Let The Games Begin

"I am the proctor for the first exams, the name is Ibiki Morino. The first part will be a written test on skills that are important for a ninja to know. There are only 10 questions. Each person gets 10 points off the beginning." Started the proctor.

'Damn a written test!' thought Naruto as he still wasn't good at tests.

'This is going to be too easy! Cha!' thought Sakura.

Thoughts similar to these two rang through the room.

"For each question you get wrong you will lose a point. If you lose three points you will fail the test and your team will also fail." Stated the proctor.

"WHAT! Why is it that the whole team fails if one person fails?" asked an Iwa shinobi.

"Because ninja teams are teams and you cannot proceed unless you have a full team. Now there will be no cheating. Each time you are caught cheating you will lose a point." Stated Ibiki.

'Strange…why would he tell us that cheating is prohibited as long as we don't get caught three times? Unless he is expecting us to cheat. Well played you trench coat wearing troll.' Thought Naruto as he smirked at the proctor.

'What is that gaki smirking at?' thought the proctor as he scanned the nervous gennin.

"When you are done, we will ask you all the tenth question. Once you have the test you may begin!" barked the trollish looking man.

Naruto got his test and immediately knew that cheating would be the only option. Only problem is that he didn't know any information gathering techniques that could be used in this situation.

'Well he did say that you could only lose points by answering incorrectly.' Thought Naruto as he sat back.

In the corner of his eye he could see Hinata taking glances at him in concern. 'She must be worried about me. I mean she is the only one that knows almost all of my secrets.' So Naruto just smiled at her, letting her know that he was fine.

Sakura was already half done with her test and had time to actually think. 'These gennin look so much tougher than me. They look at me like I'm nothing, but a piece of meat. I wouldn't even be here if it wasn't for Sasuke and Naruto.' She though as she looked at Sasuke and noticed he had his Sharingan activated.

'So he is cheating? I thought that we would get kicked out if we were caught three tim…of course we are supposed to cheat! What about Naruto though? I know he's strong, but does he have a technique to cheat effectively?' thought Sakura in concern.

She had been thinking for the past few days and had finally come to realize that she needed to get stronger. If not for herself, then for Sasuke and Naruto. It wasn't' too hard to tell that Naruto was just as strong as Sasuke, but she thought that she could get closer to Sasuke by supporting him.

Since that didn't seem to work, she would go to plan B. Plan B was to train and get just as strong as her teammates after the exam. 'Sensei will help me, I'm sure of it!' thought Sakura as she finished her test.

'The Dobe better not fail for us! I know for a fact that he still isn't as good a information gathering as me. He may be stronger now, but I'm still got my strong areas.' Thought Sasuke.

'You know what! I will get all of these questions right just to show how awesome I am!' thought Naruto as he began to think of a plan.

'Hm if only I had enough time to concentrate on making my shadows. However, everyone would see me if I use a handsign. I have to create a distraction. That's it!' thought Naruto as he began to focus is mind on a task.

Two minutes went by before his plan came to fruition as a large cloud of smoke appeared in the room covering everyone's eyes. In that moment Naruto made his modified handsign and created a shadow of himself to sink amongst the room and copy other peoples tests.

Before the smoke cloud lifted he dispersed the clones again causing yet another smokescreen. He had already found Sakura with his shadow and was looking at the test.

'Dang that woman is smart as hell. Too bad she doesn't do anything-physical cause she would be pretty good. Well now nothing left to do before the test is over…or maybe I can screw with some competitors using my shadow?' thought Naruto as a devilish grin covered his face.

'What is that kid/Naruto/gaki smiling about?' asked a number of proctors, Ibiki, students, and friends were thinking when they saw that grin.

Suddenly a series of totally random events started to happen across the room. Chairs were tipped, papers were thrown, and pencils were broken.

A number of the more observant Shinobi, or ones with a dojutsu could see a blotch of chakra racing along the floor. The ones with the Byakugan were even more surprised seeing that it had it's own chakra network.

'How can something like that have a chakra network?' asked Neji as he followed it with his eyes.

Shikamaru himself had seen the black mass move stealthily across the floor and immediately started figuring out what it could be. 'It could be an enemy ninja or a technique that makes something invisible. Although it seems like a shadow is just moving across the floor like my clan's jutsu.'

He looked behind him and saw a smirking Naruto just eying the chaos with a sparkle in his blue eyes. 'So this must be one of those shadow techniques he has. It is both similar and different from my own. Whatever…it is too troublesome to think about.'

It didn't take long for teams to get kicked out of the exam. Many of them were new gennin just doing it cause their teammates thought they were cool. Ibiki watched in concern of the large group. There were three things that seemed strange to him about this year's exams.

One there were two foreign jinchuriki in the room if intelligence was anything to go by. Second, it seemed that there were at least 25 extra teams than usual in the exam this year. Third, he was sure that he recognized 1 or 2 shinobi from Kumo, but he wasn't sure.

If my guesses are right we will have more in the second exam than ever before. I feel bad for those rookies if they make it past me.

Twenty more minutes of failed tests and small pranks by a certain blonde brought about the tenth and final question.

