47

Spending the next few hours in a cave, Sasuke and Yakumo recuperated from their battles.

After splitting up, Yakumo faced off with the snake summons of the creep, but due to their nature of being summons, the moment they were trapped in a genjutsu, they were summoned back to their land, and more replaced their place.

This resulted in Yakumo having to keep running away and trapping the newly summoned snakes in genjutsus to keep them away. For the whole while, until Orochimaru decided he was done with his little experiment, Yakumo was chased, exhausting her chakra, and putting a strain on her body.

Naruto kept watch, while Yakumo meditated to get her brain and mind calmed down enough to supplement the creation of yin energy for chakra, while Sasuke's chakra pathways settled down from the parasitic seal that Orochimaru placed on him.

"This seal really is complex. It's going to take a long time to study it completely and remove it. For now, I hope the repression seal will limit its effects." Naruto weaved and upgraded the seal he previously used as first aid to a more complex one, now that he could relax a tiny bit.

The pained expression on Sasuke's face lessened slightly, as the raging chakra in his body settled down.

"What do we have here? A bunch of downed Konoha genin, sleeping carelessly in the forest." As Naruto cleaned up the cup of instant ramen he had for dinner, he heard a voice coming from outside the cave.

"What scroll do you have?" Naruto asked calmly as he sensed the surroundings, checking and keeping an eye out.

"It doesn't matter what scroll we have. Go wake up Sasuke, we want to fight with him." The creepy-looking one with bandages wrapped around his face spoke up arrogantly.

"So, you guys are his lackeys, eh? Well, then don't mind if I end your lives right here then." Naruto realized their plans and instantly shot out like a lightning strike.

"Lightning Style: Assassination Decapitation" in a blaze of lightning, Naruto's figure disappeared from the spot, replaced by a flash of lightning. Instantly, the looks of the three standing in front of him changed from arrogance to surprise.

DIINNNNNGGGGGG

The girl of the group pulled out a string of bells and flicked them, causing a harmonious sound to pervade the air, making those that heard it slow down and relax.

"Genjutsu of that level doesn't work on me." Naruto's figure appeared behind the girl, as his lightning-coated hand stabbed into the nape of the girl, and came out from the throat.

PUCHI

"Kin!!!" The creepy-looking guy yelled out as he thrust his palms forwards, revealing thick gauntlets on his forearms.

BOOOOOMMMM

A shockwave traveled towards Naruto, who jumped away barely in time. However, the damage was done.

Blurggg

Naruto threw up the ramen he had just eaten, as an intense sense of vertigo assaulted his senses.

"That's what you get for killing our teammate and disrespecting Otogakure." The other boy with a headpiece framing his face spoke up arrogantly, before walking freely towards the blond.

"Cough. Cough. Damn, you guys made me waste my ramen. Do you realize it was a limited edition that I brought for good luck for the exams?" Just as the boy was in the range of Naruto, the blond jumped up, his palm wrapping around the spiky-haired boy and squeezing tightly.

Gah. Gah.

"I-impossible. How did you recover so quickly?" The creepy-looking guy asked as he looked at the scene of his teammate being choked and flailing around in surprise, his mind reeling in disbelief.

"I heal quickly. The damage to my inner ear from those air cannons won't keep me down too long. I don't even need a second to deal with you." Naruto smirked, as the sound of a thousand chirping birds resonated in the quiet forest, before the struggling boy fell to the ground motionless, his neck charred black, and bent at a weird angle.

"Zaku!!! Shit, this ain't right. You weren't supposed to be so skilled. Our informant was misinformed. Shit. Shit." Seeing the situation not going as planned, Dosu forgot about the mission to test Sasuke and used his gauntlets to create a blast of sound aimed at the ground, raising a thick cloud of dust.

"Running away. Can you though?" Naruto placed a kunai in his palm, before charging it with Wind Chakra and lining up the tip with the head of the target in the distance. He held the kunai like a certain noseless bald freak, one that followed Orochimaru's path of immortality and pointed the tip out.

'UHHVUUUDUUH KUUUDUUUBRAHHH' "Wind and Lightning Style Fusion: Kunai Railgun" lightning chakra coated Naruto's palm, creating an electromagnetic field around the kunai pulsing with sharp and deadly wind chakra, before the kunai shot forward, breaking the sound barrier, and dragging a trail of plasma.

"NOOOO!!!" Dosu's senses blared, but it was too late, as the projectile impacted the back of his head promptly turning it into a bloody mist before the kunai went on to bore through a few more dense trees.

"Head Shot!" A familiar game prompt from Hiroki echoed in Naruto's head as he bent down to examine the bodies of those he killed.

"Tsk. Human experimentation and modification. Such low-level changes though. This boy just had tiny subdermal tubes grafted in his arms. These ones are too rigid and would need regrafting every year. They could have gone with a flexible polymer instead of metal and had them connected to his chakra coils. This would have been so much more efficient." Naruto commented as he patted the bodies of the two to find the scroll but didn't have any luck.

"Sigh. Bring the body here." Naruto sighed as a single golden chain rushed out and wrapped around the headless body lying almost a hundred meters away.

"There we go. Finally. An Earth Scroll." Naruto cheered as he pocketed the earth scroll and cremated the bodies with a fire-style jutsu.

"You know. It's not polite to stalk people." Naruto stated into the air as he walked back to the cave, and attended to the two teammates.

"I was about to come out and meet with Sasuke, but I saw you were handling the three Oto Ninja. I didn't wanna cause a distraction." Ino jumped out of the bushes before Shikamaru and Choji, as they too entered the small cave.

