Chapter 12

-Training Ground 44-

Naruto appeared outside of training ground 44 and sat down as he waited for the rest of the chunin examinees to show up, while sitting there he was staring at the gates "So this is the Forest of Death?" He asked himself while looking the gates over and sighing "The place with giant animals like giant bears huh?" Naruto asked himself again and then looked over to where he felt a chakra signature.

"Yup" replied the proctor, Anko Mitarashi if he remembered correctly. "This is where I come to play with the animals and train" she continued as Naruto nodded and chuckled.

"So you could give me a small hint on where we are going and the quickest way there huh?" Asked Naruto with a small smirk as she scoffed and shook her head.

"If I did I would lose my job as the proctor and I really wish to scare some of the cocky kids this year" Anko said as Naruto nodded and looked away.

"Sasuke Uchiha is pretty cocky, Neji Hyuuga seemed extremely stuck up but that's just his clan" Naruto said as he smirked again making her laugh slightly. "But don't worry, I may be a Uchiha but I know when I'm beat" Naruto said and chuckled a little "Especially since one of the three people who can beat me just so happens to be my Baa-chan" he grumbled making her laugh again.

"You are on par with the Sannin?" She asked him as he shook his head "Then what?" She asked as Naruto looked up.

"The Sannin can still kill me, I am stronger than all Jonin here but I don't have the skills to claim I'm on par with the Sannin, but if I used my Sharingan I believe I could put any under a genjutsu and fight them better" he muttered before looking to her "I especially don't have the experience" he said seriously as he stood up and stretched "Anyways everyone is here" he said as he looked towards the other examinees. After they reached there Anko gave a speech about how they could die in the Forest and the point of the exam after having them sign consent forms, after everything was done Naruto looked at the scroll they picked up and walked to the gate they were assigned and Naruto looked at them "Be careful during this" Naruto grumbled as his teammates seemed confused, Naruto stretched and then cracked his neck as he smirked "We have to get to the centre and there are giant creatures in there"

"Hn, like those animals can get me" Sasuke replied as Naruto scoffed and shook his head.

"Yeah if they weren't resistant to most chakra natures" Naruto said as the gates started to open, after they opened all three of them started to run through the forest "Remember we need to get a heaven scroll as we already have the earth scroll" Naruto said as Sasuke grunted and Sakura nodded, after running for a good 30 minutes Naruto paused and caught Sasuke by his collar and Sasuke by her shoulder as a wind jutsu went by them followed by a giant snake. "So he's here and after you it seems" Naruto told Sasuke who seemed confused as Naruto turned to Orochimaru disguised as the Kusa nin. Sasuke looked confused as he followed Naruto's gaze and saw the Kusa-nin.

"Who's that dobe?" Asked Sasuke as Naruto looked at him and scoffed.

"Who uses snakes?" Naruto asked Sasuke as if he was stupid and Sasuke seemed to realize and shudder.

"Orochimaru?" Asked Sasuke and Naruto nodded "Why's he here?" Asked Sasuke as Naruto shrugged.

"Sharingan maybe? Which means he's also been after Itachi" Naruto said making Sasuke growl a little at the name "Which also means he must have lost to Itachi, in other words he knows where he is" Naruto said as he secretly activated his sharingan and quickly put Orochimaru under a genjutsu to make him see them fighting and knocked out Sakura and Sasuke as he started to run "The genjutsu won't last long" muttered Naruto as he continued to run, only for the genjutsu to run out sooner than he thought and feels Orochimaru running towards them, as soon as Orochimaru got close enough Naruto glared at him "Orochimaru, I've already alerted Sandaime-sama of you being here, you may as well hand over your scroll and flee as you won't be getting the Sharingan at all now" Naruto said as Orochimaru started to laugh, not long after Orochimaru appeared in front of Naruto as Naruto made a cross block with his arms and was sent into a tree from the punch he blocked and made a small dent in the tree, Naruto coughed up some blood and opened his eye slightly to see Orochimaru mark Sasuke with the curse mark and growled as soon as he fell out the tree Naruto saw Orochimaru look at him and say.

"You would have made a perfect body, if only you didn't have the Kyuubi" Orochimaru said as Naruto went to get up and charge Orochimaru but as soon as he got up he looked up to see Orochimaru already gone and cursed. Not even 10 minutes later the Hokage and some Anbu appeared and Naruto looked at them.

"He got what he wanted already" muttered Naruto as the Kyuubi healed him up and he walked over "Even left us with the heaven scroll the one we needed" muttered Naruto after he finshed Naruto slung Sasuke over his shoulder as well as Sakura and looked at Hiruzen "I'll carry these two to the tower, you got your report we just need to seal off the thing Orochimaru gave him and then he will be alright" after he finished Hiruzen and the Anbu nodded and then vanished, Naruto channelled enough chakra to use shunshin to the tower, upon reaching the door he opened the scrolls and Iruka appeared.

"Naruto? What happened?" Asked Iruka as Naruto looked at him.

