Snake In The Leaves

"You ready for this gaki?"

"Yes."

"You sure?"

"Im prepared to look cool."

This was the conversation between naruto and anko as they stood on a roof that was located across from the leafs shinobi academy. Anko stuck her tongue out in concentration as she angled a cannon towards the academy building, or to be more precise, she was aiming it at the large set of windows of a classroom in which all the chunnin hopefuls were currently undergoing their first test with ibiki.

"Aha! Got it!" Anko exclaimed as she pumped her fist, having finally finished aiming the cannon.

Naruto scratched his cheek as he looked at the obviously happy special jonin." Say, are you sure it was wise of the old man to assign me to helping you with the second part of the test?" He wondered curiously." I mean, I've kicked the snakes ass more than once, granted i was anbu then. But i feel like he'd recognize me still." The blond stated.

Anko shrugged nonchalantly at him." I think its more of a precaution." She stated in a bored tone." If that snake bastard is here and is trying to sneak into the exams, i think the old mans using you as a sort of deterrent. You know, to make orochimaru second guess his plans." She explained.

"Hmm.." naruto hummed as he nodded a bit." That makes sense."

"But!" Anko held a finger up." If he dose infiltrate my test we'll just have to hunt him down." She suddenly gained a predatory look in her brown eyes." Then we'll stab him~" narutos eyes widened a bit as anko suddenly began to lick the blade of a kunai that she had pulled from kami knows where." We'll stab him a lot~" she practically moaned out.

"Uh.. yeah.." the young blond halfheartedly agreed with the sadistic women.

"Anywho!" And anko was back to normal. The purple haired ninja looked at her wrist watch and grinned." Its time!"

"Already?"

"Yup!" Anko clapped her hands and grinned at the boy." You ready?"

"Of course!" Naruto replied with a confident nod. He watched as anko pulled out a match, lit said match before using the match to light the wick of the cannon.

"3...2..1.."

*BOOM!*

The cannon fired, shooting out a carefully balled up cloth. Naruto and anko shot off the roof after it. Anko did a front flip as she shattered through the window before the airborne balled up cloth flew in after her. She expertly spun around before chucking kunai at the ball.

Somehow, naruto wasn't exactly sure how, the kunai somehow unraveled the ball of cloth before pinning it to the ceiling and floor. Anko then landed with her arms open wide and a big grin on her face. Naruto landed in a crouch in front of her as he stared at the class full of wide eyed genin.

Naruto idly glanced back at the cloth anko had nailed up and almost face faulted at what was written on it.

' introducing your second instructor! The sexy and single! Anko!' Then under the bold black letters was.-'And naruto' it seemed to be written hastily with what appeared to be a red sharpie.

Naruto mentality sighed as anko tapped his shoulder. He held up his hand, his palm facing upwards and anko gave him a rather loud high five.

"We fucking nailed it." She whispered out before clearing her throat and speaking up." Alright maggots! Dont get comfortable because I- the illustrious snake mistress of konoha- am your proctor for the second exam!" She exclaimed with a devious grin." And this is my little helper!" She waved her hand towards naruto who was now standing next to her.

All eyes shifted to the blond boy and naruto leaned back a bit, his hands in his pockets and a bored look in his ringed eyes." Sup." Was all he said.

• Jonin lounge•

Kakashi along with the rest of the jonin senseis were currently watching everything that was going on inside of the classroom thanks to a wall sized screen. Suddenly a loud voice cried out.

"Curse you kakashi! You have passed down your cool, hip attitude to naruto-kun!"gai cried manly tears as he kneeled on the ground with his fist held up to the heavens.

Kakashi looked up from his book and faced the spandex wearing man with an uninterested look in his only exposed eye." Huh? Did you say something gai?" He asked.

"CURSE YOU KAKASHI!"

• with naruto•

"Anko." A deep gruff voice called out and ibiki walked out from behind her sign. He gave her a dull look." Youre early." He stated and ankos shoulders slumped.

"Really?" She asked with a pout.

"Yes."

"Ughh." She huffed." That sucks." She then shrugged and perked up." Oh well. Now- what the hell ibiki?!?" She cried out as she gazed out over the room." You left 72 people?!?" She then gave the man a sad look." You must be getting soft."

