Chapter 47

Naruto was mainly bored at the moment; everyone that had made it was led to some giant forested area that was fenced off. He had heard of the Forest of Death but this was the first time seeing it. Okay, sure he was a bit intimidated by it all and he heard the stories about all the dangerous things in there. Then again, it had been Anko to tell those stories so he wasn't sure how much was true and how much she was just trying to freak him out. At any rate he was still trying to burn out the image in his mind thanks to Kiba.

Sakura nudged him, "Are you paying attention?" she whispered.

"Oh, yeah of course," he grinned at her. Then he noticed the look she was giving him. "Hey, is this the face of a lair?"

Sakura scowled at the masked boy, wondering if Naruto even remembered that he wore a mask all the time.

Anko went into about how dangerous the forest was and the whole set up for this part of the exam. How one team had one scroll and you needed two scrolls but not just any two. You needed one Heave and one Earth scroll. So the point was for the teams to basically life off the forest for three days, while fending off the other teams and beating the hell of the others to steal the other one they would need. After that, they were to go to the tower in the center of the forest, but only after three days would they be allowed in.

"Wait, even though we get both we have to wait at least three whole days? What kind of stupid rule is that?" Kiba asked himself.

He suddenly found a kunai up against his throat and looked to see the maniacal smile of Anko next to him. "Well if it isn't the whistle blower, you really can't keep that big mouth of yours shut, huh dog boy? Now I want you to behave because I'm not above neutering you."

"Do we understand now?"

Kiba gulped and nodded.

"Good," she said pulling the weapon back and walking off. She wasn't sure if that made things even but it was a start at least.

After that, things went a bit more smoothly. Each team was assigned a gate to enter as well as a scroll. Sakura was picked to carry the scroll for the team as she was dependable for it. After that Naruto wanted to speak to Hinata one last time but her team had already left for their gate.

He found her and her team just as they were getting ready to depart for their own gate.

"Hey Hinata-chan wait up!" Naruto called out as he approached his girlfriend. "Hey I wanted to see you off before we started."

Hinata smiled as her cheeks grew red, "T-thank you Naruto-kun. Good luck when you're out there."

"Ah I don't need luck, I got cool skills," Naruto smirked proudly as he jerked his thumb towards his chest.

"It is best not to underestimate the other teams," Shino said to him. "Although many are from this village, the ones who are not your friends will hardly pull their punches. Plus the others from villages other than our own surely will not hold back."

Naruto sighed, "You really know how to depress a guy you know that?"

Kiba could only grin at the masked boy's response. "Yeah and don't count us out either, I bet you we'll get to the tower before you."

"Oh yeah? So what's the bet going to be?" Naruto grinned. Normally he had great luck with bets so he figured he would try to see what Kiba had in mind.

The taller boy blushed a bit as he leaned down to whisper something into his ear. Naruto blinked in surprise but he gave a small perverted giggle much like his dad. He had to admit that Kiba had good tastes at least.

"Alright I think I can work something out," he told him. Then he thought about what he would like for Kiba to do. It was too bad that he was dating Hinata, a part of him wondered if he could have gotten Kiba to get a naked picture of his older sister. He had to admit that she had grown since he first met her. He even once managed to dare him to steal a pair of her panties once, a year ago when they were playing a daring game. Kiba got caught and boy his sister and mother were scary when mad.

He also realized he needed to get Kiba back for putting that damn mental image of his father and Anko in his mind and for the betting. He suddenly got a very nasty image in his mind. "Okay if I win, then you have to put on a dog collar and Aunt Anko gets to take you for a 'walk' around the block, on a leash."

Naruto figured that Anko would love the idea and would love to get in her own revenge with him.

Kiba paled at the thought but honestly it was worth it. "Fine but you better believe that I'm not going to lose this bet!"

Naruto then looked at Hinata and gave her a warm look, "Take care of Hinata-chan too because if anything happens to her then you'll answer to me. Got it you guys?"

"She is our team mate," Shino said calmly to him. "We will always look out for one another."

"Yeah you can trust us," Kiba nodded.

Naruto nodded to them both and hugged Hinata, she was surprised by the public display of affection but she soon gave a small sigh as she hugged him back. She then felt a small kiss on her neck making her face turn bright red. "I'll miss you Hime-chan."

