AN: Winter break! I'll probably try to update as much as I can, but no promises.

We now continue our story that is currently taking place in the Forest of Death. Will Orochimaru make an appearance? What will eventually happen to the Sound ninjas? Just how powerful is Team 7 anyways?

Edit: Since some of you believed that the fight scene between Naruto and Gaara was too short (and had Gaara look extremely weak), I have edited and adjusted the fight scene. Any comments or criticism is welcome!

"Don't make this anymore difficult than it already is." The lead Sound ninja said. "Either you die quickly and let your teammates survive, or I kill you and your teammates. You choose."

Sasuke briefly glanced back at his teammates, but both of them were shaking their heads. Naruto gave a small grin to the Uchiha. "We'll beat the crap out of them. Don't worry."

"The blonde seems to be cockier than the Uchiha. How stupid." The female Sound ninja said.

The Sound ninja with the spiky hair gave a malicious smile to the members of Team Seven. "My name is Zaku, and I'll make sure that you'll never forget that name... If you manage to live of course."

Naruto was slightly fatigued and tired after the fight against Gaara, but he knew that he still had plenty of chakra for another battle. "If you want to fight so badly, then attack us first."

A senbon was thrown at Naruto, who dodged the sharp needle easily. The sole female of the Sound team smiled. "Don't get too cocky because you dodged one of my senbons. Before we kill you, you should at least know my name. I'm Kin, and the other ninja on our team is Dosu, our team leader."

Dosu, the ninja with bandages wrapped around his face, landed in front of the members of Team Seven. "My teammates have said enough. We will save Sasuke-kun for last. Kill the other two first."

"You got it." Zaku rushed forward with his palms facing towards Sakura and Naruto. "Zankuha (Decapitating Air Waves)!"

A blast of air rushed towards the duo and forced the two to dive to the ground and dodge the attack. The air wave created a trench in the ground as Zaku poised his arms for another attack. However, this time the duo were ready and anticipated the attack.

"Fuuton: Reppusho (Wind Release: Violent Wind Palm)!" Naruto pushed his hand forward, forming a powerful windstorm that pushed against the Decapitating Air Waves attack.

Zaku's grin slightly faded as his Zankuha was countered by the blond's wind jutsu. "Impossible! My Decapitating Air Waves is the strongest!"

"Not strong enough to beat through my jutsu." Naruto replied with his focus still on the jutsu. His windstorm grew stronger as it pushed against the Decapitating Air Waves.

The windstorm almost reached the cocky Sound ninja, but Zaku closed his eyes and pushed his hands out further. "Zankukyokuha (Extreme Decapitating Air Waves)!"

Suddenly, the air waves from Zaku's hands increased as it countered Naruto's wind jutsu. The winds of both ninjas looked fairly even, but Naruto turned his head and shouted at Sakura. "Now!"

"Doton: Doro Domu (Earth Release: Earth Prison Dome of Magnificient Nothingness)!"

Sakura launched herself into the air and landed near Zaku, who couldn't react to her in time due to Naruto's wind jutsu. Before Zaku could attempt to counter her, Sakura raised an Earth dome around the Sound ninja. She placed her hand on the dome as it fully encompassed the ninja.

Even though the dome was completely enclosed, everyone could feel the vibration as the ninja within attempted to break out. Sakura only pouted as she talked to Zaku. "I suggest you don't do that. This dome drains your chakra when you're inside and gives it to me. The dome is self repairing and almost impossible to break. You'll tire out faster if you keep on using your chakra."

Regardless of her words, the dome kept on vibrating. Naruto looked at Sakura with slight concern, but the pink haired waved him away. "I'm fine. Just take care of the other two."

Naruto nodded and turned to Sasuke. "Teme, take out their leader. Leave the girl up to me."

"I didn't want to fight a girl anyways." Sasuke replied as he approached Dosu.

Before Sasuke could fight, Naruto grabbed his shoulder and pulled him back. "Idiot, you almost forgot this."

The blond ninja handed his friend a pair of small objects. The Uchiha looked at them and slipped them in his ears. "Ah right. Almost forgot."

"Just beat the hell out of him, but don't kill him." Naruto said as he walked away.

Sasuke gave a smirk to the bandaged ninja. "You should be honored that I'm going to defeat you."