"Put your pencils down it is time for the tenth and final question of the test! It will be asked orally and does not require either pencil or paper. Now you have two choices on this part." Stated Ibiki, pausing to create dramatic effect he finished.

"You can either choose to quit the exam now or you can choose to take the question." Started Ibiki before he was interrupted.

"Well that is stupid! Of course we are going to take the next question!" shouted Kiba from the back.

"However," Spoke Ibiki as if he wasn't interrupted. "If you get the question wrong you will fail the test and never have the option to become a chuunin ever again!" finished Ibiki as he smirked at the faces of the surprised gennin.

"What!" shouted about 70% of the gennin in the room while the others seemed to be thinking about what he said or were too scared to talk.

"How can you do that! There are people here who have failed the test before and are taking it again!" shouted a Iwa gennin.

"Well they never had me before, my test...my rules." Stated Ibiki as the Iwa gennin looked devastated.

"Now if any of you are going to back out, raise your hands and your team and you will be escorted out." Stated Ibiki as immediately three hands shot into the air.

Soon teams were leaving in mass while many of those that remained looked like they were about to panic.

Naruto sat back analyzing everyone in the room. He could tell the man was lying by the way he talked. Besides he would still become the Hokage even if he were a gennin. Rank did not actually show the level of ones strength.

'It seems like Sakura and Sasuke are determined to move on. Maybe there is hope for the two of them in the future.' Thought Naruto as he looked around again and saw Hinata fidgeting.

'Dang! Hinata is probably worrying about Shino and Kiba to see through his lies! I have to do something before it is too late!' thought Naruto as he saw Hinata begin to raise her hand.

Hinata was scared. She wasn't scared for herself, but her two teammates. What if she got the question wrong and they were sent back because of her. She couldn't face the shame of failing them.

'I'm sorry.' She thought before she began to raise her hand.

Just then a loud bang alerted the room to Naruto's presence. "I won't ever quit! Not until I'm dead will I ever quit in my dreams. I don't care if I am a gennin forever as rank doesn't measure someone's strength. It is just a term, let actions justify one's self! So go ahead give me the second question, cause I will pass it just like everything else in my way!" shouted Naruto in a determined voice.

At this everyone in the room drew courage from Naruto in his act of courage. Anyone who was close to quitting now had determined faces on them. Naruto was staring at him with a small smile and a blush on her face.

'Damn kid wiped all of the doubt out of them. Dang, Anko is never going to let me hear the end of this.' Thought Ibiki as he glared at the gennin.

"Is there anyone else who is going to quit?" asked Ibiki, but the resolve in their faces told him that they were all ready.

"Well then for all of you that decided to stay…congrats on passing the first part of the chuunin exams!" declared Ibiki as he smirked at the surprised faces of the gennin.

"What about the tenth question?" asked a Kumo ninja.

"There was no tenth question, in the ninja world you will have to make decisions that are life and death. If you are not willing to put your life on the line then there is no way for you to be a chuunin." Explained Ibiki.

"There will be times that you are asked to gain information. If you are caught you will be expected not to give up any of your villages secrets, I am a living example of this!" stated Ibiki as he removed his bandana to show the cuts on his head.

"Soon the proctor for the secon…" started the man before the windows of the building blew up and a round ball flew into the room before exploding.

A banner popped up saying 'WELCOME' and a girl wearing a very revealing outfit was standing in the middle.

"Alright you maggots, my name is Anko Mitrashi and I am the proctor of the second exam! Wait, you left 36 teams pass this year Ibiki! You must be losing your touch!" exclaimed the slightly crazy proctor.

"Maybe the contestants this year are just better than most." Suggested Ibiki as he glanced at Naruto.

"Well brats congrats on making it this far, but it all changes. Follow me and I will take you to the location of the next exams." Stated Anko as the gennin didn't move that much.

Slowly they followed her through the village, along the way they could talk to each other and discuss plans.

Hinata was slowly following her team thinking about how she had nearly ruined it for them. 'I shouldv'e known it was a trick. If it wasn't for Naruto-kun I would've given up.'

"Hinata!" she eeped as Naruto appeared on her side.

"Naruto-Kun! Why aren't you with your team?" asked Hinata quickly

"Well I wanted to talk to you Hinata. If that is okay, I wanted to make sure that you were okay." Stated Naruto as he smiled at her, causing her to blush.

"I'm okay, its just I was so afraid of failing my teammates. I would gradly risk my life, but I could never risk their lives for my own reasons." Said Hinata.

"I know you will Hinata, and that is why I couldn't let you do that to yourself. You are one of the most important people in my life. Hopefully you won't have to make such a decision." Said Naruto oblivious to the blush on Hinata's face.

"You are one of the most important people in my life too Naruto." Said Hinata softly, she too was oblivious to Naruto's new blush.

"If we have to fight in the next exams Hinata. I want you to know that you can always ask me for help." Said Naruto.

"Thank you Naruto, hopefully we won't have to worry about that Naruto." Smiled Hinata.

Unknown to the two of them they were being stared at by a team of Kumo ninja.

"So the mission is to kill the container for the Ichibi and kidnap a Hyuga then?" asked a tanned man.

