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Title: For the Love of My Friends
Chapter 38: Teachers and Students
Rating: Mature

Things happened so quickly. The enemy had been the first to attack, that of which Haku was most certain. And then, all attacks after seemed to blur into one.

At first, the grass nin had almost seemed to be of an average level, jonin at best. He was fast, but Haku proved to him that he was just as fast, as strong, and as cunning. When the former mist nin paused just long enough to offer the grass nin a way out for him to surrender, the enemy just laughed and upped his power. Instead of fighting head to head with the strange enemy, Haku found himself defending more often, trying to block the attacks that threatened to go under his guard.

He was utterly horrified, and then in complete understanding, when the snake easily broke free of his prized blood limit technique. What he understood wasn't an error he made in technique, but rather in judgment.

He had assumed that the mysterious grass nin would fight in the usual fighting style of most other grass nins. He had assumed that, even though his fellow chuunins had fallen against him, he could still defeat the grass nin. He had assumed that when the nin fought him initially, he had been fighting with his all.

Haku had never hated being wrong so much before in his life.

Clenching a hand over an open wound in his shoulder, Haku ducked behind a tree when he heard the tell tale whistling of knives flying through the air. He gently put his power to use, numbing his injury even as he looked with more than just his eyes for his enemy.

“Doesn't matter where you hide..” Haku stiffened he he heard the voice right behind. He hastily pulled away from the tree, watching as the grass nin pulled himself out of the tree. Genjutsu! “I will always find you.”

“W-who are you!” Haku demanded. He had never seen the grass nin's face in Zabuza's bingo book of popular ninjas. Shouldn't someone with this much power at least be known by the ninja community?

The grass nin laughed. There was something vaguely creepy about the way he took pleasure in Haku's confusion. “Ah, you see, I usually am wearing.. something else in public.” He touched the side of his face, making Haku wonder just what the heck he was talking about. “But I am called Orochimaru.”

Haku went cold. Though the enemy's face was unfamiliar, the name was not. Orochimaru, one of Konoha's worst outlaws. One of the three legendary sanins of an older time. One of the few ninjas that Zabuza specifically warned him to retreat if he ever was unlucky enough to engage in battle with. It was unfortunate that, now that he'd caught Orochimaru's attention, he could not flee. I'm sorry, Zabuza-san. I must ignore your order for now.

“Why are you here?” Haku asked urgently. “Don't you have something better to do than to mettle in a simple exam? Go take over the world or something. Leave these kids alone.”

“Oh, but my dear Haku-” Haku flinched, surprised that the man knew his name. “-in order to take over the world, one would need an army, yes? And an army is made up of people who believe in the same cause that their leader does. Or at least, they are forced to. But forcing people gets so tiresome.” He made a big show of yawning.

Haku reached into his pouch, pulling out his senbon. However, he waited to attack. “What's your point?”

Orochimaru shrugged, that simple yet infuriating smile on his face. “Is it not easier to get them while they're young? Mold them into your image, so that the one they adore is you? The one that they'd fight to the death for is you?” Seeing Haku's distaste of his brilliant genius, he sighed. “Well, I'd figure you, of all people, would know. After all, isn't that what Zabuza of the mist did to you?”

“Don't drag Zabuza-san into this!” Haku snapped, throwing his senbon. Eyes widening, Orochimaru dodged as many as he could. One clipped his cheek while two other buried deep in his chest. Still, he chuckled, pulling the two bloody needles out of him.

“See? So quick to protect, so much more loyal than the average ninja. I rest my case.” he said with a grin. He touched his cheek, feeling where the skin of his borrowed face had started to peel. “Where you see me as 'meddling' I see me as making investments for my future.” And how bright it will be, once I have the Uchiha's sharingan. Itachi, Sasuke, or even that b*****d Kakashi, it doesn't matter. It will be mine!

“Zabuza-san is nothing like you!” Haku shouted angrily, making several hand seals. And it rapidly downscaled from there. Orochimaru not only knew a lot about mist techniques, but he also had uncanny knowledge of Haku's own techniques. He was there in front of him before Haku could finish his last seal.

“Tsk tsk tsk..” he whispered, delivering a fist into Haku's stomach before he could react. All chakra that the boy had been gathering immediately was lost as he gasped for precious air. “You should be running, not fighting.”

“Y-you.. killed and harmed my comrades.” Haku wheezed. “I cannot allow you to get away with that, even if you should prove to be more powerful than anyone in this village.”

“You flatter me.” Orochimaru said dryly. He griped Haku's neck, casually flaunting his strength as he lifted the former mist nin into the air with one arm. “Why worry about comrades? Why do you insist on involving yourself in the buddy-buddy ways of the Konoha ninja? Those who care more about the well being of others over themselves are as weak as the very people who they try to protect. If you had any common sense, you would be either begging for mercy or running away.”

Haku grabbed the constricting grip and pulled, but Orochimaru wouldn't ease up on his hold. “If I..” he coughed twice, then glared hatefully at Orochimaru. “If I gave in so easily, w-what's the point? There would be no reason for my existence.” He braced his foot against Orochimaru's stomach and managed to use the leverage to push himself out of the snake's grip. He landed awkwardly and coughed, greedily taking in air.