The bandaged Sound ninja grinned under his layers of cloth. "I would like to see you try, Uchiha."

"Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu (Fire Release: Fireball Jutsu)!" Sasuke replied to the comment with his signature fire jutsu.

Dosu brought out his right arm as he made hand seals with his left arm. "Kyomeisen (Resonating Echo Drill)!"

Despite the fireball's massive size, the Sound ninja's jutsu sliced through the fireball. Sasuke immediately continued the fight. "Your jutsu is interesting, but I will still beat you."

"Raiton: Raikou Kousen no Jutsu (Lightning Release:Lightning Beam Technique)!"

A large beam of lightning appeared from Sasuke's hands as he directed the intense beam to the bandaged ninja. Dosu dove out of the way, but Sasuke guided the beam to follow the Sound ninja. The beam grazed the sound ninja's metal right arm and electrocuted him, making the leader of the Sound team vibrate and collapse.

"That metal piece on your right arm really doesn't help you against lightning users." Sasuke said as he walked over to the fallen ninja.

Instead of staying unconscious, Dosu immediately began to rise and poised himself for another attack. "I was waiting for you to come closer, Sasuke-kun. I told you not to be cocky. My arm is made of stainless steel, which doesn't conduct electricity at all."

"Onpai o Funsai (Shattering Sound Waves)!"

Sasuke immediately fell over due to the jutsu manipulating sound waves to cause pain in the ear and nausea to the victim. However, he slowly rose despite the continuation of the attack, which caused Dosu to stare at the Uchiha in surprise.

"How?"

"Simple. Chakra ear plugs." Sasuke pointed at his ears. "Once you began that attack, I immediately channeled some chakra into the ear plugs. It completely blocks off my ears and prevents anything from entering. By the way, I can't hear what you're saying right now."

"Raiton: Yusuburu Kasugai no Jutsu (Lightning Release: Jolt Clamp)!"

Lightning flashed out of Sasuke's hand as it shaped into a coil and wrapped itself around Dosu's left arm. When Sasuke gripped his hand, the coil electrified the Sound ninja's arm and continued to do so until the sound waves stopped.

"Gaah!" Dosu screamed as the lightning coil didn't let go and continued to electrify him. His right arm didn't conduct electricity, but his left arm was still vulnerable to electric attacks.

The attack didn't stop till Dosu dropped and collapsed onto the ground. For good measures, Sasuke made sure that he stayed down. "Raiton: Raikou Hitofuki no Jutsu (Lightning Release: Lightning Blast Technique)!"

A lightning bolt struck the Sound ninja, who slightly shuddered at the shock and remained face down on the ground. Sasuke pulled out his ear plugs and bound the unconscious ninja with a rope. He also placed an explosive tag on the Sound ninja's right arm in the case that he woke up.

"Good to see you finally finishing up." Naruto said as Sasuke turned around to face him. The blonde laid down the girl's unconscious form next to her teammate. "I already knocked the girl out. She's skilled, but my wind jutsu blew her senbons away and I used the Head Hunter jutsu to immobilize her."

Sasuke shook his head. "You're using your Head Hunter jutsu too much, dobe. You should stop using it."

Naruto scratched his cheeks. "It's an easy and fun jutsu. Besides, the look of surprise on people's faces when they're hit with the jutsu is priceless."

"While you two were having fun fighting, I had to deal with this idiot trying to pound his way out of my Earth Prison jutsu." The pink haired ninja said with irritation in her voice. She nearly threw down the spiky haired ninja next to the two other Sound ninjas.

"How did he become unconscious? I don't see any bruises on him, which means that you didn't punch him..." Naruto said, rubbing the back of his head.

Sakura rolled her eyes. "He knocked himself out. The baka used too much chakra in my prison and I drained too much chakra from him. He collapsed because of chakra exhaustion and I had to free him from the prison."

"We're almost to the tower, so let's hurry up. After all, we're after the record of finishing the fastest." Sasuke said to his teammates.

"Wait! Before we go, let me just do this." Naruto replied as he pulled a pin, releasing a small firecracker into the sky. It didn't explode, but left a small red dot over their position. "It's for the examiners. The unconscious bodies are removed from the forest and sent to the hospital." That part wasn't necessarily true, but it was a reasonable lie to get the Sound team out of the forest and the exam. Naruto knew of their fate and requested them to be heavily guarded until the situation with Orochimaru was over.