"Yes the Raikage has requested him to be killed due to him killing three teams of gennin three months ago. The Hyuga we will worry about after we have killed him. I was given a seal that will transport her to a team outside Konoha." Said a teenage girl with blonde hair.

"That boy she is talking about looks familiar." Stated a blonde teenager.

"He kinda does, however do not dive too deep into it. Our missions are to kill Gaara of the Desert and capture the Hyuga Heir." Said the blonde girl.

"Why do we need the help of the other three gennin teams? The three of us are chuunin. Won't the gennin just get in the way?" asked the blonde teenager.

"We were ordered to have them assist us on the mission. They will be around just in case any other teams decide to interrupt our mission." Explained the girl.

"Okay I understand Yugito." Said the blonde as they stopped talking and followed the

"Sasuke what do you think Naruto and Hinata are talking about?" asked Sakura.

Hn…I have no idea." Said Sasuke as if he had nothing more to say on the matter. However, he did not stop. "Sakura…is Naruto stronger than me?" asked Sasuke.

Sakura hesitated for a second before answering Sasuke. "Well you are Sasuke, you are after all the Rookie of the Year. I know Naruto is stronger now, but he is still the same Dobe as before." Said Sakura.

"I don't know what to think anymore? He is stronger than me now…I've always wanted to be strong to kill that man, but now I'm not sure what to think anymore. I will ask him for help, if he gives it to me then that will be the end of it." Said Sasuke as he walked up to the group in front of Anko.

"Okay maggots this here is the Forest of Death." She said gesturing to the wall behind her that had signs warning people from entering.

"Here you will be taking the second exams. For the next five days your teams will be competing for a scroll that one of the opposing teams will have. Each team will receive either a heaven or earth scroll. The goal is to achieve one of each scroll." Said Anko.

"What happens if we open one of the scrolls?" a gennin asked.

"That is strongly advised against, but if you want you can at your own risk." Stated Anko.

"So this is the Forest of Death? Doesn't look too bad." Stated Naruto, however he was interrupted from proceeding by a kunai that scratched his cheek.

"The brave ones are the first to die Gaki." Said Anko as he appeared behind Naruto with a Kunai at his neck.

However to her surprise Naruto exploded in a cloud of smoke. "I guess you are right proctor." Said Naruto as he handed her the kunai she had just thrown at him.

"Not bad Gaki, but if you ever sneak up on me again I will kill you." She threatened as Naruto just smiled.

"Okay brats I want one person from each team to come up and grab a scroll at the front! Then we will have a thirty minute rest before the second exams.

"Wait! What are we supposed to do about food?" asked Chouji.

"You're a ninja, just hunt something down!" replied Anko.

Thirty minutes later all of the teams were ready. Each and everyone of them had a reason for being there. Some were there to prove themselves, test themselves, pride, or orders. Yet everyone of them would be unprepared for the horrors of the forest.

With a quick whistle across the fields teams raced into the forest. Surprisingly Sasuke had given leadership to Naruto for the exams. A mile into the forest Naruto decided to stop them.

"Why did we stop?" asked Sasuke as Sakura nodded in agreement.

"We need to discuss a strategy now that we are in here. We can either go to the tower and ambush other teams, or we can try to hunt a weaker team down." Stated Naruto.

"I say we try to find another team, that way the competition has a better chance at being weaker." Said Sasuke.

"Okay that sounds good, now we have to deal with a certain mole in the trees." Said Naruto as Sasuke nodded and Sakura looked confused.

'Crap, did they notice me?' thought a shinobi in a yellow jumpsuit. He was right as he had to jump down to avoid a cluster of kunai thrown at him.

"So you kids were able to notice me huh? Doesn't matter…hand over your scrolls and I will let you all go." Said the shinobi as Naruto started to laugh.

"You think you can take us? Sasuke here alone is chuunin level, Sakura is mid gennin, while I am also chuunin level. Now I say you run before we are forced to kill you." Stated Naruto as they all pulled kunai out.

"You will mistake that." Said the shinobi as he threw three shuriken at them.

"Doubt it." Stated Sasuke from behind the masked shinobi.

His eyes widened as he was kicked in the back across the clearing.

"You can't even follow me with your eyes. Surrender or we will kill you." Stated Sasuke.

"Never!" said the nin as he started to make handsigns.

However he was forced to stop as his body was unresponsive. "Ehh I guess I can do some of Shikamaru's moves." Stated Naruto as he held a handsign. At the feet of the nin his shadow had connected with Naruto's.

"Dobe, what is that?" asked Sasuke in mild confusion and shock.

"Well it turns out Sasuke that I have an affinity for shadow jutsu like a Nara, but my chakra is much more dense. This enables better control with the shadow, but at a massive chakra drain." Said Naruto.

"I thought you were an orphan like me." Said Sasuke.

"I am an orphan, my jutsu are just similar. My affinity allows me to do things that no Nara can do. (Think of it like this, with out the blades he wastes twice as much chakra, with the blades it is near perfect control. Overtime Naruto will seek to control it better.)" explained Naruto.

"Damn you! Let me go!" said the rain nin.