“Existence is fleeting.” Orochimaru said calmly, pulling up his sleeve. A tattoo on his wrist caught Haku's eye.

“Yes, it is.” Haku agreed. He discretely reached into his pouch, mentally counting how many explosive tags he still had. It was really the best way to take a summon down. “But that's only the more reason to treasure it. Every moment is precious, and we must live it to its full potential. That is why I refuse to lie down for you. I shall not bow down to the wills of those stronger than me, if that will is not something I agree with. If I do that, then my existence, my reason to be, is completely worthless.”

“And that, my young friend, is the closed minded thinking of a mortal being.” Orochimaru activated his tattoo. A massive snake summon appeared out of nowhere, landing right next to Orochimaru. It hissed at Haku, darting its head down lightening fast to snap at the former mist nin's heels. Fortunately, the snake was slower than the ninja.

He flipped out of the way of the jaws, dodging the consistent attacks until he was backed up against a tree. A tail came flying his way and only by ducking did he save his head, but the hundred year old and quite a few feet thick tree wasn't as lucky. With a groan, the entire tree fell.

He quickly tagged three of his senbon with the explosive tags, sticking one in the snake's under belly when he rolled forward. He threw the other two at Orochimaru, then ducked behind the fallen tree when they exploded.

“Sneaky, resourceful, and a good potential as a ninja.” Orochimaru said approvingly. He looked worse for wear, having withstood an explosion in his face. He reached under his chin and under a flap of skin, and tore it off, revealing a pale face and gold snake like eyes. “You would have done well as one of my underlings, if you weren't so loyal to the leaf weaklings and that mist swordsman.” Haku was nowhere in sight, or in sensing range. Orochimaru smirked, taking deliberate steps to where he knew Haku was. You won't last forever in the darkness of ignorance, Haku. You shine too brightly.


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Many centuries ago, there was a fair maiden. She was kind and beautiful, and all those who met her came to love her and was loyal to her. But none of them was as devoted to her than her young companion. They both had escaped from their pack's unfair rulings, one to escape forced marriage, the other to escape being left alone. They had nothing but each other. And they, Naruto, were perfectly content with just that. But some things are just too perfect, too right to last very long..

The thick smell of blood and death was heavy in the air. The trees' branches hung low in sorrow while the sky steadily worsened, turning in a dark gray that would precede heavy rain. The dark omens were there, so clear to his eyes as he stumbled towards his den, coming back from a long day of messing with humans.

Foxes were the tricksters that men cursed, either as the animal or as the demon, either because of stolen livestock or stolen brides. But either way, foxes were more peaceful and willing to mingle in with humans than any another animal or demon, both seeing the potential in humans and their strange habits. Or at least the easy ways they could be taken advantage of.

Awkward in his human form, he ran as fast as he could to the source of it, pleading to every ancient god he could think of that the smell wasn't from her.

Nariko. The love of his life, the soul that bound his soul to the earth. The only one who he would let his guard down around and be himself. She wasn't someone he could imagine being with in the most physical way possible since Nariko was practically his sister, but he could easily imagine spending the rest of with her. No one else mattered, not the little human girls he flirted with, the lords he stole from, or even the rest of demon society.

He really wasn't old by demon standards, considered a mere kit when compared to the eldest members of his formerly abandoned pack. But what he knew was what he had been taught by her, his pack mate, his sister, his best friend. And that had been good enough for him, even when they had fled from their pack's territory when the alpha male had promised her hand in marriage to a powerful ninja in order to end the ninja's attacks on their lands.

He stumbled on the uneven ground, the rough dirt meeting his knees in an unforgiving way that he'd remember for centuries afterward. He pushed himself off of the ground, his nose tentatively scenting the air. The blood, as he had feared, was hers.

Maybe she's scraped her knee, or accidentally sliced herself on a sharp rock. He tried to reassure himself as he came closer to their den. He completely ignored the scent of death, so deep in denial that he didn't notice the crumpled form on the ground until he almost tripped over it.

When he righted himself and recognized that head of rich bronze hair, he dropped to his knees beside her, gasping out his concerns for the almost dead girl in the language of the foxes.

Heavy lidded gold eyes met his own, filling with more pain when she recognized his face. He gently lifted Nariko partially in a seated position in his lap. His clawed hands went over the still bleeding wound on her stomach, supporting her head in crook of his arm, gently handling her like fragile china. Even for a demon, a wound to the stomach could easily turn fatal. Just like this.

“Nari.. I.. I can-” he whispered, shakily slipping back into human speech. A gentle touch to his lips stopped his stammering.

“No.. no you cannot.” Nariko said, barely getting the words through her parched throat. Her hand trembled, then came down from his face. It was strange how death sapped all warmth and comfort from someone with such ease. She rested her hand against his arm, gently squeezing it in comfort. “I did not wish for you to see this, my friend.”

He stumbled over words for a couple of moments, slipping in and out of the instinctive fox language before he finally settled on what he wanted to say. “W-who? Why.. How could someone do this to you, Nari!” The horrid smell of her previous terror still hung around her in thick waves. He felt sick to his stomach.

She looked away, focusing on something behind him. Curious in spite of his sorrow, he turned to see what she was looking at. A middle aged man was attached to the trunk of one of the trees by youki sharpened blades of grass, where he bled out from fatal wounds and died in pain.