The raven haired boy gave a small grin at Naruto. "I hope Kakashi sensei is watching us right now, since he should be preparing enough money for our team meals."

Naruto nodded. "Alright, the examiners will be here soon. Let's go."

"Hey! Oh wait, Naruto? You're done with the exams already?" Iruka asked as he was summoned in front of them.

The blond haired ninja smiled. "Yep! We beat the Sannin team's record! We finished the test in Two and a half hours!"

Iruka stared at his former pupil as his jaw dropped. "What? Two and a half hours? How?"

"We only beat up two teams." Naruto answered.

"Two ninjas for each of us." Sasuke added.

The Chunin instructor could only shake his head. "Well then... I congratulate your team on finishing the second part of the Chunin exams. I'll need to tell the Hokage about this. My former students beat the Legendary Sannin team's record and are on the road to become chunins!"

"Thanks Iruka sensei. So what do we do now?" Naruto asked.

Iruka sheepishly smiled. "Well... We were supposed to have sleeping quarters available for you by tomorrow, but we didn't expect any of you to finish within hours. I'll just tell the examiners to have you go back home for tonight and you can come back tomorrow. In fact, I'll take you guys out to ramen right now! Bet all three of you are hungry even though you've been in there for only two and a half hours."

All three genins thanked their former sensei as they followed him through a secret tunnel. The tunnel was dark and was only illuminated by a few torches. "This place is really dark and damp, Iruka sensei. Where does it lead to?"

"It leads to an alley near the Academy, Naruto." Iruka explained. "Basically, during civilian evacuations, we have these tunnels set up to help the civilians go to a secured location. Since the Forest of Death is filled with natural obstacles like giant creatures and trees, it's an easy place to defend and evacuate the citizens to. We also use these tunnels during the chunin exams to get out of the center tower secretly."

After running for some time, the team finally reached the end of the tunnel. "And here we are!"

Team 7 followed Iruka sensei as they went to the usual Ichiraku's Ramen shop. Teuchi, the owner of the shop, beamed when he saw Naruto. "My number one costumer! And you brought your teacher and teammates back too! What can I get you?"

"Give me pork ramen for me and my friends, old man! My team just passed the second round of the chunin exam and we set the record for the fastest time!" Naruto shouted eagerly.

Teuchi gave his favorite customer a thumbs up. "That's great Naruto! For that, free ramen for everyone tonight! Eat up and enjoy!"

As Teuchi was busy making ramen and Sasuke was (surprisingly) talking to Iruka silently, Naruto and Sakura lowered their voices and whispered to each other. "I didn't see Orochimaru during the second round. I know that Lord Hokage was planning to confront him, but is it possible that we didn't encounter him because we finished the exams really fast?"

Naruto shrugged. "I'm not sure. I think we faced Orochimaru a couple hours in to the second test, but I don't remember exactly when we faced him. We'll need to ask jiji about this."

1 Hour Earlier inside the Forest of Death

"Your actions against the Leaf stops here, Orochimaru." Sarutobi said sternly to the Snake Sannin.

Orochimaru hissed at his former teacher. "You have already discovered me sensei... I'm impressed."

The Hokage grinned. "It certainly helps that your spy Kabuto has already informed me of everything. I'll most likely overlook the spying he did for you during these past years, but you will be arrested and tried for your crimes."

"Kabuto has defected to you? Impossible!" Orochimaru shouted. "How much did he reveal?"

"You will never know, since your life will end here!" The Third Hokage declared as he threw away his robes and revealed his battle armor.

Orochimaru yelled as he charged at his former sensei while the Third prepared to fight him head on...

Present

"Let's have a team sleepover at my apartment!" Naruto announced to his teammates. "It'll be a great team experience!"

"Hn." The Uchiha answered. "I think I have some important work to do back at..."

Naruto punched his arm. "You always have a stick up your ass teme. Sakura, you're definitely coming right?"

The pink haired kunoichi turned pink at the question. "Staying at your apartment, alone with you?"

"For now I guess. But I'm sure Sasuke will get his head out of the ground and come with us." Naruto replied.

"Uh..." Sakura said.