"No, now do you have your scroll?" asked Naruto.

"You think I would be stupid enough to leave my team with the scroll?" said the nin.

"Good point…Sasuke kill him." Said Naruto as Sasuke smiled and slit the nin's neck to Sakura's horror.

"How can the two of you just kill like that?" asked Sakura in shock.

"Easily, despite Sasuke and me hating each other. We know what it takes to survive in the ninja world. Unlike you Sakura, not once have you ever tried to get stronger. You aren't mid gennin level like I told that nin. You are perhaps high academy level, if you do not wise up soon you will die. Enough said." Said Naruto as Sakura was ready to cry.

"I do not hate you." Said Sasuke softly.

"What?" asked Naruto in confusion. Did Sasuke just say that he didn't hate him.

"I said, that I do not hate you. I am jealous of you!" shouted Sasuke at the end.

"Why would you be jealous of me Sasuke?" asked Naruto softly as he had never seen this part of Sasuke.

"Everyone likes you! You are getting stronger and stronger when I am staying at the same level!" shouted Sasuke as Naruto just blinked.

"You think everyone likes me Sasuke? How could you say that when you have 70% of the council kissing the ground you walk on. 90% of the village would love for you just to talk to them and you are prodigy. If anyone should be jealous it should be me!" said Naruto, as Sasuke was about to retort Naruto continued.

"I am hated by most of the village for something that I had no control over. It wasn't until this year that I began to get stronger and that was to protect you two and the ones that are precious to me. I wasn't taught at an early age like you were and I don't know what it is like to lose my family, but that is because I never had one. They both died on the day I was born." Said Naruto.

Sasuke was looking at his teammate in shock. Who could've known that his life was just as hard if not harder than his own? Maybe there is another path?

"I know about your brother Sasuke. What he did that night to you and all of the Uchiha. After I found out I was planning on being your friend, but you shut everyone off from you. If you can let go of your hatred for one second maybe you can see that you are not alone in you quest for vengeance. You have the entire village behind you to kill him." Said Naruto.

"I can't! It has to be me who kills him for the Uchiha!" shouted Sasuke as a war raged in his head about what he was going to do.

"Why does it have to be you? If you would just ask for help, your chances would increase greatly!" explained Naruto as Sasuke just looked conflicted.

"Why are you helping me now?" asked Sasuke after he had finally calmed down.

"Because I don't want someone so similar to me to fall into darkness like I nearly did. Revenge can lead to many things and happiness is not one of them. You will fall into the void and never escape." Stated Naruto.

"I don't know Naruto…I don't know what to think right now." Answered Sasuke.

"You don't have to decide for now. For now let's put the past behind us and look to the future." Said Naruto as he extended his hand to Sasuke.

"Deal." Said Sasuke as he smirked and shook his hand.

(Yes I have now decided to make Sasuke good as I have thought of something new in the story. I will be leaving clues in the context to point to where Naruto's shadow powers come from. It does not come from an anime, but a videogame that kicks butt!)

"Now let's go find us a scroll!" said Naruto as they jumped into the forest. Sasuke had a smile on his face, while Sakura was little saddened, but determined.

"Damn that Monkey!" thought a pissed off Orochimaru as he dodged a few shuriken being launched at him.

You see Orochimaru had tried to infiltrate the exams, but had failed due to a lucky patrol spotting him. Now he was running from a team of 6 ANBU with orders to finally kill him.

'I may not be able to mark the Uchiha today, but when I finally invade he will be mine and so will his Sharingan.' Thought Orochimaru as he ran past the walls of Konoha.

Hinata was downright scared at the moment. Her team had just witnessed the Sand Team, more specifically the one Naruto warned her about just brutally.

"We need to leave before they notice us." Stated Kiba as Shino nodded in agreement.

"Let's get going." Said Hinata however they soon froze when they saw Gaara looking in their direction.

"Mother is not satisfied. Maybe she will be after I take their blood?" said Gaara as his teammates looked at him and shocked and looked at Team 8.

Team 8 jumped out knowing that their presence was detected. After seeing his attacks they knew there only chance was to escape.

"You were the one with the blonde?" asked Gaara as his siblings also remembered meeting her.

"Yes I was." Stated Hinata defiantly as her teammates looked at her in surprise. "Naruto told me to avoid you." She stated.

"It's too bad you didn't heed his warning." Stated Gaara as his sand swirled around him.

"Well will you look at this? Both of our targets have found each other. This will be easier than I thought." Said a voice from above them.

Both the Sand Team and Team 8 looked to the tree's to find themselves surrounded by four Kumo teams.

"What the hell is this?" yelled Kankuro as he now had his puppet out and Temari had her war fan out.

"What does Kumo want with us?" asked Kiba.

"Oh this here is nothing. We were just running through the trees and happened to stumble upon the Jinchuriki of One tailed demon and an unsealed Hyuga girl. Then I remembered that we had a mission to kill the person responsible for killing my cousin and kidnapping said Hyuga." Said a blonde haired girl who was obviously the leader.

Seeing as how they were outnumbered Team 8, Kankuro, and Temari got close to each other. Gaara didn't care for the others and he summoned a massive amount of sand.