Ibiki crossed his arms and looked away." Maybe we just have good candidates this year." Anko scoffed at that.

"Whatever." She waved the man off before putting her hands on her hips." Ill cut them down by half." She stated with a nod." Alright maggots! Meet me and chibi here over at training ground forty four! You got ten minutes and if any teams are even a second late, youll be disqualified!" Anko grew a tick mark when no one moved." What are you waiting for?!? A fucking flare?!? Get your asses moving!" She ordered loudly before she and naruto body flickered away.

Ibiki watched with amusement as the room full of genin began to flood out of the room. Some jumped out of the broken window while others dashed for the door.

• Training ground 44•

"Alright maggots, heres the rules for your second exam!" Anko sat on top of a small make-shift shack, she had a megaphone up against her lips." Each team will come up to this shack and receive either one earth scroll or one heaven scroll. After that youll all line up at your assigned gates and enter the forest of death!" She grinned when she saw a few genin pale at the name of training ground forty four." Once inside the forest you have exactly five days to collect one of each scrolls. After collecting your scrolls you will make your way to a big red tower thats located directly in the middle of the forest. Oh! And you arent aloud to open either scrolls until you reached the tower!" She added." Any questions?!?"

"We have to spend five days in there?!? What are we gonna do for food?!?" A rather depressed looking choji asked.

"Meh. Youll either find food or die trying." Anko replied with a lazy shrug." Anything else?"

"Are we aloud to kill people?" Gaara asked in an emotionless tone as he crossed his arms over his chest, a crazy glint could be seen in his teal eyes.

Anko stared at him for a moment before answering." Yes." She nodded." Thats why all of you will be signing a waiver stating that if you die- and most of you probably will- konoha cant be held responsible for your deaths."

Suddenly four narutos appeared in front of the genin, each had a stack of papers in their hands and they began passing them out to the genin.

"Now sign the waivers and hand them in to the chunnin in this shack. After getting the papers back, the chunnin will hand you your teams scroll. Now get to it!" Anko ordered loudly before she shut her megaphone off and sat it beside her. Her eyes flickered to the spot next to her as the real naruto appeared there. " so, is he here?" She asked.

Narutos ringed eyes narrowed slightly as he stared at a rather pale, female grass ninja who was in line with her team and making her way towards the shack to get their scroll." Yes." He answered simply.

Ankos lips formed a thin line." Should we stop him before he gets into the forest?" She asked as she went back to watching the genin.

"No." Naruto answered." Right now hes disguised As the female on the grass nins team." He told her." And itd look very bad if we began to attack the grass genin out of nowhere. Itd be best to do it in the forest." He explained calmly.

"Very well." Anko then looked at him with a serious look." But i wanna make something very clear to you." Naruto looked at her with a curious head tilt." When we go after him hes mine. Im gonna fight him and you wont intervene. Im gonna give my dear old sensei a bit of payback for all the pain hes caused me." She gritted her teeth and unconsciously rubbed the curs seal that was located on the right side of her neck. Said seal was located right where her shoulder meets her neck.

Narutos eyes softened a bit. He knew of ankos past, her history with the infamous snake and how the village treated her once orochimaru went rogue and left her behind. The village shunned her for being the apprentice to orochimaru and labeled her many names. Snake whore, bitch, traitor and many more. He also knew that the only reason anko wasnt a jonin was due to the fact that most of the village council didnt fully trust her. They believed she shouldnt be trusted as a jonin due to the curse mark orochimaru gave her and pressured the third hokage into withholding her promotion. It often irked naruto when he thought of just how fast people can turn on you.

"I wont intervene unless you need me too." He told her in a serious yet calm voice." I wont allow you to die or get seriously injured just cause you wanna fight him. Got it?"

Anko gave him a nod." Ill agree to that." She answered.

Not long after, the genin had all gotten their scrolls and lined up in front of their respective gates. Anko held up her mega phone once more.

"Alright kiddies! I got one last piece of advice for you!" She called out. A sadistic smirk came upon her face." Dont die! Now go!" There was a loud buzzing sound before she and naruto heard the forest gates open, along with the sound of the genin running into the forest.

She threw her megaphone over her shoulder, not really caring where it ended up, and grinned down at naruto." Ready to go hunting gaki?" She asked.