“Ninja.” he hissed, his eyes darkening with hate. He didn't bother looking at the forehead protector to see which village the man was from. He knew the man was from the village that their leader had bribed, had recognized him from sight alone. Damn ninjas from the thunder village!“Wretched.. human!”

She was crying. Not from pain but from guilt. Her power was in controlling plants, a skill she used quite frequently to aid the growth of the many herbs she grew by their den.

She was a gentle hearted woman, giving free aid and healing to the villagers near by. The children always gathered around her, drawn in by both her beauty and her kind soul. Although the humans of the nearby village knew there was something different about her, they trusted her with their weak and elderly, and with their children, where they were more paranoid about him, the unpredictable and fiery companion of their walking miracle.

She had never killed someone before.

Anger was a must. He was a being of fire, one accustomed to passionate emotions and quick changes in temper. He was angry at himself, for being to slow to come to her rescue. He was angry at her, for feeling guilt for killing the man that had dealt the finishing blow to her. He was angry at the gods for allowing such a kind hearted person to be killed. But nothing compared to his sheer fury and hatred he felt for the human.

Even though he contemplated ways of retribution by use of his hell fires, he still was gentle with the girl in his arms. “I'll get them for you.” he swore to her. Her eyes widened as she started to shake her head. He cut off her protests. “Those ninjas will learn to fear my name. Why stop at one village. I'll kill them all.. Every last human. They will feel the taste of my claws.” His eyes no longer gleamed as she remembered, warm with the emotions that he was feeling. They were now cold, glassy like as he observed something past her, past her reach.

His lovely crimson eyes were no longer familiar and comforting. More tears fell as she realized the futility of the situation. With every gasping breath, she was losing the last shreds of her life. “No... K-Kyuu-” she stilled.

He stiffened when he registered the final smell of her death. The warmth was sapped from her body, her gold eyes frozen, looking at him with a sad gaze. With a steady hand, he softly swiped his palm over her eyes, closing them for the last time. He drew her close to him, burying his nose in her hair to use her fragrant scent to block out the horrid smell of death.

His shoulders shook slightly, betraying his emotions. His more human characteristics faded away as the sorrow and anger brought along blood lust and the over powering instinct to kill.
If one single, perfect being in the world wasn't allowed to grace the earth with her presence, then no tainted, greedy, and smelly human was going to be allowed to either.

The only warning the villagers got before the brutal massacre was a demonic snarl.


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Naruto snapped awake with a sudden cry. He kicked out reflexively, attacking an imaginary enemy. The sudden movement unbalanced him and he rolled off of the branch he had claimed for his own.

The surprised cries of his team mates were ignored, as were their attempts to catch him. He landed on his hands and feet, feeling the ground brutally punish him for not being careful. Just like in his dream. Still trembling from the aftereffects of his nightmare, he stayed there, dropping slightly to his knees and trying concentrate only on slowing his erratic breathing.

“Naruto!” Two thumps on the ground behind him alerted him to the arrival of his team mates. They both knelt next to him, one on either side. Sakura soothingly rubbed his shoulders, murmuring comforting words in his ear.

“Nightmare?” Sasuke asked casually when the blond eased back into a upright kneeling position. Naruto nodded grimly.

“Yeah.” he said gruffly. “Sorry about that.”

“No big.” Sakura said quietly. “We were just wondering when we should start moving again.” To this, Naruto grimaced, looking between the two.

“And I was sleeping the entire time?” he whined. For five straight hours, he had forced his team to keep going towards the tower without any stops. He ignored any questions as to why he was so eager to get to the tower so soon and kept snapping at them when they made a sound louder than a wind's whisper. When Sakura tripped and nearly fell down the length of one of the trees in her exhaustion, Sasuke had had about enough. Using some quick thinking and the creative use of wire and kunai, he had Naruto trussed up in the middle of a clearing in the matter of no time, cussing a blue streak and trying to wiggle out of the wires.

After some argument, the blond finally agreed(not that he had any other choice) that they could rest for a few hours before continuing on. And then he promptly fell asleep, securing Sasuke's belief that he was pushing himself just as hard as he was pushing them.

“Why are you so gung ho on getting to the tower so soon?” Sakura asked, helping Naruto to his feet. Sasuke stood as well. “We have five days... well, four days and a couple of hours now.”

“This forest creeps me out.” Naruto said truthfully. “I'd just rather get close to the tower, nab a scroll, and get inside before any of the weirdos from the other villages decide to eat us.” Or something. He added silently.

Sasuke nodded. “Yes, this forest is creeping me out too.” he said, crossing his arms over his chest. He glared at Naruto. “But push us like that again, and I'll chop off your legs so you're even closer to the ground.”

“Haha, more short jokes.” Naruto growled, cracking his knuckles. “You wanna fight, pretty boy?” As always, Sakura stepped in. She smacked them both in the back of the heads, something that made Naruto gasp in surprise. No matter what kind of argument that the two boys would get into, she'd always gently chastise Sasuke and physically reprimand him.

Finally he's getting what's coming to him. Still shocked, he started laughing. When Sasuke growled out an explanation for Naruto's amusement, he choked out “S-she hit you too!” Sasuke blinked, looking at Sakura for a moment to see if she thought this was a rare occurrence too.

