunin exam but this one is more on the small scale and uses less Chakra.

(5) This black flame is DIFFERENT to Itachi’s black flame. This flame is ALIVE, that’s why I called it a “spirit”. This technique is an original Jutsu of mine that is partly summoning no Jutsu, and partly using his own Chakra to create a life form made out of natural elements. One of these days, I’m gonna have to write up a Jutsu’s list (similar to TokehGecko’s list) for you guys, ne.. nn;;; Oh well, this jutsu was inspired by Hiei from Yu Yu Hakusho, in fact, they have almost the same name..

(6) First used between Kakashi and Zabuza. Not sure if you can create that large amount of water just from the mouth, but lets assume that people can, okay? nn;;;

(7) It’s the one used in episode 69 of the Naruto anime by the 3rd Hokage. Not sure about the English Translation though, I made that up with some assumptions. Can anyone tell me if it’s right?

(8) Book 19, Manda used it against Jiraiya and Gamabunta’s Katon attack.

(9) Don’t know what it’s called in Japanese, anybody knows, please tell me. Um.. Naruto’s version is xxlargerxx than the one in book 19. n_n

(10) I told you people before that Naruto and Kyuubi has a certain deal, right? Well, let’s just say that Kyuubi has already granted Naruto part of his power, and that power is open to Naruto 24/7, however, any EXTRA Naruto will have to xxaskxx for it, and he’s usually too proud to ask anyway. nn;;;

(11) I made it up. nn;; Basically it’s like the 3rd Hokage’s Doryuu Taiga and Doryuu Dan (episode 69) but the full dragon emerge instead of just ‘part’ of it. As powerful as the ‘Water Dragon Blast no Jutsu’.

Notexx: The flames for the Kakuryuu Hon no Jutsu is DIFFERENT to the Kakuhouou no Hane. One is a ‘dragon’ spirit, the other is a Tenkun no buki made from a real ‘phoenix’ demon.

GOD DMAN IT! I SWEAR THIS STORY IS WRITING ITSELF!!! >o< I did NOT plan to have it turn out this way!!!! T_T I wanted the entire Orochimaru encounter to follow basically the same plotline as the manga, but NOOOOOO this stupid story keeps on twisting my words until I followed what IT wanted. That’s why it took me so bloody long to get this chapter out! O_O;;

Ug… Please don’t kill me because it’s a cliffhanger. I really don’t want to stretch this chapter any longer because it took me so bloody long just to finish it in the first place. T_T Me tired..

Thank you all for your wonderful reviews. It’s what keeping me alive and kicking. Please continue your support. I really appreciate all of them.

Questions: (I know you guys love answering these things n_n)

Since Naruto is so severely injured, should he ‘stay’ after his own preliminary fight against Kiba? This means that he will be present to encourage Hinata and to watch Gaara’s fight. Or do you guys think that he should be immediately rushed to the hospital after his fight.