It was the first time he had used a pet name for her, and she kind of liked being called 'princess' at least by him. He said it in a way that was filled with warm emotion as well. She felt like she could float and for a moment was wondering why she was seeing the sky before she blacked out again.

"Huh, Hinata!?" Naruto shouted out in surprise holding his once again unconscious girlfriend.

"Ah damn it, did you have to take it so far?" Kiba said a bit frustrated at this. After seeing this for years both Kiba and Shino carried an ample supply of smelling salts. He gently took Hinata from Naruto as Shino dug into his pockets for the small vile he carried.

"Oh man, I really hope she gets over the fainting thing," Naruto scratched the back of his head. The blushing was cute but one of these days he felt her fainting was going to land him in trouble one day.

"Just get going," Kiba sighed as Shino started to apply the smelling salts. "I bet your team is looking for you and we need to hurry and get to our gate."

After apologising again he ran off to find Sakura and Sasuke, he managed to find them as they had been waiting for him to show up. By the annoyed looks he had been gone a little too long so he gave an excuse about being lost on the path of life. He had thought it was funny but apparently they just gave him a twin set of death glares that shut him up after it. They were silently making their way to their gate at that moment when they were stopped just short of reaching it.

"Hey you three," a voice called out to Team 7.

The three genins turned to see another genin team walking towards them they noticed the Mist headbands they were wearing. They seemed to have singled out Team 7 for some reason. There was a girl, with two boys like their own team.

The girl had on bandages over her body for some reason with long dark hair dressed in all in white with cargo pants and a shirt with the sleeves cut off. The other boy was a bit taller than either of them, wearing goggles on his eyes. He had strong features and looked like he would be a huge man one day. It was the last one was the one that had yelled at them. He had dark brown spiky hair and piercing blue eyes, thin face with sharp features. He looked like the leader of the group as he stood between the others. He carried a thick sword on his back almost like a miniature version of the sword that Zabuza used only without any holes in it.

"You are the team that supposedly killed the traitor Zabuza Motochi?" The leader asked them.

"Who wants to know?" Sasuke asked giving him a level glare.

The lead boy cast a glare at Sasuke for a different reason, "The last of the Uchiha right? It's a pity that you're kind wasn't wiped out."

"What the hell do you mean by that?" Sasuke demanded.

"Bloodlines are an abomination in this world that's what." The other boy stated. "We took care of those mistakes in our country."

It was then that Naruto remembered the story that Haku told him, about how everyone in the Land of Water who had any bloodline was hunted down and killed. How Haku's mother had one and kept it secret. When Haku's father found out that Haku and his mother had a bloodline all this time, he had killed his own wife and would have killed his own son as well. Naruto knew the story but he had never seen such blind hatred for something just because of what they could do.

"What the hell is you're problem?" Naruto said angrily to them. "Just because someone has a bloodline doesn't mean you have a right to kill them!"

"Well then we'll see about that in the exam," the lead boy smirked at Sasuke then he turned to Naruto and talked to him. "I am Gendo Kaji of the Mist, and these are my team mates, Ami," The girl nodded her head. "And Akuma." The taller of the boys nodded.

"Yeah, we're the guys so what do you want from us?" Naruto asked Gendo angrily.

Gendo fixed Naruto with a praising look and after a moment gave a small grunt. "To think that one of the great Seven Swordsmen could have been defeated by a weak team. I suppose the traitor was too weak to have died honourably back in Mist."

"Well the man was a coward," Ami snickered. "He tried to kill the Mizukage and when he failed he ran like a scared little dog that he was, it was only a matter of time he would be hunted down and killed like any rabid animal."

Naruto clenched his fists in anger, although Zabuza was still very much alive he didn't like the way these people were talking about him.

"When I heard you were the team that killed him I had to see for myself," Gendo said looking over team 7. "And to my surprise I find a weak looking pink haired girl, the last of a cursed bloodline, and a loud mouth fool. If this is the team that was responsible then I weep for our hunting nins. To think they were beat out of their prize by this."

Asuma gave a small laugh, "Then I guess we'll prove our worth when we beat them."

Gendo nodded, "If we beat the team that was killed him, then it would prove us very strong and would most likely earn us that promotion. So I hope we run into each other in the forest then, because we will see you sooner or later and we'll kill you to prove our strength."