She didn't notice his questioning look. The girl was too busy staring at her hand in horror. Naruto only laughed harder.

“Am I the only one who doesn't get it?” Sasuke asked himself, looking back and forth between the highly amused blond and the increasingly embarrassed kunoichi.

Sakura's temper snapped. “Shut up, stupid!” She smacked the blond in the back of the head again for good measure.


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Danger was a must in a ninja's life. Just like any other high risk job he could think of. Police had to worry about the criminals fighting back. Fire fighters had to be careful about carbon monoxide poisoning and falling debris. Sailors had to worry about the fickle sea, and soldiers had to worry about attacks from their enemies.

Slumped against one of the trees, Izumo watched from the sidelines as Orochimaru played with Haku. No, it could not even fit the definition of a fight. A fight required the participation of two or more people. A fight required that the contenders would fight their opponent with their all until one fell. A fight was not what he was seeing. What he was seeing was a cat briefly toying with a mouse before the mouse's inevitable demise.

He knew that Haku, though younger than him, was a lot stronger than him. But the gap between their powers paled in comparison with the gap between Orochimaru and Haku. Still, he saw no reason why the boy had to fight that monster of a ninja. Gritting his teeth, Izumo grabbed the back of Kotetsu's shirt, thanking whatever being that was watching over them that his friend was still alive, and only knocked out. He pulled the other chuunin under the roots of a big tree. Sometime ago, water had weakened the roots grip on the soil and the tree had risen from the earth, exposing many roots, but also creating a niche that Izumo used to hide Kotetsu.

Just me.. and the kid. He stood and hissed in pain when he put too much weight on his left leg. He wasn't quite sure what was wrong with it yet, but it hurt like hell.

“Hey, you all better hurry up with those back ups..” he muttered in his communicator before taking it off and tossing it on Kotetsu's chest. “I don't think we'll last long if you don't.” he added the last bit to himself, reaching into his pouch for some smoke bombs. The only chance they had for survival was to hide.

Haku attacked, getting more and more desperate as time wore on. Nothing worked! Orochimaru was as deadly of an enemy as the bingo book had said. Haku was neither naïve enough, nor dumb enough to believe for a second that he had a snow ball's chance in hell.

“Hide where ever you want, Haku. I will find you.” he had said, startling Haku when he appeared out of nowhere.

“How did you-” Haku was knocked back by an idly waving hand. He hit the tree, the bark shattering on impact. He groaned in pain, dropping down to one knee.

“Haven't you ever heard that snakes feel the vibrations in the ground?” And then, round two had started. Haku threw everything he had into his attacks, getting more and more frustrated when not only did the sanin seem unruffled, but he also was enjoying himself.

The sanin only smiled indulgently at him, defending himself easily and rarely attacking back. What's his purpose? Haku thought, jumping on a tree branch. The sanin kicked out, shattering the branch under his heel. Haku fell a few feet, then twisted so his feet could reach the trunk. Latching on with chakra, he ran down the rest of the way, dodging random attacks from Orochimaru. Why is he here? Why-.. no, I know why. But who is he here for?

He was too slow. Orochimaru drove his elbow into the back of Haku's head. Both the force of the blow and gravity made the boy crash into the ground face first with a cry of pain. Haku rolled over to his back, flinching when he saw Orochimaru standing over him.

The sanin smirked, putting his foot on the boy's stomach. “I have conquered you.” he said humorously. “Now may I move on to conquer Konoha?”

“W-why?” Haku coughed out. He was pretty sure that a few of his ribs had been broken in the crash into the ground, and that was not helped by the heavy foot on him. But still, he wanted answers. His fingers closed over Orochimaru's ankle, trying to ease the pressure off of his ribs. “Who are you after! Why are you going after him?”

Eyes widening in surprise, Orochimaru looked down on him. “What makes you think that I'm after only one person?” he asked, genuinely puzzled. “No, my dear Haku, I'm after many people. If you're so curious, I suppose I could tell you, so you can carry that knowledge into the afterlife.” he leaned over, keeping his foot on the former mist nin, lowering his voice. “There will be many people who will die because of me, but my targets are that old fool, Sarutobi, and the Uchiha boy, and his sharingan. Maybe I'll even get in an Elder Council member or too...”

“Sasuke-kun.. Hokage-sama?” Haku whispered in horror. The kind grandfatherly man who allowed him and Zabuza live in Konoha and one of the boys who made it possible for them to live a more peaceful life. He could see Sasuke's smirk and the Hokage's kind smile. Something akin to fury threatened to take over him. “No... I won't let you!”

“I don't think you're in the position to make demands.” Orochimaru said quietly. He stiffened, looking off into the surroundings, having heard something crack. Haku painstakingly reached for his pouch once more, grabbing his last explosive tagged senbon. It was getting to the point that he didn't care if he got hurt anymore, as long as he could some how delay Orochimaru from getting to Sasuke.

Several gray balls were thrown from bushes near the two ninjas. They exploded, shrouding them in smoke. “Hmph.” Orochimaru could feel the presence of another ninja. “I thought I killed him..”