"It doesn't matter, mother will taste all of your blood!" yelled Gaara as sand shot at the girl.

However, the sand didn't reach her as a ball of blue fire hit the sand causing it to fall to the ground.

"Please that sand of yours can't stand against the power of the Two Tailed Demon! Darui, take the puppet user! Omoi take the one with the fan. You three teams kill the two males. Leave the Hyuga alive for transportation back to Kumo." Stated the leader as the three gennin teams grinned in anticipation.

"Hinata! We can hold them off for a few minutes, but you have to run!" said Kiba as Shino nodded in agreement.

"I won't leave you two here! I'm staying with you!" replied Hinata as she activated her Byakugan.

"That is illogical Hinata, death is a better ending then what they will do to you." Said Shino.

"I refuse to leave you two behind. I cannot just let you two sacrifice yourselves." Replied Hinata as she now got into her stance.

"If that is what you wish Hinata." Said Shino as cloud of bugs exited his body.

"Yeah, we can do this!" shouted Kiba as he immediately turned Akamaru into a clone of himself.

"You can try!" yelled one of the Kumo gennin as he went through a few hand signs.

"Katon: Burning Web!" he shouted as he breathed a small flame in front of where he stood.

Immediately the flame split off into three directions and after so many feet it would split into three lines. Creating a web of flames off the ground that was a 6 inches tall.

Team 8 jumped back, but were now separated from each other and could not use their team work skills.

It was now one team vs. a single gennin and the odds did not look good for Team 8 or the Sand team now that Gaara was fighting someone at his level.

Naruto ran at the head of Team 7 scanning for any trouble. His shadow clones did the most work as they were henged as animals, looking for anyone.

He knew it was only a matter of time before they reached the tower with a scroll, but he had an uneasy feeling for the past two minutes. It was as if there was something was wrong and he needed to act.

However, he couldn't focus on what he felt. It was as if he was disconnected from his own senses. 'This is ridiculous! All of my senses are as perfect as could be, it must be something different, but what?'

It was then at that moment that he felt the seal on his wrist burn for a brief second. He immediately stopped with Sasuke and Sakura stopping too and looking at him curiously.

"What's wrong?" asked Sasuke as he had a kunai out in case of trouble.

"My wrist is burning…" said Naruto to the confused looks his teammates were giving him.

"That is why we stopped?" asked Sasuke as he was a little ticked to have stopped for such a stupid reason.

"Just trust me on this one Sasuke." Said Naruto as he made a seal and a poof of smoke covered his hand.

Now in his hands were his two black crescent blade trench knives. Sasuke and Sakura both looked at the knives in wonder as they had never seen Naruto with them before.

"What are those?" asked Sasuke as Sakura looked at Naruto in agreement of Sasuke's question.

"These are my Shadow Blades Sasuke. They allow me greater control over my shadow chakra when I use them. Now be quiet and let me think for a second." Said Naruto as he closed his eyes.

'What is this feeling I'm getting from these! I feel fear, terror, weakness, and yet determination. Someone is fighting for their lives right now, but who?' thought Naruto as he focused as much as he could on the feeling.

Slowly an image forged itself in his mind. It was blurry at first, but the more he focused on it the clearer it got until he could make out what the picture was. To his surprise and horror it was of Shino, Kiba, and Hinata fighting a group of ninja.

Shino and Kiba looked like they had a few injuries and were being cut off from Hinata. Hinata herself looked like she was exhausted and couldn't keep up much longer.

There was one Kumo ninja on the ground dead or just knocked out. He couldn't tell, but what he could tell was that the fight wouldn't last much longer unless they got some help.

Just then a kunai whizzed past Hinata's defenses and struck her in the knee causing her to go down. Naruto watched how Hinata cried out in pain and how the Kumo ninja smiled victoriously.

"HINATA!" screamed Naruto as he exited this vision. Quickly turning in the direction he believed she was he dashed off to save her.

Sasuke and Sakura were both startled, but had no choice but to follow. It was at this time that they realized that Naruto was fast.

"What was that all about?" asked Sakura as she struggled to stay in sensing range of Naruto.

"The hell if I know! I didn't even know he could use trench knives like that." Said Sasuke as he followed Sakura as he didn't have any sensing abilities.

Hinata was trouble, and that was the only thing that was running through Naruto's mind as he sprinted through the woods.

"I will not fail you Hinata! You are my best friend, I swear that I will make them pay for ever hurting you." Whispered Naruto as he created Ten clones.

Hinata could barely stand as 5 Kumo gennin surrounded her. Shino and Kiba were both being stalled by the third team that was attacking them.

Gaara and Yugito were duking it out and causing devastation in the area they were fighting. Kankuro and Temari were fighting a stalemate with their opponents so she was all alone.

"Just surrender already and we will let your teammates go." Said the leader of the two teams attacking her.

He had jet black hair and could use lighting jutsu effectively. This had two affects while fighting her. One it could keep her at a distance by launching bolts of lighting at her and it made fighting him up close just as dangerous.