Oh just say yes. You get to spend more time with him! Besides you'll be in his apartment! Won't that be fun? Inner Sakura whispered.

"SHUT UP!" Sakura shouted as her two teammates looked at her strangely. "Sorry, there's been a fly that has been bothering me and it keeps buzzing around my ear."

I'll stop if you just go with him. If Sasuke doesn't come, maybe it's your lucky day! Inner Sakura teased.

Sakura silently groaned as she turned back to the blonde. "I'll come. Besides, we need to head out as a team tomorrow morning. Might as well stay together in one place."

"Fine... I'll bring some basic supplies to spend the night at Naruto's apartment. Just explain to me where it is and I'll be there soon." Sasuke replied.

"I need to head home anyways to tell my parents, so I'll just head over to the Uchiha district after I talk to them. I know where Naruto lives." Sakura said.

The blonde gave his teammates a grin. "Perfect! Then I'll see you two soon!"

Sasuke and Sakura went on their ways as Naruto strolled down the street back to his apartment. Suddenly, an ANBU agent landed in front of him. "Lord Hokage requests your presence immediately. It seemed urgent, so I would go there immediately."

"Alright, I'll be on my way."

"Well did you kill the creepy snake dude jiji?" Naruto asked the Hokage who was still in his battle armor.

Sarutobi shook his head. "Unfortunately not. Orochimaru is very powerful and I will definitely need help on defeating him. It seems like he bought into the ruse that Kabuto has defected to us and that we are already aware of his plans. He will most likely back off from the chunin exam and wait for another opportunity to strike. Even though I didn't kill him, he should be injured and worn out for now."

"It's fine jiji. I'll help you the next time you face him. I'm just glad that snake bastard won't come after Sasuke for some time. It'll give us time to become stronger." Naruto answered. "What did you do with the Sound ninjas?"

"They're in the Konoha hospital under heavy ANBU guard. Anko herself is watching them, since Orochimaru might attempt to kill them. I'm trusting what you said about them." The Hokage replied.

The son of the Fourth Hokage nodded firmly. "The Sound ninjas aren't really bad. They're loyal to Orochimaru right now, but once we reveal that they were just pawns for him, I'm sure that they can possibly join the Leaf. Better than having one die by Gaara and the other two be used as sacrifices for the Reanimation jutsu."

"They will be safe for now. I trust Anko and the ANBU agents to carry out their duties." Sarutobi assured the blond boy.

"By the way, did you hear that I finished the second round in two and a half hours?" Naruto announced to the village's leader.

The Third Hokage gave a weary smile. "Yes, I have. Perhaps your team will be even more legendary than the Sannin team."

Naruto smiled. "Thanks jiji. Now there's just the preliminary round and the final round remaining. Since I've already made some changes, I wonder who I will be facing this time around?"

"Since there will no longer be any attacks during the final round, I wonder who will become the ultimate victor during the finals?"

The blonde snorted. "Jiji, I think you already know the answer to that one."

Lord Third smoked his pipe. "Perhaps I do... If you defeat your opponent in the preliminary round, I will allow you to have a scroll that contains the works of your father. It will most likely be difficult for you to learn, but it is possible that you can copy his technique instead of fully understanding everything."

"You got yourself a deal old man." Naruto replied. "You better be ready to give me that scroll, because there is no way in hell I'm losing."

Sasuke and Sakura stood at the doorway of Naruto's apartment as they awaited for someone to open the door. After waiting a few seconds, Naruto opened the door and smiled. "Welcome to my apartment!"

"This is certainly different than what I expected." Sasuke said as he entered. The apartment was bright and clean, without any trash and dirty clothes on the floor. Sasuke envisioned the apartment to be a little dirtier than what was in front of him, but he wasn't complaining as he walked around the flat curiously.

Naruto waved at them as they came in. "I had my clones clean up the place and slightly remodel it to make it look nicer. Not bad for an apartment, right?"

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Better than I expected, I suppose. Where do you want us to sleep?"

"Sakura can have the bed, you'll sleep on the couch, and I'll sleep on the floor." Naruto responded as he set up a blanket next to the couch.

"Hn. I'll take the floor. You can sleep on the couch, dobe." Sasuke said as he tossed his bag onto the floor.