Naruto reached up and gripped amaya tightly before giving her a nod." Ladies first." He eye smiled.

Anko chuckled and faced the forest." Such a gentlemen." She replied before she and naruto vanished into the forest.

• 3 hour later- team 7•

Sasuke didnt know how it happened. For the last three hours he and sakura had been heading towards the tower, they defeated a team from rain but the team didnt have the scroll they were looking for, but he took their scroll anyways, now they had two earth scrolls.

After dealing with the Ami team they came up with a pretty simple plan. Make their way towards the tower and take out any other teams they come across. They had been traveling for a couple hours, then shit hit the fan.

A female grass-nin had came out of nowhere and completely blindsided them, they only just barely avoided the extremely powerful gust of wind that wad aimed at them.

"She came out of nowhere!" Sakura hissed as she safely landed on a tree branch next to sasuke.

The self appointed leader of team seven grunted." Shes strong." Sasuke stated as he felt the grass nins chakra. It was dark, tainted. Evil." Far stronger than a normal genin." He raised his kunai and readied himself, sakura next to him did the same.

"Kukuku." The grass nin let out a creepy laugh, an amused smirk on her face." Oh goody, youre gonna fight instead of run."

"Who are you?" Sakura asked as she gripped her kunai tighter. The grass nins yellow snake like eyes drifted to her and suddenly sakura felt small. As if she was a bug that was about to be squashed by a giant.

"Im not interested in you girl. Im interested in dear sasuke-kun here." The girl licked her lips as she looked back to sasuke." So be a good little bug and stay out of this. Kukuku"

Sakura gulped and looked to sasuke, hoping that the boy had come up with a plan. Finally after what felt like hours, even though it was really only seconds, sasuke spoke.

"Shes far stronger then us sakura. I can tell just by her chakra, shes no ordinary genin and i think, no, i know itd be useless to run away. No doubt shell find us anyways."

"How right you are sasuke-kun." The grass nin grinned, letting them come up with a plan. After all, she knew that no matter what they came up with she'd still win.

She was practically drooling truth be told. It was difficult to sneak into this village, enter the exams before making it to her prize. The villages security seemed to be far better then what it used to be, but now that she was here she could finally claim what was hers. Though she mentally reminded herself that she couldnt let out too much chakra, least the proctors find out that shes here. And the last thing she needed was to draw their attention. Especially his attention.

She growled lowly. She had recognized that blond brat the second she laid eyes on him. His rinnegan was a dead give away. The damned brat had bested her in battle before, forcing her to run away as to not end up dead. And while his eyes were tempting, oh so tempting. She was here for sasuke or to be more precise, the sharingan.

She'd lure him in with the notion of power before taking sasukes eyes and his body for her own. After that shed use his sharingan to learn ever jutsu this world had. But she just might come back for the blond once she was strong enough. She licked her lips at the thought.' Yesss kukuku, ill have your eyes next naruto..' she broke from her thoughts just in time to raise a hand and block a punch from sasuke.

"Oh are we fighting now? Kukuku" she chuckled out as she pushed the boy away before ducking under a high kick that was thrown out by sakura.

She sent her fist up, punching the back of sakuras calf in such away that it made the girls leg muscles clench up, getting a pained cry from the girl as she fell towards the forest floor, only to be saved by sasuke who swooped in, caught her and landed safely on another branch.

"Are you okay?" Sasuke asked as he set sakura down, having her lean up against the tree trunk.

Sakuras hands were glowing a faint green as they slowly ran up and down her injured calf." Yeah, she just locked the muscles in my leg up. I-ill be okay in a few minutes." She assured.

"Alright, ill hold her off as best i can." Sasuke replied and sakura nodded.

"Kukuku. So the little cherry blossom is a medic hmm?" The grass nin called out, her voice filled with mirth." Who trained you girl?" She wondered.

"Tsunade-sama did!" Sakura replied with a growl.

The grass nins eyes widened just a bit before she grinned evilly."kuku, now i have to kill you girl. Kukuku" this was great! Not only would she steal the famed sharingan but shed also take out tsunades student. Or maybe she could.. yes thatd be wonderful..

Sasuke jumped towards the grass nin and began to throw out punches and kicks in a vein effort to land a hit, yet the grass nin merely swatted his strikes away with that ever present grin on her face which pissed sasuke off.