From what she could tell he was high chuunin level, two of them were low chuunin and the other two were gennin level. Luckily she had scored a fatal blow to an overconfident gennin who thought fighting her in taijutsu would work.

"I'm not giving up." Hinata stated with all the courage she could muster.

She was running on fumes and favoring her right leg as her left was stabbed by a kunai. The only way she was getting out of this was if help arrived.

"I was hoping you would say that princess." Said the chuunin level gennin. Electricity gathered in his palms as he prepared a jutsu.

Hinata got focused on him as he brought his hands into the sky. That would be her down fall as the four other gennin threw kunai in a circle around her.

"Raton: Screaming Prison!" shouted the nin as he shot a bolt of lightning at one of the kunai. The bolt arced between each kunai creating a crisscross pattern with Hinata in the middle.

True to the name of the justu Hinata screamed in pain as lightning circulated through her body. She couldn't move, think, or speak as the pain was unbearable.

The only thing she could see was the sick twisted grin the gennin had while he continued to feed chakra into the technique.

"I hope you like this technique. It is meant to trap and incapacitate people for a given amount of time. Soon you won't be able to move or scream, but you will be able to feel everything that happens to you." He said as Hinata collapsed to the ground, unable to stand or scream any more.

The kumo ninja finally disabled the jutsu and walked over to the semi paralyzed Hinata.

"It's a good thing too as I'd like for you to feel everything that I do to you while my teammates take care of everyone else." He said as Hinata watched him in horror as he grabbed her hair and lifted her to his eye level.

"After all the Raikage only wants you alive. He never said we couldn't do things ourselves to such a pretty girl like yourself." He said with a sick smile.

"Hinata!" yelled Kiba as he rushed past his opponent.

He didn't make it far as another Kumo ninja intercepted him and kicked him into a tree right next to an unconscious Akamaru.

Shino joined his teammate and again they rushed towards Hinata. Shino's bugs flew out and blocked a kick by the same Kumo nin, and Kiba launched forward.

However, just before his fist made contact, with the nin who was holding Hinata, a bolt of lightning hit him in the chest.

"AHHH!" screamed Kiba as he was shot back into a surprised Shino.

Together the two landed in a heap and struggled to get to their feet. Just then a barrier of lighting flew up around them, trapping them.

"That barrier will keep you two busy. Why don't you just sit back and enjoy the show. After Kuroi has his way with her, everyone else will get a go. That is unless Yugito-sama finishes early with that sand brat." Said the Nin who was holding up the barrier.

"Shino are your bugs draining this barrier?" whispered Kiba as soon as the nin turned.

"Yes, but it will take a little time for them to do so." He said sadly.

"By that time…" said Kiba sadly as he looked down.

"Yes…" replied Shino as a tear slid down below his sunglasses as he too looked away.

Hinata could only watch in horror as the Kumo nin pulled his pants down along with his underwear. She tried to close her eyes, but they didn't respond. The only thing she could do was cry as he ripped off what remained of her sweatshirt.

She looked down as her tight shirt was revealed beneath. She would not look into the eyes of this sick monster.

"Didn't know such a small girl like you could hide such things in a sweatshirt. This will be much more enjoyable…for me that i…" said the nin before he fell silent.

The next thing she heard was the sound of something heavy hitting the ground.

"Kuroi!" she heard one of the Kumo nin scream.

She opened her eyes to be met with the sight of the nin, who was about to rape her, holding his neck as blood flowed from his neck.

She looked up and saw to her surprise and joy, Naruto standing over her with both of his trench knives out and a dark look on his face.

"I'm sorry for not getting here sooner Hinata." He said as he glared at the seven Kumo nin who were facing him.

Naruto glared at the seven Kumo nin around him. Judging by their looks he had just killed the strongest of their group.

"If any of you lay so much as a finger on Hinata, I will rip you to pieces!" shouted Naruto as he got into his stance with the trench knives at the ready.

"Ha you just got lucky with killing Kuroi. Damned idiot always stops paying attention when he is about to get some fine looking ass." Said one of the Kumo nin.

Naruto glared at that nin as he started channeling chakra into making two of his shadows. "You can believe that…or you can come at me and die." Said Naruto.

"Damn cocky leaf nin!" yelled one the other Kumo nin.

He ran at Naruto with two kunai drawn, unfortunately he didn't make it far as he suddenly stopped moving and hunched over. Slowly the body lifted up and his fellow nin could see a trench knife sticking in his stomach.

It was attached to an arm that was all black and sticking out of a shadow. Slowly the shadow began to rise and take shape in the form of Naruto.

The shadow sliced the nin's neck to make sure he was dead and joined his leader along with the other Shadow that formed up beside Naruto.

"What the hell are those things?" asked one of the Kumo nin.

"Doesn't matter. He won't be able to stand up to all six of us. I will stay back and launch my jutsu on the original. Each one of them will get two of us to fight." Said the leader of the group. This was the same one who had imprisoned Kiba and Shino earlier.

"Raton: Bolt!" shouted the nin as he shot a bolt of lightning at Naruto.

The three Naruto's jumped in different directions and charged the enemy. Naruto blocked the blades of a Katana from the gennin protecting the new leader.