Haku chose that moment to stick his senbon in Orochimaru's ankle. The sanin jerked away at the sudden pain, giving Haku enough room to roll away before the tag exploded. He received some burns and cuts, but he had managed to get out of the way in time. Instinct told him to keep rolling away, so he did, having had a teacher who made him rely on his instincts over his common sense. He stopped just outside the smoke because he had rolled too hard on his ribs. He gasped, trying to recover.

Izumo cursed when he heard the explosion. What the hell happened! He thought. Haku rolled into vision, bloodied up, some his own, some not. He picked up the kid, ignoring the flinch, and ran back towards the niche in the tree.

“I-Izumo-san?” Haku whispered. “I thought you were dead.”

Izumo laughed bitterly. “I'm as stubborn as an ox, kid. It's gonna take more than a few sucker punches from a snake freak to make me go down.” He gently rested the former mist nin down next to Kotetsu. At his questioning look over to the unconscious chuunin, Izumo only nodded his head. “He's worse than I am.”

Haku laughed softly, then winced when the action brought him pain. Ugh, I feel like a huge bruise. He thought to himself, running a hand over his ribs. They twinged in pain. He tried to sit up so he could be of use in case Orochimaru followed but the older chuunin pushed him back down.

Orochimaru cursed angrily, gripping the useless stump of his leg. He gave some rude invitations to some gods and Zabuza, and made unfair observations on who Haku's father really was. “Damn you, you brat.” he said once he calmed, taking off and wrapping his shirt around the stump to control the bleeding. He wondered how much energy it would take to regrow a limb using medical jutsu. Kabuto would know. “This really sets back my plans.” He grinned ferally, his gold eyes shining unnaturally. “I hope you're happy, brat.”

Izumo set a genjutsu over their niche, just in case Orochimaru came around. He picked up his communicator and tuned it to the frequency that he needed. “Hey, you got those back up yet?”

There's was some static on the other end before the quiet answer. “You've got three seconds to tell me why you haven't reported in, Kamizuki, or I'm gonna take your flak jacket away!” Eeping in surprise, Izumo dropped the communicator.

“That woman scares the hell outta me!” he said when Haku gave him a weird look. Shaking his head, the former mist nin sat up painfully and grabbed the communicator.

Orochimaru summoned a huge snake, knowing that Konoha's elite were soon to come, and he wanted to get away before his presence caused any more of a ruckus. It would be such a terrible thing for the Chuunin Exam to be called off because Sarutobi was worried about the easily corrupted minds of his subjects. He hobbled awkwardly on the snake's head, snapping at it with chakra when it seemed a little too interested in his blood. One, not even a snake charmer, could not trust a snake.

I can't have that mist boy leaking my secrets. He thought with a scowl, regretting his arrogance at the time. He reached into his sleeve, pulling out a squirming black snake with a pale underbelly. There was a thick black strong tied over and around the snake's jaw like a small muzzle. Orochimaru tugged it off, snatching the back of its head when it tried to bite him angrily.

He pressed two fingers to the top of the snake's head and hissed in an unrecognizable speech. “Hey, lazy a**..” he hissed, connecting his mind to the snake's. “Attack the boy who smells like snow and then you can go free.” The snake's mind was relatively simple and it hurt when it tried to translate what Orochimaru said to things it could understand. What he did understand that he was given a way out of being shoved in those really hot and cold places, being poked by glowing fingers, and being force fed some really nasty things. If one of the huge mice that walked on two feet was the sacrifice for his freedom, then so be it.

Feeling the snake's agreement to the deal, Orochimaru grinned, letting him go. The dark snake slipped into the bushes and out of sight.

“Alright, let's go.” The large summon and its rider left in the same manner.

“Hey, the Anbu are here!” Izumo said with much cheer. He stood and went up to greet the trio of masked elite ninjas. The Anbu looked at the tired and injured chuunin before determining that he was in fact one of the survivors, not Orochimaru in disguise.

“Anko-san?” Haku spoke softly into the communicator, keeping it away from and out of his ear just in case she started to yell. He needn't have worried. Out of all of the chuunins under her temporary control, Anko liked Haku the best. Maybe it was his soft spoken manner, his polite ways, even more so to females, as he wasn't used to them yet, or the fact that, when provoked, he was quite a deadly enemy. Whatever her reasons were, it was no secret that she sighed in relief at the sound of his voice and gentled her tone.

“Hey kid, are you alright?”she asked gruffly. She felt guilty for ordering him off into a danger zone just because she couldn't go herself.

“I'm fine.” he said, wincing slightly as his ribs angrily denied that claim. He felt woozy and tired. His adrenaline rush had faded. “Or, I will be fine.” Remembering the angry threat he heard her yell at Izumo, he quickly explained. “Izumo-san created a distraction so I could escape from Orochimaru.”

“Oh.” she said, chewing on the inside of her mouth in a fit of fretfulness. “Then he is forgiven.” It was then when she fully digested what Haku said. “Orochimaru!”

Haku opened his mouth to answer, but then he was suddenly aware of a stinging pain on his forearm. Almost lazily he looked over, feeling too calm even as he registered the nearly black snake that had his fangs sunk into his forearm. With a shaking hand, he stabbed the snake through the head with a senbon, killing it instantly. “By the way..” his speech started to slur. As his vision started to fade, he watched the shadowy forms of Izumo and the Anbu team walking toward him. My, how fast poison spreads.. “Orochimaru sends his regards.”