"Naruto, it's your house... You should take the bed." Sakura suggested as she gradually slid closer and closer to the couch.

Naruto shook his head. "It's my house so I make the rules. You're taking the bed."

The pink kunoichi considered punching him in the head, but lowered her fist and sighed. "Fine, I'll take the bed."

"Good night then." Sasuke grumbled as he laid down on the blankets and closed his eyes.

Sakura and Naruto stared at the Uchiha that was sprawled out on the floor. The owner of the apartment only scratched his cheeks. "You're just going to sleep right away?"

"I'm tired." Sasuke simply replied. "I have to spend the next four days with you two so I would rather rest today and deal with you tomorrow."

Naruto rolled his eyes as Sasuke went to sleep. "Well, what do you want to do Sakura? "

After making sure that Sasuke was asleep, she grabbed Naruto's arm and dragged him into his room. As the door shut behind the two, Sasuke opened one eye and smirked as he slowly rose from his position and peeked into the room through a small opening on the door.

"Has the Hokage told you anything?" Sakura asked silently.

"Orochimaru isn't dead." Naruto said gravely. "But he's wounded and jiji lied to Orochimaru about Kabuto being our double spy, so Orochimaru most likely won't attack during the exam again."

Sakura was slightly relieved, but at the same time worried. "This will make it harder for us to predict future events. But for now, we still have Sasuke with us."

"He's changed a bit since last time too, I think." Naruto imputed. "A bit more friendlier to us, a little less arrogant too."

"Hopefully the future stays a little brighter than last time." Sakura said.

Naruto nodded. "The future is already changing, Sakura. I'm sure jiji won't die this time around. Sasuke won't defect without Orochimaru tempting him out. And there's probably a lot more changes that we've made so far that we haven't realized."

Sakura bit her lower lip. "Right. For now, we should only focus on becoming chunins so we can go on missions freely. Should we tell Sasuke about what we know?"

"No. Maybe in the future, but he's not ready for that type of information yet. We should tell him after its clear that he's loyal to the village. Orochimaru might try to seduce him with power in the future, so we should still be careful."

Outside the door Sasuke scrunched his ears as close as he could to the door and attempted to listen to the conversation. Unfortunately for him, the two were whispering and their voices were almost inaudible. "Looks like I'll have to resort to this then. Sharingan!"

His eyes instantly became red as he began to read the lip movements of Sakura, who was facing his direction. "Should we tell Sasuke about what we know?" So they are hiding something from me...

The Uchiha's curiosity only grew. Just what are they hiding from me? Is it related to the fact that they've gotten stronger and smarter?

For now, Sasuke went to sleep. But he wanted answers soon.

Someone cleared their throat as Sakura groggily woke up from her sleep. "Get a room you two... I mean you two are already in a room by yourselves, but you should do this when I'm not here."

Sakura slowly opened her eyes to see Sasuke standing over her. She was confused by what she said until she turned her head, and immediately saw a boy with a mess of blond hair laying down next to her. He was lightly snoring and muttering in his sleep, but he seemed very comfortable laying next to her. Then it struck her like lightning, the two were sleeping in the same bed and were touching.

The pink kunoichi turned pink and shot out of bed immediately as she tried to recall what had happened last night. She had talked to Naruto for hours before both of them became tired and fell asleep. Sakura guessed that Naruto was tired and passed out on his own bed, the very bed that he had offered for her.

Sasuke looked at her strangely. "I knew you two might have been a couple, but you sleep with each other now too?"

"We're not a couple!" Sakura waved her hand furiously. "And this was an accident! It's not what it looks like!"

"Hn." Sasuke gave a rather un-Sasuke like grin at the girl.

She struck both Sasuke and Naruto with a single blow to the head. "Shut up! And wake up you baka!"

Sasuke was flung out the window and Naruto woke up with a new bruise on his head. The blonde looked up to the pink haired girl in horror. "Sakura?"

"You didn't go back to the couch and we, uhm, slept on the same bed." Sakura replied. "And Sasuke saw us."

Naruto's eyes widened. "Sorry! I was really tired and I just sorta passed out. I'll tell Sasuke that there's nothing between us."

"I already told him. It's fine..." Sakura told the blonde, who nodded and left the room to shower.

