Chapter 161

NARUTO

Following his team through the forest, Naruto is vigilant and cautious. Naru-nii had instructed him to just mock Anko a bit, and sure enough, she threw a kunai at him. After which, Naruto saw the tall boy with the disgustingly long tongue Orochimaru is pretending to be. Now Naruto knows who to look out for.

Though he had mentioned to Anko that he didn't like the Grass nin, Anko only chuckled evilly and responded, "there are worst predators in the forest." Having been in the forest when he was younger, he knows that to be false. The bears, tigers, blood-sucking leeches, insects, and other crazy animals certainly suck, but Naruto knows Orochimaru is the biggest threat in the forest.

The embodiment of the Narutos combined plan was about information; when they learn it and how fast it's disseminated, so, at Naru-nii's suggestion, Naruto knows all his clones will use Kurama's chakra if they need it and to create and dispel a clone to relay information to the rest of the platoon. It's a fluid sort of plan that already helps when, to Naruto's surprise, two of his backup clones are already forcibly dispelled by a huge cyclone of wind barreling through the forest, easily separating any team within the range of that half-mile-long attack.

"Sakura! Sasuke!" Naruto calls a second before the large cyclone attack barrels through trees and Team 7. The dynamite of gale force wind tears at bark and branches, launching pink, black and blond hair in differing directions. But for the force of the wind, it didn't hurt too terribly, but landing hard on the forest floor, rolling until a large tree root roughly ends his momentum, Naruto wonders more about his teammates. Wincing a bit, Naruto eventually rights himself before creating a clone and dispelling it to update the batch of clones running within the forest.

"Crap, that really was a crazy technique," he mumbles as he looks around for his teammates. "This is when Naru-nii said he came up against a- Shit! That's a huuuge snake!" Naruto yells as his eyes bulge at the size of the giant summon slowly rears back his mushroom head, bending his body like a tense coil. The snake attacks incredibly fast with a heavy tail swipe.

Getting some information on Sasuke, a momentarily distracted Naruto has only enough time to take out one of his specially prepared kunai before the tail bats him away with tremendous strength. His brain fritzes at the impact, but in the air, he manages to ask Kurama for chakra before sticking the landing on the side of a tree. The snake slithers only a moment before the explosive tag on the kunai he stabbed into the thick scale of its tail explodes. With the amazing boost in power, Naruto creates three clones, all stuck on the side of the tree. One immediately dispels to inform the others and initiate his plan for the clone that remained by gate 12. The other two clones help him create an incomplete Rasen-Shuriken. Truthfully, it's more Rasengan than Fūton Rasengan, but it feels like more than enough to deal with this over-grown fanged cucumber.

The snake is writhing from the horrible burn of its tail when Naruto runs higher up the tree while the two remaining clones create a large Rasengan and drop to the forest floor. Kurama powered clones easily track and dodge its desperate swipes until the Rasengan-less clone sacrifices itself to allow the clone with the large Rasengan to hit it square in the middle of its body. The hurricane-strength ball of chakra propels the large snake like a rotating festival streamer, with its head and tail flailing as its spinning body rockets. The length of the summon impacts a large tree and coils feebly around it as Naruto drops down with his Fūton Rasengan. Connecting his attack with the snake's scales stings his own hand like acid but it's manageable as he tears the snake apart until it pops away.

Grossed out by all the snake blood still on him, Naruto turns to the clones, and since he already knows about Sasuke, he asks them, "does anyone have eyes on Sakura?" They dispel, transmitting the message across his clone network and Naruto rushes to the tree top in hopes of catching up with his teammates.

ANKO

Anko is just sitting down with her party-sized box of dango when she spots Kakashi's blond brat sprinting toward her. Though there's no rule stating leaving the training ground will disqualify a team, she didn't think anyone would try. 'Maybe one of Kakashi's brats died?' she thinks as he stops in front of her and shocks her so deeply with his words she has to ask him to repeat himself, blaring, "wait, say the fuck what again?"

"I said," Naruto's clone begins to repeat the cover-story. "There's this crazy snake-looking nin attacking us. He said his name's Orochimaru and I'm pretty sure he's like a criminal or something-"

"Where?!" Anko demands, on her feet, letting the party pack of dango drop to the floor.

"Um, we're around five, maybe six hours in from Gate 12," Naruto answers.

"Just so you know, in that snake-shit's case, alerting us is way more important than sticking with your team, so don't ever feel shitty about that," Anko asserts as she hurries toward Gate 12 with grave purpose. "Do me a favor and warn the Hokage."

"I'm actually a clone," Naruto returns affronted and to her surprise. "Team 7 is still fighting him now. But, yeah, I'll get Ji-chan."

RED-HEADED GLASSES GIRL

"The Earth scroll," she hears. "Same as us."

"Glasses! Glasses!" The red-headed young kunoichi shrieks under the grand sound of a gigantic bear toppling over from a strike to the forehead. After her team was separated by some large wind attack, she was nearly killed by a bear. "Where are they? Where are they-" she asks when she finally feels her glasses and slaps them on her face just in time to see her savior.

He was the most beautiful raven-haired boy she'd ever seen.

"Later," Sasuke calls and her heart beats as fast as he departs.

So stricken by her savior's beauty, she was completely taken by surprise to hear behind her, "jeez, he couldn't even check to make sure she's okay." As a sensor-type, it's the biggest lapse in her ability as the redhead whirls around to face the blond behind her. She immediately recognizes him from his singularly loud display in the exam room. He's looking off toward the direction his teammate has left before turning to her and asking, "are you okay?"

The startled red-headed girl with glasses who just survived a monstrous bear attack, hides her scroll, sputtering, "you…"

"Oh, hey, don't worry," Naruto delicately chimes waving both his open palms. "I'm not trying to take your scroll or anything."

Getting her agitation under control, she reads his chakra as honest, making her relax a smidgen as she comments, "…you're that boy's teammate."

"Yeah," Naruto calls returning his attention to the long gone Sasuke. "Which reminds me," he adds, before creating a clone to then dispel so the others receive the information that Sasuke's on his way back.

Finding it strange his clone dispelled so quickly, she asks, "can't you hold a clone for long?"

"I can," Naruto answers her, then thinks to join the backup squad of their platoon. "I should get going-"

"Wait," the red-headed girl yells before he leaps away. He stops and is receptive for a response. "…Your last name… is it really, Uzumaki?"

"Mn," he hums with a nod before quirking his brow. "Wait, when did I tell you that?"

The girl looks at him in disbelief, voicing, "you shouted your name to everyone in the exam room. It's pretty easy to learn someone's name when it's shouted out like that."

"Oh, yeah," Naruto chuckles. "Yeah, that's me. Uzumaki Naruto, future and greatest Hokage there'll ever be!"

Shrugging away the Hokage comment, she asks what she's extremely curious to know. "And are you from Uzushiogakure?"

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