"Grr!" Sasuke jumped back and flashed through hand seals." Fire style: great fire ball jutsu!" She spat a nice sized fire ball out and it flew towards the grass nin who didn't bother moving. Sasuke landed safely on another branch and watched as his fireball hit the girl and exploded. His eyes narrowed as he saw the silhouette began to.. melt?

"AH!" Sasuke cried out in pain as he was suddenly kicked rather hardly in the side, sending him tumbling off the branch. He quickly righted himself in mid air before stretching his hand out and grabbing another tree branch. He swung himself up and onto the branch just as the grass nin landed in front of him, the grin still on her face.

"You have to do better then that my dear sasuke-kun. Kukuku" the grass nin chuckled out. Suddenly sasukes eyes flashed red as he activated his sharingan." Mmm" the grass nin licked her lips." The famed sharingan. Lets see just how good you ar-" suddenly her stomach was blown out. She looked down at her gut in shock and saw a small petite arm sticking out of her. Then her body fell away into a pile of mud, revealing sakura standing there with a grimace on her face.

"Mud clones.." sakura grunted out before looking up at sasuke who was looking at her with wide sharingan filled eyes." What?"

"You just punched through a person!"

"Mud clone-" sakura corrected.

"Still!" Sasuke replied.

"Well it wouldnt have happened if it was a real person, at most i wouldve burst a few internal organs but since it was a mud clone and theyre more.. brittle i guess, my hand just went right through." Sakura explained with a slight embarrassed blush on her cheeks.

Sasuke looked at her in horror." What is tsunade-sama teaching you- duck!" Sakura ducked her head just as a leg swept over her, right where here head wouldve been had sasuke not warned her.

" youre getting on my nerves girl." The grass nin hissed as she simply appeared between the two genin, making there eyes widen.

'Fast!' They both thought.

"Now stop interrupting me and sasuke-kun." The grass nin ordered as she sped forward and buried her fist in sakuras gut. The pink haired girl doubled over, spit up blood and cried out in pain as the force of the punch threw her off the tree branch and down towards the forest floor.

"Sakura!" Sasuke cried out as he watched his teammate fall. He growled and narrowed his eyes onto the grass nin," youre gonna pay for that!" He knew sakura would be fine, hurt but fine. He knew that she had come a long ways since their academy days and something like that wouldnt keep her down to long.

"Yes sasuke-kun. Show me how strong those eyes of yours are. Kukuku." She replied as she looked into the boys eyes, grinning as she saw that both eyes were fully mature, meaning each eye had three tomoe like marks.

Sasuke dashed forward and swiped a kunai at the grass nin who lazily evaded his attacks. He kept swiping the blade at her while also throwing a few kicks into the mix. He managed to get a lucky shot in when he jumped, spun and kicked her across the face, yet the grass nin only grinned wider.

"Yes!" The grass nin hissed out in delight as she blocked his strikes." Show me how strong you are sasuke-kun! Show me that your eyes are stronger then itachis!"

Sasuke saw red and he roared out as he heard the name of his traitorous brother." WHO ARE YOU!" He roared out as he kicked her off the branch and jumped into the air before attaching some ninja wire to a few shuriken before he chucked the deadly stars at the airborne grass ninja.

The shuriken passed right by the girl before they looped back around and surrounded the grass nin. Sasuke then pulled on the wire which ensnared the female ninja." Fire style: flamethrower jutsu!" He cried out before shooting out a thin stream of fire directly onto the ninja wire.

The fire roared to life as it traveled down the wire before it eventually engulfed the grass nin. Sasuke landed on the ground as the grass nins burning body hit the ground in front of him. Her cries of anguish were silenced as she exploded into a large fireball. Sasuke smirked. He had attached exploding tags to the shuriken before he threw them as well.

"Is she.. is she gone?.." came the battered and tired voice of sakura. Sasuke looked back at her to see her leaning against a tree, she was holding her stomach and had a look of utter pain on her slightly pale face.

"I think so. Are you okay?" He asked her in a serious tone. Though sakura picked up the hint of worry in his voice.

Sakura shook her head." She broke a few of my ribs when she punched me. Thankfully none of the bones punctured any organs but im still in immense pain." Sakura explained her situation with a small sniffle. It was taking every ounce of her will to not fall to the ground and cry her eyes out.

