29 Annoyance
"Kid, it was an interesting flight we just had," said Orochimaru with his signature creepy smile. "We'll continue this at another time."
Having said that, Orochimaru disappeared. Just as he disappeared Anko made her sudden appearance and grabbed Naruto by his collar.
"Where is that woman?" asked Anko frantically.
"Which woman?" asked Naruto in return as he frowned.
"The Hidden Grass woman with the big purple rope around her waist," described Anko.
"You mean Orochimaru?" asked Naruto, to which Anko grabbed Naruto's collar harder trying to lift her.
"Where is he?" asked Anko, her expression becoming more frantic.
"You need to calm down woman!" hissed Naruto, immediately grabbing Anko's throat and squeezing it. "First of all, you and the useless Anbu arrived too late to help! Now you're making demands too? Don't get ahead of yourself!"
Naruto was truly angered at this point. First of all, he did not want to display so much of his abilities this early in the Chunin Exam. He had been seething with anger when he had been forced by Orochimaru to almost reveal his Sharingan. Now this crazy woman was going mental on him trying to extract information from him.
"Naruto, let her go, you're choking her," said a male voice with a sigh.
Naruto looked around to find out the Hokage walking towards him, donned in his battle armour. "You arrived too late old man. I almost lost my life there."
"How long are you going to keep choking Anko?" asked the Hokage, looking at his Jonin whose face was turning into the same colour as her hair.
"Until she's an inch away from death," said Naruto, shooting Anko a fierce glare. "I don't appreciate being manhandled by anyone!"
"You just said 'Orochimaru', right?" asked the Hokage after having surveyed his surroundings. He was in a difficult position right now and he did not have the patience to play with Naruto. "Let go of Anko."
"I did and no," replied Naruto with a fierce tone.
"Fine. Where did he go?" asked the Hokage, forcefully suppressing his rage.
"He disappeared by that tree over there," replied Naruto, pointing at the nearby tree Orochimaru was last standing on.
"Search the entire forest!" ordered the Hokage.
"Yes sir!" replied the group of Anbu in unison as they disappeared.
"You're not going to find him," said Naruto, still keeping a tight hold of Anko's throat.
"What do you mean?" asked the Hokage, looking at Naruto.
"He's your student, no?" said Naruto, his glare shifting to the Hokage. "You're character's too weak. He used that to your advantage in the past and he's using that to your advantage even now. So, you're not going to find him."
"Naruto, you're forgetting I'm still the Hokage and you're a mere Genin!" roared the Hokage, veins popping out as he released a heavy amount of pressure on Naruto.
"It's because you're the Hokage and I'm a mere Genin that I'm saying this!" argued Naruto calmly, easily withstanding the heavy Chakra Pressure. "You performed so many failures during both of your terms as Hokage. Did you think no-one was ever going to criticize you about them? You're even about to commit another one."
"What do you mean?" asked the Hokage through gritted teeth.
"Do you know why Orochimaru interferred in the exam today?" asked Naruto, dropping Anko since she had long since fainted.
The Hokage fell into deep thought as he started stroking his beard. Naruto waited patiently as he stared at the Hokage in order for him to come up with the conclusion. There were enough hints for him to form the correct conclusion from his understanding of his student's character to the events that had occured today during the exam.
"It can't be!" exclaimed the Hokage, his eyes widening in shock. "Sasuke Uchiha?"
"You finally figured it out," said Naruto. "You have things to do, no?"
"Continue the Chunin Exam as normal," ordered the Hokage. "I'll need you to explain to me how you managed to survive against Orochimaru at a later time."
"You should already know how," replied Naruto, still frowning. "It's not important. I'll keep him away from Sasuke while I'm with him. But you need to make ample preparations. That man is the purest definition of psycho."
"Don't worry, I won't hesitate anymore when it comes to Orochimaru," said the Hokage, his face showing pure seriousness. He really did not like Naruto continuously telling him off. "But you still need to mind your own boundaries."
Without waiting for a response, the Hokage grabbed Anko and disappeared. Naruto was left alone to reign in his anger.
"Kid, you've been getting more emotional lately," commented Kurama. "What's wrong with you?"
"There are people around me who's power levels are way above mine," said Naruto through gritted teeth. "And there's nothing I can do about it."
"You're talking about Orochimaru?" asked Kurama.
"I don't give a shit about Orochimaru!" said Naruto angrily. "I'm talking about Danzõ and the Hidden Cloud's Raikage!"
"Naruto, you're still young," said Kurama after a moment's silence. "You'll overtake them soon enough. Don't let your frustration rule over you. Meditate. Gain control over your emotions. You'll never know the wonders it will do you."
"Seems like you're saying that from experience, Kurama," said Naruto with a faint smile, his anger slowly subsiding.
"You have no idea, kid," said Kurama, chuckling.
'Well, since my clone is protecting Sasuke and Sakura, it's time for my to grind some levels,' thought Naruto, creating over 20 Shadow Clones.
Without waiting any more time, Naruto his clones shot out in different directions looking for more beasts to fight.
The Forest of Death truly did not disappoint him. He came across a multitude of mutated animals that had a considerably stronger physiques compared to their human counterparts. Through defeating them, Naruto gained Experience Points at a rapid pace for the following two days, bringing him to Level 80. This was the fastest he had ever levelled up and it got rid of all of his pent up frustration from the previous few days.