With that the three members left the Leaf genins as they went to their own gate.

"What was that all about?" Sakura asked them.

"Sounds like we made ourselves targets by 'killing' Zabuza," Sasuke said glaring at the Mist genins. "I wouldn't be surprised if that was one of the reasons they chose to enter this exam this year. At any rate we should be careful, they'll come after us."

Sakura sighed, "Great as if we don't have enough to worry about."

-Konoha-

Kakashi was walking down the street whistling to himself after all things were going great. His team had made it to the second part of the exam with no problems. Now he had three days to kill before he showed up at the tower to wait for his team. Although he was a bit worried, after all his son was in this, but he trusted them. The other reason he was in such a good mood was simple, how else does a guy feel when they screw their girlfriend so well they leave nail tracks in his back. He had to make a quick stop at his place to make sure she hadn't drawn blood, she really kept her nails sharp but for some reason the scratching he didn't mind.

It had been surprising how far things went on the roof, he only meant to make out with her but then things just sort of led further, not that he was complaining. Although he did have to cover her mouth when she got a bit too noisy, it had been one hell of a thrill. Sex out in the open, it sure got the blood pumping.

It was then that he had a surprising person show up again in his life. Kakashi noticed a very familiar man leaning against a wall. It was none other than Jiraiya himself, and he looked up at Kakashi as he arrived and nodded to the man.

"Hey there Kakashi, you mind spending time with an old man for a bit?" He asked with a smile.

Although Kakashi was to meet up with Anko later, he could afford some time. "Sure thing."

The two fell into step with another as they walked through the village. Jiraiya had been looking for Kakashi for awhile now, he had a few things to talk about and that was mainly about Naruto. But that could wait for a moment after all there were a few things he wanted to talk about. He grinned as he noticed how happy Kakashi was and his 'pervert-sense' was tingling.

"So, whose the lucky lady?" Jiraiya smirked at the taller man.

Kakashi was a little surprised by it, but then he remembered that Jiraiya was Konoha's spy master for a reason. "Things have developed since the last time you were here."

"Oh?" Jiraiya grinned. "Got you a lady friend huh? Don't supposed you could give me some details?"

"If I did then Anko would kill us both if she finds out you put her into one of your books," he told him.

"Anko...you don't mean that girl that was Orochimaru's old student?" He asked him and Kakashi nodded. "Huh, hope she's doing well, I think I saw her at the boy's birthday party once when he was a younger. How is the boy doing?"

"I think you'd be surprised by him," Kakashi said. "He's coming along very good, he's learning wind nature manipulation at the moment. He's still working on a couple of the jutsus but given his age that's pretty good. He's also found himself a little girlfriend as well."

Now Jiraiya was very proud of his godson, given his job he couldn't be in Konoha for long periods of time but he made an exception now and then. With the chunin exams he wanted to see how Naruto would do, plus if the boy was anything like Minato then maybe he could give the boy some training as well. He had already met the boy at the hot springs with that other little kid and he had a liking for the boy. But to hear that the boy already had himself a girlfriend was just the icing on the cake.

"Oh, so who is it?"

"Hinata Hyuga," Kakashi smirked.

Jiraiya thought about it as it clicked in his mind. "You mean the little girl you said that's been following your son around for years, the heir to the Hyuga clan? Well I have to say the boy knows how to pick them. I can already see a story in this, the Princess and the Warrior."

Already his mind was thinking of the plot and all kinds of fun he could have with that. Maybe have the boy and princess sneaking off for secret midnight meetings, battling for her honor and love, the story had potential. He'd have to see if he could spy on the boy and his little girlfriend the next time he had the chance.

"So is all you're here for is a little check up on Naruto?" Kakashi asked the old spy.

"Partly," Jiraiya said as he cast a quick look around. "Mainly I've been on the trail of a certain snake and my sources tell me he's been on the move lately. I can't find anything concrete but a lot of the rumours have been going around. Plus a few other things have been bothering me, like this new Sound village. For being one of the smaller nations it's had an unusual growth. No one knows where the village is either but from what I can tell its forces are starting to rival the larger villages."

Kakashi looked surprised at that, normally the smaller villages didn't have a large supply of forces. Since most jobs went to the larger ones the smaller ones had to limit their numbers, too many people without enough income led to ruin quickly. But to have such a large number didn't make sense for Sound. They would need a large number of resources, plus how rich was their village to afford this.