"You're pretty good with that sword of yours. Too bad you're not good enough!" shouted Naruto as slammed the sword away and kicked the gennin in the face.

He then continued onward to the leader, who had gathered quite a bit of lightning chakra.

"You think I will go down that easily? Now I will show you why the Raikage has taught me one of his strongest jutsu!" said the nin.

"Raton: Lightning Armor!" he screamed as his body was encompassed by a shield of lightning.

Grinning at Naruto he disappeared. 'What!' thought Naruto before he felt a strong punch to his gut that sent him flying back.

Naruto slowly pulled himself up and saw the boy grinning at Naruto with a face that clearly said that he was going to win.

"Give up already! We outnumber you seven to one, just tell me how you think you can win." He stated.

Naruto just smirked at the gennin for a second. "You are a fool if you believe having such a powerful jutsu makes you invincible. Besides, its only seven to three." Stated Naruto as a giant ball of fire flew through the air towards the new leader and two of the gennin.

The leader and one of the gennin were quick enough to dodge, but the last and weakest one of the group was unable to escape. A screamed ripped through the air as he was burned alive.

"Nice for you to finally get here Sasuke. Sakura I want you to free Shino and Kiba and then get Hinata to safety. You aren't any use to us at your current level!" ordered Naruto as Sasuke nodded.

"But…" Sakura trailed off as Naruto glared at her.

"Move it Sakura!" yelled Naruto.

Sakura quickly bolted for the imprisoned Shino and Kiba. While Naruto just got back in his stance and waited for the Kumo nin to attack.

"Dobe, what is the plan here? That kid is using a jutsu unique to the new Raikage!" asked Sasuke as he pulled out a kunai.

"You will take the two on the far left. I will take the four on the right; my clones should be able to handle them. Personally I want to kill this bastard for what he said about Hinata." Said Naruto as he glared at the Kumo nin.

"What are their abilities?" asked Sasuke.

"One uses weak water jutsu and is gennin level. The other uses earth jutsu and is low chuunin level. You better be able to handle that Teme." Said Naruto as if he was challenging the Uchiha Heir.

"Just look out for yourself, Dobe." Said Sasuke.

Meanwhile the Kumo Nin leader glared at the two waiting for them to come up with a plan. It didn't matter if they did as he was confident that he would be able to crush them with his power.

"ENOUGH!" shouted the leader as he charged at Naruto.

"I got this, go!" shouted Naruto as Sasuke leapt away.

The leader closed in on Naruto before he could react and caught him right in the chest with a massive punch. However, Naruto didn't even move as the leader looked down at his hand that was now sticking out of Naruto's back.

He smirked as blood gushed out of the room and Naruto shuddered for a second before he became still. That smirk changed however when Naruto's body began to turn black and sink into one of the tree's shadows.

"That's a nifty jutsu eh?" said Naruto from behind the leader.

"It is, especially considering that you don't need hand signs to do it." Said the leader.

"Just one of my many talents." Said Naruto as he waved his trench knives and crouched down.

"I can see that, I can also see that you have two more of those clones fighting the other three while we have our battle. What is your name Leaf Shinobi?" asked the leader.

"It's polite to introduce yourself, before answering." Replied Naruto.

"The name is Burittsu, cousin of the Raikage." Said the leader.

"Naruto Uzumaki." Stated Naruto as he charged Burittsu.

"Too slow!" he heard from behind him Burittsu faded from view.

Naruto rolled to the side as a fist impacted the ground he had just stood at for a second. Lashing out with his heel in a spin, he connected with Burittsu.

However he did not take into account that his body was covered in electricity and was shocked and flung away.

'Damn! That is one hell of a defense!' thought Naruto as he stood up.

Quickly ducking to avoid yet another punch he jumped back and flew through a few modified hand seals while holding his knives. "Kage: Shadow Spear!" shouted Naruto.

Three black spears shot out of the ground aimed at vital places on Burittsu's body. It did not work as each of the spears were blocked by the shield of lightning.

"Damn!" cursed Naruto loudly as one of his fastest attack jutsu didn't work.

Once again he was forced on the defensive as Burittsu kept up the pressure. Slowly Naruto began to give way and was forced to release the weights he had. This didn't do any good as he still couldn't pass through his defense.

"This is one of the greatest fights I have ever had! It is too bad I'm going to have to kill such a strong opponent." Said Burittsu as Naruto tried to think of a strategy.

In the corner of his eyes he could see that the barrier holding both Shino and Kiba finally gave way, but not from any external factors. 'He must be running out of chakra!' exclaimed Naruto in his mind.

However he was unable to make due on that threat as he felt a great wave of force crash into him.

Naruto flew through the hair and smashed through three tree's before finally stopping. He coughed up blood as he got to his knee's. The blow had destroyed a few organs and broke a few bones. It also made him dispel his shadows and his blades disappeared into his seal.

"You were a worthy opponent, but you lost focus and will now die at my hands. What is this? I didn't think you would be able to move for at least a few hours after an attack like that?" asked Burittsu.

The sudden change in where the conversation was going caused Naruto to look up despite the pain. There he saw Hinata standing there between him and Burittsu. She favored her one leg and was shaking like a leaf.