"What happened to him??" Ino suddenly screamed in worry as she saw her boyfriend lying on the ground with dusty clothes.

"Don't worry about him. He just overdrafted his chakra. Same with Yakumo. We fought a particularly nasty opponent." Naruto explained as he pulled out another ramen cup and heated up a pan of water with fire style.

"Are you sure that he's fine?" Ino sat by his side in worry, placing his head on her lap and stroking the raven hair out of his face.

"Yeah. He must be in heaven now that he's getting a lap pillow from his hot girlfriend. You want a cup, Choji?" Naruto asked seeing Choji look at the ramen cups like a starved child.

"Hm. Hm." Comically, Choji nodded as drool spilled out his mouth and onto Shikamaru who stood by his side.

"Everyone!! Come on in. Let's make it a party instead of just stalking our group." Naruto yelled out, his wind chakra projecting his voice out of the cave, and landing upon Team 8, and 9 outside.

"Oh, you found us. As expected of someone with such YOUTH!!!!" Lee rushed inside the cave, followed by Neji and Tenten, who awkwardly walked in and grabbed a cup themselves. Next to enter were Hinata, Kiba, and Shoji, who were still surprised at Naruto's moves they witnessed.

"Yo, Hinata. Here, there's space here" Naruto motioned to the girl and patted the spot right next to him. She nodded and sat beside him with an intoxicated expression.

'naruto-kun is so strong and manly. Oh, my. Good thing I'm wearing extra thick, dark pants today.' Hinata wiggled till she found a comfortable spot, as all those awake began eating Naruto's stock of cup ramen.

Slowly, the kinda awkward and tense mood from the exam faded away, being replaced by a joyous atmosphere, as the genin teams caught up like it was a weekend get-together.

Sometime later, Yakumo and Sasuke both woke up, and were surprised at the small party that was occurring, but seeing the happy smiles on their faces, they too joined in and filled their stomachs.

After everyone was well rested mentally and physically, the genin teams joined forces and began to move towards the center of the forest.

"Help!!!!!" A while after the team started their journey, Naruto heard a faint cry for help.

"You guys heard that?" Naruto asked the group, who nodded at him, confirming it wasn't an illusion.

"I'm checking it out. Might be a team that has an extra Earth Scroll." Saying so, Naruto rushed towards the source of the sound, spreading his senses.

"Interesting. The chakra is so similar to mine. I wonder who it is." Reaching the spot quickly, Naruto was stunned to see a young girl with bright red hair about to be turned into bear food, with two members lying on the ground, dead.

"Uzumaki!!" Naruto instantly recognized the tell-tale signs of her being an Uzumaki, seeing the features resembling his mothers, and rushed forward at lightning speed.

BOOM. Splatter.

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

"Calm down miss. You are not in any danger now." Naruto arrived in front of the girl and tried to get his voice out from the shrill scream.

"Huh?" Opening her eyes, the girl looked confused to see a handsome boy in front of her instead of an ugly bear.

"I'm Naruto Uzumaki. Nice to meet you. Are you alright?" Naruto asked in concern, seeing her not move at all.

"U-Uzumaki. Impossible. There aren't any left." She shouted out in disbelief, as she looked around the boy.

"No, this must be a trap. You must be here to trap me. I will not let you." The girl tried to act tough and stand on her feet, but one look and anyone could tell, she had a twisted ankle.

"Calm down miss. We are not here to hurt you. We heard a cry for help, and I saw that you looked like my mother. So, I decided to help out. No big deal." Naruto clarified as he raised his hands defensively.

"You're mother? Was she an Uzumaki as well?" The girl asked hopefully, as Naruto nodded in affirmative.

"Wow. So there are more Uzumakis in the world left. I am not alone now." With happy tears in her eyes, Karin jumped forward and hugged the blond, while he just patted her back after recovering from his stunned state.

GLARE

'Move away from my Naruto-Kun, Bitch!'

Out of the four teams, one needed an earth scroll, while the other one needed a Heaven scroll. Neji's team already got their hands on one before.

Luckily, the dead group of Karin Uzumaki had an Earth Scroll, which the girl gave up, seeing as she was not going to be able to continue on anyway.

Naruto asked the group if they could bring the girl along, to which most nodded. Seeing this, Naruto quickly healed the girl's ankle and the now group of 13 made their way to the tower in less than an hour.

"Open your scrolls at the same time," Yakumo stated, and as soon as they did, a summoning circle popped up and blew smoke.

Standing inside were each of the team's leaders, who revealed the purpose of the mission.

"You guys still have two days before the round ends, so, do whatever you want, except harm those inside, and not go out of the tower." Kakashi lazily explained, before turning around to leave.

"Wait, Kakashi. We need to talk." Naruto stopped the closet pervert with seriousness in his eyes.

"What is it, Naruto?" Kakashi asked, seeing the serious expression on Naruto's and the other's faces. 'Naruto almost never makes this face if it's not an absolute emergency.'

"Somewhere more private. And bring Tsunade and the old man too." Kakashi looked surprised before sending the other teams on their way and bringing his own team to a meeting room.

"What's this about Kakashi?" Tsunade asked as she walked in behind Hiruzen.

"Orochimaru is taking part in the exam."

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So, Karin is saved. I'll deal with the logistics of keeping her in the village in a few chapters. Mostly because I had forgotten I needed to save her now. Good thing someone in the comments reminded me. Thanks for that.

Also, I don't know, but should I have Karin go for Naruto? I don't think Hinata would be open to sharing, would she? Seeing as she is a very intense Yandere.

Or should I get a sister-brother thing going on between Naruto and Karin, seeing as they are both from the Uzumaki clan?

Let me know.

Enjoy.