She bit her lips as she looked at the spot they were sleeping together just minutes before. She knew that she didn't mind that moment at all, but she couldn't bring herself to admit it. Something just felt, reassuring being next to him. Being with him for 5 consecutive years was probably part of it, but Inner Sakura knew that there was something more to it...

Team 7 made their way back into the tower when the sun rose. They successfully sneaked their way in again using the secret tunnel near the academy and arrived just on time to see Gaara and his team arrive at the tower.

"Gaara!" Naruto shouted excitedly as he rushed to the Sand ninja's side. "You finished!"

The red haired ninja attempted to smile, but the smile looked like a frightening scowl. "You finished already, Naruto?"

"Yep! Finished yesterday. We beat the chunin exam record and got here two and a half hours after we started." Naruto replied.

"That's good to hear. We're the second ones here. The others haven't arrived yet." Gaara said. "After losing our scroll to your team, we managed to defeat two teams before the sun went up."

Naruto grinned at the Sand ninja. "I knew you could do it! You're a powerful shinobi, after all."

Gaara gave the blonde an awkward pat on his shoulder. "Thanks, Naruto."

As Gaara walked away, Kankuro approached Naruto and shook his hand. "I just want to say thank you. Whatever you did, it has calmed down Gaara and he doesn't threaten to kill us anymore."

"It's no problem. He's a friend, so I'll do anything for him." Naruto replied.

The puppeteer stared at the Leaf ninja. "But you met him only a few days ago."

Naruto shrugged. "It's a long story."

Kankuro only nodded and walked away with his other siblings. Naruto turned to his teammates, who were looking a bit impatient due to the long chit chat.

"Sorry guys. Let's go to our lodges and go on from there." Naruto said sheepishly.

"I have a feeling it's going to be very boring for the next few days." Sasuke said as Team 7 headed towards their assigned lodges.

Sasuke's words proved to be correct as the teams that have finished were forced to stay in or around their quarters for the last 4 days. Since the area wasn't that big, training using jutsu was out of the question and the ninjas resorted to physical exercises to keep themselves in shape. Over the course of 4 days, various teams began to arrive at the tower one by one. All the rookie teams had made it to the tower in one piece, along with Gai's team and a team from Amegakure. However, Kabuto's team never appeared at the tower. Naruto knew that Team Dosu was under heavy guard at the hospital, but suspected that Kabuto either failed the test or was killed by Orochimaru. The blond ninja suspected the latter, but hoped for the former. Kabuto may have been a spy, but he wasn't a totally evil being like Orochimaru.

Before Naruto knew it, 4 days had gone by and he was standing in line with the 5 other teams that had passed. They all had their eyes on the Leaf jounin with the bandana in front of them.

"I am Hayate Gekko, your proctor the next part of the chunin exams." The sickly jounin coughed before he continued. "Before we move onto the final round, we will have a preliminary round in order to decrease the amount of participants by half. All of you are very talented and strong enough to have reached this point. However, the final round will have delegates from many different nations attending, so only the best are expected to compete in front of them. Additionally, we do not have time for a dozen rounds, so we will decide the genins that will move onto the final round today."

"The scoreboard will now announce the genins that will fight in the first round of the preliminary."

Almost instantly, two names flashed on the scoreboard.

Sakura Haruno vs Choji Akimichi

"Go get him Sakura!" Naruto yelled as Sakura jumped down into the arena.

On the other side of the arena, Asuma was arguing with the Akimichi heir in an attempt to persuade him to fight. "10 free meals at the barbecue place if you fight."

"15!" The chubby boy replied.

Asuma sighed. "12. And if you win, I'll buy you free meals for the rest of the month."

Suddenly, Choji's eyes were filled with determination. "Now we're talking!"

Before the proctor could say "Begin," Choji already began his set of hand seals "Baika no Jutsu!"

The boy expanded into a giant ball and began rolling towards Sakura. "Sorry Sakura! But I need to get my free meals!"

Sakura grinned. "I'm sorry Choji, but I have to win."

She pounded her fist into the floor and caused a ramp to appear, making the spinning Akimichi fly into the air. The ball crashed into the other side of the arena, but the human cannonball kept on spinning and immediately began to accelerate towards the pink kunoichi.

"Seems like you won't go down easily then. Doton: Doryu Taiga (Earth Release: Mud River)!"