Plus where did they get to many ninja in such a short time. The only thing he could think of was that they had to take in rogue or missing ninja from other villages. That was a dangerous practice as you not only made yourself a target and enemy but also how could you trust and/or control such people?

"I see you're beginning to see what I'm seeing," Jiraiya said his face more serious now. "Things don't add up. I heard they have a team here so that's one of the reasons I'm here, to see what kind of ninja they have. Plus there's a rumour one of my old teammates is in the area as well."

Kakashi knew that there were only two people, and he would have just said Tsunade if he meant her. So that left only Orochimaru. That could mean trouble for this village if that man was around.

"Things are never easy are they?" Kakashi sighed.

"No but then that's the life of a ninja isn't it?" Jiraiya asked.

-Forest of Death-

It had been two days and already Team 7 was wishing for the final day to get there. For the past couple of days they had been scouting the forest, they made sure to stick to the trees and to keep hidden. They also avoided any other teams if they could.

It wouldn't do them any good to wear themselves out in the first couple of days. So they lived like shadows and always alert, they slept in shifts, ate what they could find in the forest and always made sure to never leave the team for long periods of time. They also tried to keep the noise down which was driving Naruto nuts. He hated the quiet but he knew better than to give their position away.

They had found a few teams, some looked beaten up and limping back to the gate. Most likely they had lost their scroll and were too injured to continue on.

Little did they know that they were being stalked almost the entire time, one figure was watching the team from the shadows. The figure moved silently waiting for the right moment to start the testing.

"Oh Sasuke, how much of your brother do you resemble I wonder?" the figured grinned in the trees. "Can you hold a candle to Itachi's powers? Will you interest me enough or will you disappoint me? Well the first thing I'll have to do is break you all up and see if I can get you alone. The others don't matter but I hope you've enjoyed your life so far, because by the end of this day your life, if you survive, will never be the same again."

-Outside Forest of Death-

Anko was taking a nice long break after all she wasn't really needed to enforce any rules (given there weren't many rules to break in the first place). Plus if any team couldn't make it, she had a few chunins and a medical team on standby if they were needed. She was just to ensure the test ran smoothly and explain the rules. So that left her ample time to relax and just wait for reports to come in, then she could give her orders.

Plus it also left her some free time to spend with Kakashi as well, which was really nice. Normally their schedules didn't allow for lots of free time together. But now with his team in the exam and her running it, it left for a lot of free time. At the moment Kakashi was laying with his back to a tree with her snuggled in front of him, and a plate of dango on her lap. At the moment life was good, as she relaxed with him.

It was nice just sitting here, not really having a care in the world together, his arms wrapped around her waist which his chin resting on her shoulder. She used to scoff at people in relationships, how they acted in public, how they talked about the person they said they were in love with and all of that. She never once thought she could ever find a decent guy anyway. After all she had been the apprentice to one of Konoha's greatest traitors, it had taken a lot of time for people to start to trust her, but the old stigma was still there at times.

But Kakashi didn't care about her past, only about her and it gave her such a warm feeling in her stomach. She smiled as she thought she would never get into a relationship but here she was. If someone a year ago told her this, she wouldn't have believed them. Hell she had most likely thought she would die in some mission before she found someone, but it seemed that the train wreck that was her life was finally giving her a decent break.

Kakashi sat there with her in his arms as she silently ate the dango he bought for her. He could smell her scent, that husky smell of earth with a sweet smell in the background. He just held her close feeling her body against his. It had been a very long time since he felt he could open up to anyone. After Obito's death he had taken it pretty hard, then when Rin was lost and presumed dead it didn't get any better. Finally when Minato died Kakashi felt the world was going dark. But there had been that one bright moment as he took Naruto in. Naruto had been the light in his darkest hour of his life, when Kakashi had no one left.

Naruto had been the one happy point in his life for years now, over time he had started to open up again thanks to what it meant being a father. It was strange how young Kakashi was and yet Naruto was growing up fast. In a few more years Naruto would be a full blown teenager and soon after that would most likely move out and start his own life. It was actually kind of depressing for Kakashi to think of the house without Naruto in it. It would seem too quiet and it was Naruto in the first place that made Kakashi retake the old family home. If he hadn't had Naruto he most likely would have sold it years ago and just lived in an apartment.

