Jinchuriki Unite

Ch. 16

Trigger warning: Burns, fire, Orochimaru, hurt Naruto, cursed mark talk.

The genin stood in front of the Forest of Death. There were thirty teams were waiting.

The purple-haired girl named Anko stood in front of them.

"Alright brats, this is how the second part of the exam is going to go." She held out two scrolls. One of the seals on it said heaven and the other said earth. "Each team will have one of these scrolls. Your goal is to take the one you don't have from another team. Should your scroll be taken, you will be not eliminated right away. You can try and get both scrolls. You have five days to do so."

Anko put the two scrolls in her hand into a bag. "You will be given a scroll in private so that this round can be fair."

Naruto looked at Gaara, and then at Fuu.

'If you need help, we'll work together.' Gaara thought.

Fuu rocked on her heels. 'You know it.'

When team 7 got their scroll, it was the Earth scroll. Sasuke slipped it into his bag. When all the teams got their scrolls, they met back up at the entrance to the Forest of Death.

'We have the Earth scroll. What do you guys have?'

'I have the Heaven scroll.' Gaara stood next to his siblings.

'Same!' Fuu said.

Naruto smiled. 'If we meet up in the Forest, how about we team up.'

Gaara and Fuu gave their approval, and the thirty ninja teams entered the Forest of Death. Team 7 had agreed if they were to get separated. They had agreed on doing the last sign of the shadow clone jutsu but with the figure crossed backward.

As they moved through the forest, Naruto kept looking around. Soon, they got to an area where they could easily trap people, or they could defend themselves easily.

After an hour of looking around, Naruto heard Gaara's voice in his head. 'Naruto-kun, my team was able to get a Heaven scroll. So I'm done already. I guess we got lucky. I'll be nearby. I left a sand clone with my siblings. Don't worry. I won't intervene unless I need to.'

Naruto smiled. 'Okay. We haven't been able to find another team, so things are a little slow. You should be with your family. Go.'

After twelve hours in the Forest, Naruto got confirmation that Fuu's team got a scroll, and no other teams had finished yet.

After team 7 had been in the Forest for a day, a shuriken was thrown at them. Team 7 turned from where it had thrown.

A man riding a snake appeared in front of them. His headband indicated that he was from the Sound.

Kurama growled. That's Orochimaru. The snake sanin. He abandoned the village. From what I heard, he experiments on kids. I would bet he's here to mess with your seal. He might also want to brand Sasuke with a curse mark.

Naruto bit his lip, and discreetly put a seal on both Sakura and Sasuke. It wouldn't prevent them from using their Chakra, but it made their Chakra impossible to track.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes. "Who are you? Where are your teammates?"

The man flicked his tongue. "So you're Sasuke Uchiha. I will need you."

Naruto growled and pulled a kunai out a wrapped a paper bomb around it "Sasuke-kun. I'm pretty sure that's Orochimaru. He was once part of the leaf, but he disserted. From what I've heard about him, he can do something called a cursed seal. It takes over your Chakra."

Sasuke cursed. "I don't think we have a strong chance of beating him."

Sakura nodded. "We'll have to make a diversion." Sasuke glanced at the two of them. "Form 120?"

Naruto and Sakura nodded. Naruto threw down a smoke bomb. He and Sasuke ran to opposite sides of Orochimaru. Both launched a kunai with a paper bomb wrapped around it.

When you got close to him, Orochimaru jumped into the air, and the snake he was standing on vanished in a puff of smoke.

Naruto created a rush of shadow clones, and Sakura launched kunai with wires to different areas under the cover of smoke.

Orochimaru was easily able to defeat the clones, and his power was limited. Out of the corner of his eyes. He saw Sasuke up in the air. "Fire Style! Fireball Jutsu!"

Orochimaru jumped up to the trees as the fireball reached him. The bottom of his clothes was singed, but he was fine otherwise.

The wires from the kunai Sakura had launched caught on fire and created a lot of smoke.

The three genin ran off under the cover of the smoke, but before they could get away, a snake appeared out of the smoke and grabbed Sasuke.

"Sasuke-kun! Sakura yelled.

Naruto snarled. As the snake started to pull Sasuke back, Naruto jumped up into the smoke and used a small amount of Kurama's Chakra to coat his fist. It took the shape of a fox's claw. With the smoke, Naruto was able to get close to Orochimaru and hit him in the face.

Orochimaru yelled in pain, and Naruto took the chance to get Sasuke free. However, as he did that, Orochimaru managed to hit him in the back with a cluster of burning wires.

Now, Naruto's clothes were flame retardant, so they didn't burn, but his skin was NOT flame retardant. As a result, Naruto got a bad burn on his back.

Naruto pushed down the pain and ran with the rest of his team. As they ran he put a Chakra hiding seal on himself.

They stopped when they got to a river.

"I-" Sakura gasped. "I think we got away."

Sasuke nodded and looked around. There didn't seem to be anyone around then.

"Naruto! What happened?" Sasuke turned to see Sakura kneeling next to a shirtless Naruto.

This let him get a good look at the burn on Naruto's back. "God." He muttered.

Wincing as Sakura applied burn cream to his back. "I'll be okay. Orochimaru just managed to hit me when I got Sasuke-kun away from him."

Sakura looked around. "Should we wait here, or try to get the heaven scroll?" She knew that Naruto would object to them telling people that Orochimaru was there. It might cause the Chunin exams to be canceled. They wouldn't get another chance till next year.

Naruto put his shirt back on when Sakura finished putting bandages on his burn. "I say we go find a team and get the scroll. I don't want to spend any more time in here."

Sasuke nodded. "I couldn't agree more."

After they ran around for a little bit, they found a team from the Sound. One of them had a Heaven scroll out. They seemed to be talking.

Team 7 looked at each other and agreed on form 17. It was a surprise attack on an enemy. Sasuke would jump into the air and do Phoenix Flower Jutsu. This would stun the enemy and let Naruto and Sakura rush and knock out a team of four with the help of his shadow clones.

The attack went perfectly. They took the scroll and left the Sound Ninja where they were.

They made it to the place where they were meant to take the scroll and figured out the puzzle.

Now all they had to do was wait three more days for the other contestants to finish.

Over the next three days, genin teams arrived. Teams 8, 9, and 10 passed as well as two teams from the Sound. Three teams from the sand, two from the Mist, and two more from the Cloud.
Naruto smiled as they stood in front of the Joinin and the Hokage. He was excited for the next part of the chunin exam.