Naruto currently stood atop a tree that he had marked so to spend the time to recuperate at the end of each day. He had used his mastery over the Sealing Techniques to make sure that he was not disturbed by anyone else. The only way that the Seals would be detected by anyone would be if they had sufficient mastery over the Sealing Techniques. Or if they were strong enough sensors.
Naruto let out a deep sigh as he closed his eyes, preparing himself to dispel his 20 Shadow Clones that he had created to aid him in his hunt. As soon as he dispelled them, a myriad of information came through his mind. His success over the past 2 days left him smiling deeply. "Status."
Name: Naruto Uzumaki | Age: 13
Level: 80 (0/0)
Rank: Genin | Class: S-
Status: Healthy
Title: Jinchuriki of the Nine-Tails Fox
Bloodline: Uzumaki, Uchiha
Attributes:
VIT: 800 | STR: 739 | AGI: 780
DEX: 776 | INT: 734 | WIS: 743
Attribute Points: 90
System Points: 450,000
Chakra Point: 100,000
Abilities:
Healing Factor - Rank: S-
(Able to heal 20x faster than normal.)
Sharingan - Rank: S+ {Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan}
{Allows user to perceive motions better copy the motions perceived and predict motions. Etternal Magekyo Sharingan currently locked.}
Chakra Reserve: S+
Chakra Control: A+
Skills:
Ninjutsu Mastery: A+
Taijutsu Mastery: A+
Kenjutsu Mastery: A+
Fuinjutsu Mastery: A+
Genjutsu Mastery: A+]
"Wow, it never fails to surprise me how quickly I can level up with the help of the Shadow Clones," said Naruto in awe. "Seems like fully mastering the usage of Lightning Chakra to increase my speed has increased my Agility and Dexterity to a while new level. But my Intelligence and Wisdom are lagging behind greatly. I need to find a way to increase them at a faster pace. But for now, let's use the System Points."
Naruto used the System Points to max out Intelligence stat and pushed the remainder into Wisdom. The sudden increase left him slightly light headed, but he quickly overcame it. His Intelligence was now at 800 points while his wisdom was now at 767, leaving him only needing 33 more points to overcome the bottleneck.
Having completed the allocation of his points, Naruto left his hideout after undoing his seals and headed straight for the Tower in the middle of the Forest of Death.
*** With Orochimaru ***
Shortly after his fight with Naruto, Orochimaru went to one of the hideouts he had kept in the Hidden Leaf Village. He entered a dark room and sat down on a chair after switching on the lights.
'That kid was stronger than I expected him to be,' thought Orochimaru as he grimaced in pain. 'His Wind and Lightning Chakra really messed me up. I will need a few days to recover from these internal injuries.'
As Orochimaru was deep in his thoughts over his fight with Naruto, there was a knock on the door that caused Orochimaru to look up and say, "Enter."
The door opened and three Sound Ninjas walked in and knelt in front of Orochimaru.
"Lord Orochimaru," said the trio in unison. "You summoned us."
"I did," responded Orochimaru. "I want you to hold your attack on Sasuke Uchiha."
"Yes, Lord Orochimaru," said the trio simultanreously.
"Also, avoid his blonde teammate, Naruto Uzumaki, at all costs!" ordered Orochimaru with a frown. "But carry on with the Chunin Exam. If you were to be paired up against him during the next Exam, forfeit. But if you were to be paired against Sasuke Uchiha, fight him to the best of your abilities."
"Understood, Lord Orochimaru!" obeyed the trio in unison.
"By the way, has any of you seen Kabuto after the Written Exam?" asked Orochimaru curiously.
"Lord Orochimaru, you didn't know?" asked one of the three Sound Ninja that seemed to be the leader of the trio.
"What do you mean?" asked Orochimaru with a deeper frown.
"He got caught at the beginning of the Written Exam," said the Sound Ninja.
"What!" exclaimed Orochimaru as he stood up in shock. "How?"
"Kabuto was conversing with the blonde Ninja, Naruto Uzumaki, just before the beginning of the Written Exam when Naruto Uzumaki attacked him and handed him over to the Jounin, Ibiki," explained the Sound Ninja in one breath.
'That Ibiki?' thought Orochimaru, sitting back down as his face contorted in anger. 'This can prove to be problematic! Although Kabuto is strong enough to last awhile before Ibiki can extract information from him, but I might have to make adjustments to my plans! Damn that Naruto Uzumaki! He's proven to be a nuisance in more than one occasion. I should have killed him in the forest!'
***** Hokage Office *****
The Hokage had returned to his office after leaving the Forest of Death and was going through the reports the Anbu had given him.
'That damn Orochimaru is always giving me a headache!' cursed the Hokage in his mind while pacing up and down his office. 'Like Naruto said, we couldn't find a trace of him in the forest!'
The Hokage sat heavily on his chair when he finished reading the report. Just when he lit his pipe, a knock sounded on his office door.
"Enter!" said the Hokage, letting out a puff of smoke.
The door opened and Ibiki entered and saluted to the Hokage.
"Have you managed to extract any information from Kabuto?" asked the Hokage gravely.
"Not yet," replied Ibiki in a disappointed tone. "His mental fortitude has proven to be stronger than what we expected. But we are continuing our attempts."
"What do we know so far about him?" asked the Hokage.
"Full name: Kabuto Yakushi. Age: 19. Grew up in Konoha orphanage that was run by Nonõ Yakushi. He is skilled in Medical Ninjutsu and was part of Root. He went missing after some time," reported Ibiki.
"So he was in Root," muttered the Hokage, feeling another headache comimg. "Notify me as soon as you've extracted information from him."