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“Shikamaru, you a**.” What was meant to be a loud insult accompanied by a hard knock on the Nara's head ended up coming out in a sigh as Ino wilted under her exhaustion. Her sickness, caused by unknown reasons after that written exam, had not gone away. She felt weak and shaky, all she wanted was to lie down and sleep for a year. The blissful state of unconsciousness was her only relief from the nausea she felt. He wasn't helping, with his constant demands that they keep on moving. “..b*****d..” Her next insult came out so low, she doubted he could even hear it.

Shikamaru looked back at his pale, sweating, and shivering team mate and felt a twinge of guilt. He had to hand it to her, she hadn't whined the first day, or that very morning, even though he was increasingly aware of how her step faltered every five minutes and she slowed down so much that Chouji and Shikamaru would slow their own so she wouldn't know the difference instead of asking what was wrong. If there was one thing he was sure of, it was that Ino hated being pitied.

And as much as he'd like to stop and set up camp for the night, just so she could get some shut eye and hopefully get better, he was too afraid to. Naruto's words of the future and haunted eyes plagued him, making him more paranoid and alert than he had been for years, dating back from when he was four and was so convinced that the boogie man lived under his bed and was going to eat him while he slept.

Just a little longer, he silently pleaded with Ino, then we'll stop. In the end, Shikamaru didn't really have a choice.

Ino scowled at Shikamaru's back. Stupid, overworking, bossy son of a- Her vision blurred and he split off into two different Shikamarus. Ugh. Since when did the lazy, good for nothing shadow user want to be leader of their little team anyway? He usually left that duty to her, and she did a pretty spanking good job with it, if you asked her! But this time, he just took charge and expected her to go along with it. He was just lucky that I don't feel good enough to exact my revenge and make him into a smear on the-.. oh, pretty colors. The wind felt nice on her hair and oddly enough, the sick feeling in her stomach was disappearing...

“Ino!” Chouji cried when he saw his team mate start to fall. Shikamaru started and turned around. The Akimichi twisted, turning back when his momentum pushed him past her, and reached for her arm. He snagged it, attaching his feet to the underside of a branch. “Whoo..” he wiped sweat off of his forehead with his free hand. “That was close, wasn't it Shika?” Shikamaru landed on the branch, reaching out a hand to help Chouji up. An ominous cracking sound made then stiffen.

Shikamaru uttered in perfect unison with his best friend the words that summed up their next problem. “Oh, s**t.”

The branch snapped under their combined weights.


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“Touch down!” Kiba called out, pushing the doors open. Shino merely shook his head at his team mate's antics while Hinata smiled in relief. They were finally at the tower.

It was night time, and they still had four days to complete the exam, yet none of them liked the idea of sleeping outside while in possession of two scrolls. It was that thought that made them use all of their effort to get to the tower, and none at all to combat any genin they met along the way. To use time to its fullest potential, Kiba tossed each one of his team mates a solider pill. They didn't need to sleep or recharge, thanks to the handy ninja accessory. But, as Shino pointed out wryly, they would be energized and hyper for the next three days as well.

The only noteworthy teams that they had run across was two sand nins that they found themselves regretfully recognizing, a blond kunoichi with a fan strapped to her back and her brother who apparently had a fetish with face paint, and one of their own rookie teams.

Team Eight made a wide detour around the sand nins and mostly ignored the other rookie team, except for a brief greeting gesture that Kiba had sent them. Though his team mates were sleeping, Naruto saw and waved back, secretly glad that they didn't stop for chit chat or fighting, since he was still a little wound up from his strange dream.

“Hello?” Kiba greeted the empty room. “We're probably the first fools here.” He tossed the last bit over his shoulder to his team mates.

They walked in, wary eyes searching for flitting shadows that would hint at an ambush. “Perhaps we are supposed to.. give the scrolls to someone?” Hinata asked, reaching for the tell tale lump in the front of her baggy sweatshirt.

“Or maybe we're supposed to read the damn things.” Kiba said, idly unzipping his jacket so Akamaru could jump down. “How about you, Shino?”

Shino was quiet, either divining the future by reading the slight bumps in the walls, or simply finding that the wall was the only soothing thing in the room. “I wish she would have elaborated more.” he said instead of a guess.

They sighed in unison, realizing that they had to figure out their next action before they could relax. “I say we read 'em, to hell with the rule.” Kiba said, dropping to the ground in a cross legged position. He held out a hand, waiting for a scroll to appear so he could do just that. Shino backed up several paces, physically showing his distaste to the idea.

“No, wait. I think he's on to something.” Hinata said, lowering herself to the ground in a kneeling position. She had an idea. “Shino-kun, may I please see the earth scroll?” The bug user nodded, reaching into his pockets and tossing it to her. She took her own scroll and the earth scroll and put them down next to each other. Several quick hand seals later and she was reading the scrolls, just a little differently than Kiba had thought. Hinata looked through the paper to read the scroll, every once in a while adjusting how far she looked through so she could read the next thing.

“I think.. these are summoning scrolls.” she concluded after a few moments. “A strange dual summoning scrolls for a single summon. One by itself is useless without the other.”