"Oh just a pale snake attacked my team in his quest for immortality and marked Sasuke with this weird mark" Naruto replied as they walked past towards a room, upon entering he saw Kakashi with a sealing array on the floor "So what did Orochimaru mark my cousin with? Even if I hate him I'd rather know so I can avoid being marked with it as well" Naruto said as Kakashi looked at him and answered.

"What Orochimaru gave Sasuke was a curse mark, there is only one way to seal it to our knowledge and one person who survived it, again to our knowledge" Kakashi answered as Naruto nodded and looked at him.

"Classified information?" Naruto asked and Kakashi nodded, Naruto smiled and lay Sakura on the bed as Kakashi started to seal the mark on Sasuke. As soon as he finished Naruto chuckled and looked at Kakashi leaving "So how many other teams are here?" Naruto asked and Kakashi chuckled.

"There is Suna's team who is here and that's it" Kakashi answered and Naruto nodded "I should get going" said Kakashi and he walked out, Naruto cleaned the room of the sealing equipment, after cleaning up Naruto put some of his tools down on the bed and walked out of the room Team 7 was assigned, after leaving the room he walked to the cafeteria area and saw Suna's team there and smiled once he caught Temari's eye.

"Oh hey Naruto" Temari said as her two brother's turned to where she was looking and Naruto smiled more.

"Hey you three" Naruto said as he sat beside his fellow blonde and looked to Gaara "How was your time in the forest?" he inquired as the Suna siblings turned to each other and Gaara spoke up.

"It was eventful and refreshing especially since I don't have to deal with Shukaku's insistence about killing people for blood because he is happier with the size the seal is now" Gaara said as Naruto nodded and then Naruto remembered something.

"Oh yeah I still wish to talk to Shukaku, especially since he could be useful in telling me something" Naruto said as Gaara nodded, Naruto looked Gaara in the eyes and flashed his sharingan to send himself into Gaara's mindscape dragging Gaara in with him, upon entering Naruto saw it was a huge desert and chuckled "So Shukaku really does love the sand huh?" Naruto said outloud getting a nod from Gaara.

What appeared to be out of nowhere appeared a huge Tanuki made of sand with purple markings covering it's body it spoke in a calmer but still crazy voice "What would you like to know from me Naruto Uchiha?" asked Shukaku as Naruto smirked and sat on the sand.

"To show I'm not hostile I'll keep your strongest sibling locked away in my mind" Naruto said making Shukaku growl as he then continued "As for what I wish to know, I've heard little bits of this from Kyuubi but I wish to know about your tou-san" Naruto said and Shukaku looked stunned but Naruto could feel Gaara's confusion "To be more precise the Rikudo Sannin" Naruto said as Gaara's eyes widened.

"What about him would you like to know?" Shukaku asked as Naruto grinned.

"How close is my blood to his, after all if I remember correctly only the true main branch of the Uchiha and Senju carry his blood and those branches lead to me" Naruto said as Shukaku nodded, or what seemed to be a nod. "So tell me, how powerful was his legendary Dojutsu?" Asked Naruto stunning Shukaku who seemed to shudder.

"If Kyuubi hasn't told you then that means that he is still scared of it" Shukaku said as they then heard a growl from Naruto's stomach "Has the fox even told you his name?" Shukaku asked as Naruto's eyes turned serious.

"Yes he has told me it, after all me and him are friends, partner's whatever you'd like to call it, we assist each other, he assists me with healing my wounds faster than what seems humanly possible because of my Senju blood which already speeds up healing and he also allows me to use his chakra, though I refuse to use it without his permission, he also allowed me to sense people's emotions, or should I say negative emotions and if they even have emotions" Naruto said surprising the tailed beast and his container.

"Wait you and the Kyuubi are friends?" Asked a surprised Gaara as Naruto nodded.

"So you're the one tou-san prophesised about and told us would befriend all 9 of us" Shukaku muttered, that was when a large cage appeared on the other side of the mindscape holding the Kyuubi (Naruto doesn't have the key yet as it can only be unlocked by a key with Minato's chakra in until it's been unlocked once)

Kyuubi looked at the 3 other occupants of the mindscape before saying to Shukaku "You believe so too little brother?" Asked Kurama making Shukaku nod slightly "I guess we'd have to wait till he meets our other 7 siblings then" Kurama finished before the tailed beasts nodded and disappeared, Naruto chuckled and looked to Gaara.

"That's all I wanted to know about" Naruto said as Gaara nodded and they both left the mindscape, once outside Naruto seemed to sigh and then yawn before resting his head on the table "These next 4 days are going to be tiring" Naruto muttered as Gaara seemed to smirk lightly and Kankuro burst out laughing, Temari lightly bonked him on the head and whispered in his ear.

"More dates then?" when she whispered that in his ear he blushed and nodded slightly before sitting up.

"I'll be going to get some sleep now, I'll see you three whenever" with that Naruto left and went to his room.