Time Travel? What The Fuck?

Chapter 28: The Forest Of Death

Naruto woke up early the next morning to a bare apartment. After having Karin over last night, It felt silent and empty, all the cheer and exuberance gone. Once they finished up with their visit to the Hokage; he'd taken her back here and they'd spent the rest of the day talking. Once it got late enough, they ended up making some simple stir fry before she said she had to go back to her hotel room. He was sad to see her go, but she assured him it was the last time she'd ever be staying with that team.

"So are you taking the exam tomorrow?" He asked as he'd walked her down the road.

"No," she said, shaking her head in determination. "I won't let myself be used by them every again." Then, "They can fail for all I care."

Naruto remembered being surprised by her fierce words before remembering how ferocious seventeen year old Karin had been. Then he'd smiled.

'Well, good night Naruto," she said, offering him a shy smile. She turned to walk into her hotel, but at the last second turned around and flung her arms around him in a big hug. Naruto, too shocked to respond, just stumbled back in surprise.

"Thank you," Karin whispered into his ear, tears slipping down her cheeks onto his shoulder. "Thank you for finding me."

Silently, dumbly, he'd slid his arms up around to encircle her as well. Then they had just stood there in the empty street, holding each other.

Eventually she'd had to go inside, but it was clear she didn't want to go. Naruto had just smiled and told her to find him after the second exam. That was... if he made it out of the second exam. He didn't say the last part, but he was thinking it.

Now it was morning though, and he had a lot of preparation to do.

Outside the sun had barely brushed over the horizon, sky still a dull dusty gray above him. On the floor around him were piles of shuriken, kunai, traps, explosion seals, ninja wire, and various other things he would need for the fight later that day. He'd even bought some storage seals from Tenten's parents shop and was stuffing them full of supplies.

He knew Sakura was bringing her big medi-kit, as agreed upon earlier, and that Sasuke would be bringing his own arsenal as well. It was Naruto's job to pack all the tools for the traps, as well as food since they didn't know how long they would be in the forest for. Ration bars should suffice.

Once he'd finished packing, he made his way out of his apartment and into the streets of Konoha. It was still early, so there was little to no one on the streets. The people that were there though shot him nasty looks, often times accompanied with sneers. He tried his best to ignore it but... well, it didn't matter. He was still the hero of Konoha, even if they didn't know it.

Training ground 44 was still fairly empty by the time he made it there. They'd been told to meet there at eight AM by Anko. It was almost seven now.

"Naruto! Over here!" Someone called out. Looking over towards the perimeter fence, Naruto saw Sakura waving him over, standing next to a bored looking Sasuke. She was decked out in her full medic attire, med pack resting just over her waist on her back and hair tie's ready for if she needed put it up. Sasuke on the other hand was dressed the same except for a new chokutō strapped to his waist. He had mentioned a few days ago that if they were going to face off against Orochimaru that they'd need to pull all the stops, hence the sword.

"Morning," he breathed, jogging over.

"You got all the stuff?" Sasuke asked in lue of a greeting.

"Yeah," he nodded. "You?" The Uchiha nodded as well.

"Great," Sakura said. "You both know the plan?" The two boys nodded again.

"Subdue, but don't kill," Naruto listed off. "Goal is to detain and bring him in. Then plant the scroll on him with the details for the Oto invasion. Right?"