“What type of summon is it?” Shino inquired, crouching down next to her.

“Human.”


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“..Kamizuki, is that a snake in your hand?” Anko stared intensely at the limp form of a snake in his loose grip. Fidgeting a little, the chuunin nodded.

“It's a dead one, Anko-san.” Izumo said, lifting it up slightly. Anko had immediately dispatched a medic team after the Anbu, and it was that team who had taken the nine chuunins(one poisoned, three unconscious, one alert, but four dead) and brought them to the hospital. Izumo was patched up, given a painkiller, and sent off without a second glance.

Slightly dazed, he hadlimped toward Haku's room, the snake he had snagged still in his grasp as neither of the nurses patching him up wanted to touch it. He had stumbled in, interrupting a quiet conversation between Anko and Ibiki. They had looked at him in surprise before Anko had broken the silence with her question.

“I can see that, stupid. Give it to me.” Anko said blandly, forcefully snatching it from his hand. Izumo frowned, more worried about his fellow chuunin's fate than whether or not he had a dead reptile on hand. Anko, however, was looking at the snake with an unusually serious and grim glare.

Ibiki jumped up from his seat, no doubt nervous about the tension in the air. Had Izumo's thinking had been clearer, or if the situation wasn't as serious, he would have been amused to see the large man bouncing around like a hyper child. “Here's the doctor! And Shizune, Tsunade-sama's apprentice! I didn't know she was back in town..”

The doctor, in a normal white uniform, scrubs, and a pair of dainty glasses perched on his nose walked ahead of the darker kunoichi, the former studiously ignoring the latter as she glared at his back.

“Yes, I believe that the boy was poisoned.” he said calmly.

Shizune walked past him, not so gently brushing her shoulder against him.“What gave that away, doctor? The snake? The bite? Or the venom still leaking out of the wound?” she said bitingly. Her hands were twitching and flexing, but other than that, she was fairly calm.

The doctor ignored her. “We gave him an all purpose antidote, but the venom is strong, so we must make a more specific anti venom.” he continued on blandly.

Shizune muttered some choice remarks under her breath before checking Haku's vitals. The doctor tensed at that action, not liking a mere medic nin interfering with his patients. Shizune was aware of his distaste with her instinctive actions, but all she did in face of it was toss her hair over her shoulder haughtily.

“Now now, Shizune-san,” Izumo muttered. He felt hazy and tired, the effects of the painkiller kicking in. Damn, they gave me some pretty strong s**t. He put a hand on her shoulder, more so he could keep standing than in gesture conveying his adverse opinion on how she was treating the doctor. “There's no reason for you to be snippy.”

“Shut up Izumo.” she growled, directing a glare in the doctor's direction. Her eyes met Anko's. The older woman grimly held up the body of the snake. Shizune paled. She seethed, stalking forward to grab the doctor by the front of his uniform, not noticing Izumo's untimely stutter step then sprawl to the ground. “You don't even know how much danger Haku is. Do you recognize that type of snake? Of course you don't. It doesn't live near Konoha, or even in the whole damn country!”

The doctor was annoyed. Ninjas were merely human weapons in his eyes, yet they were always cluttering up his hospital with their injuries and their obnoxious views on what he should and should not be doing. He had more than eight years of schooling! That was a lot more than them, with their little 'Academy' and all. He attempted to assert control. “Ahem. We need to make anti venom.”

“And let me guess: you don't have the means, ingredients, or the skill to.” Shizune snapped again, disgustedly shoving away the doctor. He stumbled, surprised at the strength she had.

“Shizune! Show some respect!” Ibiki admonished, standing between her and the doctor. He had never seen Shizune like this, she was usually a calmer and kinder person. But the medic nin had something against the doctor.

“Respectfully sir, bite my a**.” she said, crossing her arms over her test. “This fool of a doctor refused to treat a dying ninja, and nothing short of a kinjutsu, Yamanaka techniques, or amnesia is going to make me forget that!”

And that was it. Most medic nins and doctors lived by a code to help and treat anyone they could, whether it was a fellow ninja, or a civilian. Some even went out of their way to help a wounded enemy, as long as they weren't directly ordered not to. Shizune was one of those people. Though her mentor seemed to no longer abide by that code, the younger of the two never abandoned it, even jumping in to help the staff at the hospital once she was given time off.

The doctor met her glare for glare. “I wasn't about to treat that dem- ah!” His hateful rant had been silenced by a prompt fist in his face. The back of his head hit the wall and the good doctor went down. Shizune hadn't moved.

“Way to go Anko-san.” Izumo said groggily from his seat on the ground.

“The Hokage isn't going to be pleased that you knocked out a perfectly good doctor.” Ibiki said blandly, looking at the doctor's bloody face. She hadn't pulled her punch. “Who's going to make the antidote now?”

“Shut up, Ibiki, you uptight fool.” she said lazily, licking the blood off of her knuckles. She turned to Shizune, her gaze strangely hard. “The Hokage isn't gonna like the fact that a doctor is choosy with his patients. It's simply not fair. In fact, why the hell didn't you report that in when the Kyuubi kid-”

“Sssh!” reminded Ibiki, eyes shifting around the room as if he expected someone to be listening in on their private conversation.