The ground under Choji instantly turned into an avalanche of mud and stone as the human ball started to slide over to Sakura, who was awaiting for the Akimihci boy with an eager glint in her eyes. "Doton: Bakudan (Earth Release: Earth Bomb)!"

The mud and stone beneath the chubby boy began to shift as the compounds within the mud itself began to shift. After a few seconds, a large explosion rocked the arena as the avalanche exploded underneath Choji, who landed in a heap next to Gekko. After confirming that the boy was unconscious, the jounin announced the winner. "And the winner of the match is Sakura Haruno!"

"Yes!" Sakura whooped. She gave a smile to her two teammates and her jounin sensei. Naruto was cheering for her and even the usually impassive Sasuke gave a hint of a grin to the pink haired ninja. The victor of the match ran up the walls and landed next to her team. "So, how did I do?"

"You did well, Sakura." Kakashi answered first. "I would say that the match was one of the cleanest matches I've ever seen, but I haven't seen Sasuke and Naruto fight yet."

Naruto grinned. "I'll definitely win mine without a scratch. I don't know about teme here though."

"Dobe, you're getting too cocky. For all you know, you might be facing me." Sasuke snorted. "Besides, I don't want to be the one paying for our team's food for the rest of the year."

Gekko raised his hand to announce the next match. "And the next match will be..."

Kiba Inuzuka vs Sasuke Uchiha

"Easy." Sasuke said as he stepped into the arena. "Naruto, it looks like you're going to be paying for all our food!"

"Shut up teme." Naruto hollered back.

Kiba flashed his teeth at the last Uchiha. "You talk too much, Uchiha. Are you afraid that you'll lose to me? You can back out right now if you want to."

The raven haired boy only smirked, his eyes flashing red. "Bring it, dog boy."

"Let's go Akamaru!" Kiba shouted to his companion. "Gatsuga (Fang Passing Fang)!"

The ninja and his dog turned into separate drills that sped towards Sasuke at incredible speed, but the Uchiha was unfazed. "Katon: Kyuuka no Jutsu (Fire Release: Flame Sphere Technique)!"

Sasuke's body began to heat up instantly as his body began to rapidly rotate, parrying the two drills that came towards him. Both Kiba and Akamaru were flung to the side as the Rookie of the Year remained unharmed from the Gatsuga attack.

"Heh. I'll admit that you're pretty good. Makes sense since you were the Rookie of the Year. But you haven't seen anything yet!" Kiba uttered loudly for Sasuke to hear. "Looks like I'll have to give you this pill early on."

The dog user tossed a small black pill to his dog, who swallowed the pill in an instant. The dog's body began to transform into a bigger and larger version of itself as Kiba gave a wicked grin to his opponent. "Even with your fancy eyes, you can't take on two of us!"

"Jujin Bunshin (Beast Human Clone)!"

Akamaru turned into a clone of Kiba as both of them charged at Sasuke. "Take this! Shikyaku no Jutsu (Four Legs Technique)!"

The attacks came rapidly as eight different limbs attack Sasuke from all angles. Sasuke gave out a small tsk as he used his Sharingan to dodge and block the attacks. Luckily, I've been working on my speed and strength with Sakura and Naruto, so my body can block most people's taijutsu.

His thought was cut short as one of the rapid attacks caught him squarely in the shoulder, forcing him to drop his left arm. This created an opening that Kiba didn't hesitate to use, as he pounded the Uchiha and made him crash against the wall of the arena.

The duo backed up as they inspected their handiwork. "How's that for a change, Uchiha? Still cocky?"

"Raiton: Raikou Kousen no Jutsu (Lightning Release:Lightning Beam Technique)!" Sasuke replied as he extended his hands and shot out a powerful lightning beam at Kiba. Fortunately for the Inuzuka, Akamaru leaped into the path of the blast and took the brunt of the damage.

Kiba caught the dog as it fell and cradled the unconscious form in his arms. "Thanks for the help, Akamaru. I'll end the bastard now."

"You shouldn't keep your eyes off the enemy." Sasuke said to the boy as he quickly maneuvered behind him. "Katon: Gouryuuka no Jutsu (Fire Release: Great Dragon Fire Technique)!"

A large fireball in the shape of a dragon head crashed into Kiba and pushed the dog user into a wall. The wall collapsed as the fireball exploded, giving some burns to Kiba and making him collapse.