"Can you heal yourself?"

"No. Im not that far along in my medical training yet.."

"I see.."

"Kukuku.." both genin froze as they looked back towards the grass nins dismembered body. Their eyes widened in horror as they saw the charred limbs turn to mud and the real grass ninja slowly come out of the ground. " i must commend you sasuke-kun. That was a brilliant attack but sadly it wasnt enough. Kukuku" she stated with a grin.

"Who are you?" Sakura panted out.

"Me?" The grass nin reached up and pulled off her face, much to the horror and shock of team seven. The grass nin dropped 'her' face before looking back up at them.

She was a he and he had pale white skin, yellow snake like eyes, long black hair and had a demented smile on his face, showing of the two fangs he had.

"Well if you must know. Im orochimaru of the sannin! Kukuku." Orochimaru laughed out as he relished in the scared looks he was receiving from the genin.

"Orochimaru.."

"Of the sannin.." sakura finished sasukes sentence, her face was even paler now.

"Yes!" Orochimaru answered." And you sasuke-kun have exceeded my expectations! Youre easily chunnin level, a true prodigy. But i have a question for you.."

"What?" Sasuke asked with narrowed eyes.

"How do you plan on killing itachi?" Sasuke growled as he heard his elder brothers name." I mean, this village is weak and its holding you back sasuke-kun. But im offering you the chance to come with me and ill train you sasuke-kun. Ill give you the strength to kill itachi." Orochimarus voice was as sweet as honey, temping the unstable uchiha.

"Sasuke-kun.." sakura whispered out as she stared at her teammate who looked to be deep in thought.

Sasuke looked at the sannin with hard eyes." I.." he hesitated." No!" He shook his head." If i leave ill be no better then him!" Sasuke shouted out as his hands squeezed themselves into fists." Ive been letting his words rule my life for the past seven years. I wont allow it anymore!"

"Sasuke-kun.." sakura muttered in awe as she gazed at her teammates back with soft emerald eyes.

"Then how do you plan to kill him sasuke-kun? Kukuku."

"Ill get stronger here! And once im strong enough ill join the leaf hunter nins and hunt him down!" Sasuke spoke with conviction." But i will not leave my village, my home for a traitor like you." Sasuke stated." So i refuse your offer."

"Thats too bad." Orochimaru gave the boy a small pout before shrugging." No matter, ill leave you with a gift, a small part of my power and no doubt youll come crawling to me!"

Suddenly orochimarus neck extended before the sannins head shot towards the stunned sasuke." Ill get whats mine!" Orochimaru shouted out as he opened his mouth, his snake like fangs became more prominent.

Sakura watched in horror as the sannins head appeared right in front of the stunned sasuke. Orochimaru went to bite down on sasukes neck-

BOOM!

Smoke covered the area as an explosion shook the ground beneath them. Not long after that the dust began to settle and sakura fell to her knees in relief.

Standing protectively in front of sasuke, in a small crater, was naruto. The blonds ringed eyes were holding the gaze of a slightly shocked snake sannin.

"How many times do i have to teach you this lesson old man?" Naruto asked with an eye smile.

"You!" Orochimaru growled out. The sannins eyes were narrowed as he looked at the blond standing between him and his prize.

"Me." Naruto replied." Tell me, hows manda been since we last met?" He asked with a grin on his masked face.

"Why you-!" Orochimarus face was red in anger." Im gonna gut you and rip your eyes out of you head brat!" After his battle with naruto and kakashi, Orochimaru had summoned Manda in an attempt to gain forgiveness from the snake boss, he even lined up one hundred human sacrifices but the snake still tried to kill him!

"Ma ma." Naruto waved the sannin off." Im not your opponent orochipedo." Naruto stated calmly, gaining a confused look from the snake before he was brutally kicked in the side of his head, sending him crashing through a few trees.

"Ugh.." orochimaru stood up and shook his head. He looked back towards his previous location and frowned at who he saw.

Standing there with a sadistic, slightly maniac, grin on her face was his former student anko.

"Hello there sensei.. beautiful day were having, isnt it?"

"Fuck me.." orochimaru muttered to himself with a dry look on his face.

•cliffhanger•