Anko's heated rant stuttered and came to a stop. She winced, rephrasing her question. “Uh.. why didn't you report it when Naruto got injured?”

Shizune flinched, immediately bowing. “I apologize, Anko-san.” she said, feeling guilty. Honestly, she had forgotten about the doctor. She was too busy trying to say the kid's life, and besides, there were about twenty other nurses and doctors who were extremely helpfulduring the situation, making her forget about the one bad seed.

“You don't have time to apologize.” Anko said sharply. She glanced at the clock, then at the pale chuunin in the hospital bed. Something in her gaze softened for a brief moment. “That all purpose antidote is going to wear off soon. Shizune, get the ingredients for the anti venom.”

“Yes ma'am!” she saluted, then ran out of the room, glad to be of service.

Anko tossed the snake in Izumo's lap. The chuunin jumped slightly, fumbling with the corpse to make sure that its fangs hadn't dug into his thigh or something. “Kamizuki! Drain the snake of its poison, the antidote cannot be made unless we have it!”

“Yes sir!” he stuttered, pulling himself to his feet and stumbling out of the room.

“Ibiki-” she finally said, turning to him.

He smirked at her. “What, you're ordering me around too?”

“Shut up.” But she smiled. “Get water and some rags. I recognize that type of snake. It was one of .. his calling cards. And we only just figured out a way to make the anti venom, but it's going to do a lot of damage to Haku. It's not the safest stuff for him to be drinking, and he has to drink twice the amount, but I'd rather have him living and in some pain rather than dead and cold. Understand?”

Ibiki paused, trying to think of all the information he had heard about anti venoms in his entire life. Sadly, it wasn't much. Anko wasn't an expert herself, but she knew just about everything there was to know about snakes. “So.. what? Muscle damage, fever.. what are the other possible side effects of this antidote thing?” he asked.

“Death.” she said grimly. “The antidote isn't gonna kill him, but if he has no desire to live after being beaten by that b*****d, the venom will do its duty, with the cure, or not.”


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Oblivious of any danger or bad omens, the genins continued their exam. Some failed, some triumphed, and some, like Gaara of the Sand, hunted after their prey.

It was early in the evening of the second day. By this time, many had already fallen, either to injury, or(rarely) to death. Most had stopped their hunt when the light waned, not wanting to be caught by an enemy who was better skilled than they were at fighting in near total darkness. They set up camp, caught their dinners, and slept with one eye open.

Gaara had no need for sleep.

His prey was there, naïve and oblivious that he was hunting them. The night of the full moon was nearly upon him, the night that his inner demon would come forth and do as he pleased. Instead of having the demon kill his prey for him, Gaara chased after them, determined to at least do something that he wanted, leaving his siblings behind in the dust. As the hours of the day grew longer and longer and the sky dimmed, his prey came to a stop.

“Aw man, my butt itches.” the girl muttered, her hand drifting down to relieve herself of that itch. Gaara grimaced. Had the girl no modesty?

The dark haired one threw himself against the cradle of the roots of a tree. The way he sat was vaguely reminiscent of a prince on his throne. “I'm bored. Entertain me.” he said airily. There was a hint of a smile on his lips, as if he was pleased with something. Frowning, the sand nin struggled to recall their names. Uchiha.. something.. Uchiha Sasuke.. he looked at the girl. And she was.. Sakura.

His prey glared, dropping down to his haunches. “Entertain yourself, jack a**.” And Uzumaki Naruto. He was much more interested in the other demon host than his companions. Even though they were acting unusually out of character. Perhaps it was a custom in this country for the ninjas to be eccentric.

In unison, the three yawned, reflexive tears in their eyes. Sakura plopped down next to Naruto. “I'm bored.” Sasuke said again, his voice taking on a slightly whiny tone. The other two muttered in agreement. Sakura shifted suddenly, a look of discomfort coming over her face. She was sitting on something, a foot long twig that had lost any signs of vitality.

“Tick tac toe!” she cried, a grin on her face. The other two jumped forward, immediately starting to fight over who could play first. Gaara could feel his surprise rising. Had this team gone nuts? Who would fight over a stick when they should have been out looking for some food?

“Hey, watch it!” Sakura whined, jumping away with the stick in tow. “I'm delicate.”

Sasuke snickered. “What? It's not like you're really a girl.” Sakura pouted and booted Sasuke right in the middle of his chest.

“Hey! Watch it!” he said, his hand running over the lovely dusty shoe print she left on the front of his black shirt. “Any harder and all of this effort would have went down the drain.”

She snickered, sticking her tongue out at him. “Then you're pretty delicate yourself, eh?”

I loved it Lord Suhi!!! I know you must be busy, but please continue ASAP!!!!!

Thank God! I thought Haku was gonna die.

Gaara and the Naruto clones werer amusing. xd

crying crying crying Lord Suhi!!!!!!!!!! where r u?????? i completely understand that u must be extremely busy, but please dont end the fanfic!!!!!!!!! it would be the end of all good things! crying crying im busy too. i barely had enough time to get on gaia today. how is any1 actually making a lot of time for it? i doubt there r that many people who can. please post the first chance u get!!!!!

[Sorry for the delay] I am in the Process of posting three chapters.
Maybe even Four chapters. razz

Gomen Nasai
-Urakihus