But even though he had started to make new friends and new bonds, the one he was reforging with Anko was different. At first they became friends, now they were becoming something more. He felt like that first day he held Naruto in his arms, like he had found that small light in the darkness again. Only this time it was a different type of light and he was eager to explore and see where it took them.

Unfortunately their perfect afternoon was interrupted by a trio of chunins that had appeared out of nowhere.

"Anko-san," the lead chunin said nearly out of breath. "We have a problem!"

Anko sighed as he pushed herself out of Kakashi's arms all she thought was that this had better be good to get her from her two most favourite things in the world.

"Well spit it out." She told him standing up and brushing off her coat.

"We found three bodies near the Forest of Death, they've been dead for a few days which is why we were able to find them." The chunin explained. "They were in a small ditch covered by a genjutsu but one of the patrols was walking by and noticed the smell. It was then that the genjutsu was noticed and dispelled and the bodies found."

Anko knitted her eyebrows together, it sounded like a strange way of disposing of a body. Normally a fire jutsu would work but that caused smoke, plus an earth one would cause tremors that could be felt and heard. This was an easy way of disposing of the bodies and also said that whoever killed them didn't care if they were found eventually. Just as long as the bodies weren't found too soon.

"Is that all?" Kakashi asked as he was curious as well.

"It's not, the faces of all the murder victims were…well…it looks like they were peeled off…"

Both Kakashi and Anko looked surprised at that, but more so with Anko. She knew of a technique that used that but it couldn't be the one she was thinking of, because if it was then they were all in a lot of trouble.

"Take me to them, now." Anko told the three.

The five of them hurried to where the bodies had been found, they hadn't been moved just yet as a medical team would be arriving later to pick up the bodies. Anko looked over the forms, they were ninja but they weren't from this village. She saw the headband of the Grass ninja on them and at first she thought a team had taken them out before the testing. But she could have sworn that she saw the Grass team taking their places by a gate. And she was certain that Grass only sent one team this year anyway.

Looking at the faceless bodies she took a closer look at how the flesh had been removed. It had been surgically removed by the looks of it, it was perfectly done. It was then that she noticed another thing, she knew this technique. It was unmistakable as only one man in the world could have the skills and knowledge to do something like this, and it also meant she knew why the faces were taken.

"You three!" Anko shouted at the chunin. "We have imposters in the Forest of Death, get any available ANBU units in there and then get the Hokage. Tell him about the bodies and then tell him that…that I think 'he' has finally returned home."

"He?" one of them asked.

"Just do it now!" Anko yelled and the three chunins were already off. Anko wasted no time in running towards the forest. She was so focused that she didn't even noticed Kakashi was running along side her until he spoke.

"Anko, what's going on?" He asked her. He was a bit worried as he had never, not once seen her like this.

It took a moment for her to be able to form the words. "He's back Kakashi, Orochimaru has come back to the village and he's in the Forest with all the genin."

Kakashi's one visible eye widened, everyone knew who Orochimaru was of course. The inhuman crimes that man did were unspeakable, Kakashi even knew one of Orochimaru's test subjects while in ANBU. The man had been infused the DNA of the First Hokage, although that was kept secret for many reasons. The fact that Orochimaru was here was bad enough, but the fact that he was in the forest with the genins was even worse. Who knew what that man was up to but it was obvious the genin teams were in trouble.

His mind went to his son and his team and he hadn't felt panic like this in a long time. It had been so long since he had to really worry about Naruto's safety, not since he was a young chid with all those 'accidents' that happened, and the one assassination attempt that Gai stopped. His eye became hard as he raced with Anko into the forest. If Orochimaru even came near his team he would do everything in his power to kill the man, even if he knew he would most likely die in the process.

"Then let's hurry and find him," Kakashi eventually said to her. Anko didn't say anything as she just nodded her head. Sure she would have liked to face Orochimaru alone and kick his ass, but honestly she felt better with Kakashi with her. She knew he was a more powerful fighter than her, and she would need him to face her old teacher.

'Orochimaru, I don't know what you're up to but I swear today is the day I'll make you pay for everything,' Anko thought to herself.

Next up Chapter 48: Snake in the Grass