"I won't let you hurt him!" she declared.

"It doesn't matter what you let me do! You can barely stand as it is!" yelled Burittsu as backhanded her and sent her flying over to where Naruto was.

She landed less than a foot from Naruto and the two looked at each other for a second before Hinata shuddered.

"H-Hinata?" asked Naruto carefully as he watched her eyes look at him for a second before they rolled up into her head.

Her body went limp and still as if she were asleep. Naruto's mouth hung open as his brain processed what he had just witnessed.

Hinata…his best friend, the girl he was developing feelings for, the only person he could talk to, and the gentlest person in the world was dead. His eyes grew wide as he crawled over to her.

He grabbed her hand and let a few tears roll from his eyes as he watched her lifeless body.

"The girl should've just stayed down on the ground. I wouldn't of had to kill such a beautiful girl, it is a shame as her body would've been a prize possession of mine." Said Burittsu with no emotion.

Naruto grit his teeth and felt a great anger flow through his body. His aches and pains began to go away. 'How dare he hurt my' "HINATA!" he screamed at the end of his question and suddenly everything went red.

X

X

X

Shino and Kiba were just a little too late. They saw there sister in all but blood stand up and face a ninja that had just destroyed Naruto. They were also witness to her death and Naruto's breakdown.

Suddenly a burst of intense killing intent spread through the area making all of the fighting stop. Even the fight between Gaara and Yugito stopped, even though they were now about a mile away from where the initial fighting started.

Naruto's body was suddenly expelling massive amounts of evil red chakra that surrounded him and Hinata. Mixed in with the red chakra was pure black clouds of chakra that flowed into Hinata and what appeared to be Naruto's tattoos on his wrists.

Naruto's body began to heal up and his eyes turned from bright blue to dark red. His hair grew wild and his fingernails grew into long black claws. He slowly stood up into a crouch and a chakra tail ejected out of his lower back.

"What is Naruto?" asked Kiba.

"Naruto is a mystery." Stated Shino as he was figuring why the shroud of chakra seemed to be protecting Hinata from harm even though she was dead.

"What the hell is this!" exclaimed Burittsu.

"I will kill you!" shouted Naruto as he charged at Burittsu at speeds matching his. But not before killing the last of the genins trying to deal with him.

Burittsu met him head on and clashed fists with the enraged gennin. To his surprise his lightning was disrupted and he felt his knuckles being burned by the evil chakra.

He jumped back and Naruto was right on him again. His hands were flexed like claws and were swiping at vital points on his body. This continued for an entire minute before Burittsu got annoyed.

"That is it! I will crush you at full power!" shouted Burittsu as even more lightning chakra gathered around him.

He launched at Naruto again and connected with his jaw, but Naruto didn't move a step from the position he was in. "Is that all?" asked Naruto as a second tail shot out of his back.

Naruto punched the air in front of him and Burittsu felt the force of the punch 5 yards away. "I will kill you!" shouted Naruto again as his hand morphed to a giant black chakra fist that was flying at Burittsu.

The fist connected with him and sent him flying back. Burn marks appeared all over his chest where the black chakra fist hit him.

He slowly got up and held his burnt chest. His chakra was nearly gone and all of the damage he had done did nothing to the demon in front of him.

His armor sputtered for a second before staying up after he charged up the last of his reservoirs. This was no longer for the mission, but for his honor in defeating this gennin. No matter what he was going to die, his team was dead and he was one of the last left of the group and was suffering from chakra exhaustion.

"This is the end!" yelled Burittsu as his armor exploded around him in a fierce display of power.

"For you that is!" yelled Naruto as his crimson cloak started to change to more of a black cloak. His hand was completely covered in the shadowy black chakra as he charged one last attack.

The two raced at each other with as much chakra as they could gather. There fists connected with a great blast of black and blue chakra as they struggled to overpower eachother.

Just then Naruto's black attack doubled in size as he smirked in victory. "DIE!" yelled Naruto as his black chakra completely plowed through Burittsu's attack and armor.

The Kumo Nin Burittsu was nothing more than a few scraps of blood, bone, and flesh after the attack was over.

Naruto lowered his burnt hand and walked over to where Hinata's body was. Black and red chakra flared around his body as he approached his friend. "I will save you." Stated Naruto as all of his black chakra suddenly flew from him into Hinata.

With the absence of the black chakra, Naruto fell to the ground passed out just when Sasuke eliminated his last opponent. 'What is he?' were the thoughts of Shino, Kiba, Sakura, and Sasuke.

That was pushed to the side as they raced over to where Naruto and Hinata lay. They found both of them still breathing and overly okay. Hinata didn't even look like she had a single wound.

"We should get our scrolls and get to the tower as soon as possible." Said Sasuke.

"I already did that Sasuke. We can use them to barter with if we are attacked later." Said Sakura.

"We need an earth scroll." Said Shino as Sakura nodded at him.

"Well it is a good thing that they had two then." Smiled Sakura.

"Okay, I will carry the Dobe here and Sakura will carry Hinata. Let's get out of this god forsaken forest." Said Sasuke.