"I'm... Not done yet... Bastard." Kiba said faintly as he forced himself to stand up. "Tsuga (Passing Fang)!"

Kiba turned into a drill once more and rushed towards Sasuke, though with much less power and speed than before. Sasuke only looked up at the drill and sighed. "You've depleted your chakra and your partner is unconscious. Your attacks won't be as effective as it was before."

"Raiton: Shinkou Arashi no Jutsu (Rising Storm Technique)!"

Electricity surrounded Sasuke's body and shot out in several directions. Just as Kiba's attack was about to strike the Uchiha, the electricity bolts slammed into the poor Inuzuka. The attack was the final straw for the dog user as he collapsed on to the ground like his dog.

"The winner is Sasuke Uchiha!" Gekko announced.

Sasuke smirked and accepted Naruto's high five as he sat next to his team. "See? Easy."

"I don't know. You got hit by Kiba's moves a couple of times. Is that a bruise I see on your cheek? Oh wait, there's a cut too!" Naruto teased the raven haired boy.

The Uchiha scowled. "I would like to see you do better."

"The third match will consist of..."

Kagari vs Tenten

"Look Sakura, it's that creepy Rain ninja we fought last time during the chunin exam." Naruto whispered.

Sakura nodded in reply. "It seems like they passed this time around... Weird."

"Kaifu no Jutsu (Unsealing Technique)!" Tenten immediately shouted as she whipped out a variety of scrolls.

The Rain ninja only stared at the weapons that were suddenly flying towards him, only to easily dodge the attacks by sinking into the ground. "Doton: Dochu Eigyo no Jutsu (Earth Release: Underground Fish Technique)."

TenTen began to bombard the floor with a variety of weapons in a rapid attempt to draw out the Rain ninja. "Are you just going to hide in the ground forever?"

"Of course not." A sly response came from directly under TenTen's feet. "That would be no fun. Doton: Doryu Joheki (Earth Release: Earth Flow Rampart)."

The ground beneath the kunoichi shifted immediately into a deep hole. TenTen attempted to steady her footing, but the Rain ninja didn't give her any time to do so. He threw a kunai at her torso, which forced her to block it with her own weapon. Despite her best attempt to balance and block the attack, she fell into the hole and barely managed to grab onto the side before she struck the bottom.

"Good attempt, but not good enough. Doton: Ganseki Kuzushi (Earth Release: Rock Collapse)!" Kagari said as he slammed his palm onto the ground. Rocks began to fall from parts of the hole and fell on top of the struggling TenTen, who finally lost her grip and fell into the hole.

"Winner of this match is Kagari!" Gekko announced to the others.

Naruto stared at the Rain ninja as he made his way back to his teammates. "Was he always this powerful?"

"I don't know. It's been a while so I don't remember much of our fight against him. But if he's strong, we need to watch out." Sakura said to her blond teammate. "I feel like he still has some tricks up his sleeves, but I might need time to remember them."

"The fourth match of the preliminary will begin..."

Naruto Uzumaki vs Hinata Hyuuga

Both the blonde and the purple haired girl stared at the scoreboard in horror.

"What?"

AN: And that's a wrap for this chapter! I feel like I did really bad on this chapter. If you have any suggestions or comments, please do leave it in the review section and I will read it carefully.

Yojibrama: I have no idea what Axe Sakura is. I might need some help on the Sakura/Naruto development though, as my head is very unimaginative in some aspects.

Cao510: And that is why you leave reviews, dear readers. I have already adjusted the fight scene between Gaara and Naruto in chapter 5 due to several reviews claiming that it was short (and upon further review, I agree). And yes, since Naruto has the Nine Tails and Gaara has the One Tails, it is entirely possible (and likely) that both ninjas will have different tailed beast cloaks.

The G'ddam Dark Knight: That will be determined further on in the story.

Guest007: Ah. I was going to have Sakura become a capable Earth user in this story, but I guess she still has the potential to learn Rasnegan. I will not throw the idea out the window. :)

Emzy2k11: I try! But I have school and a social life! I wrote this as fast as I could through some sleepless nights.

94blake: So, my FanFic is bad? Alright haha. Guess I can't please everyone.

Calebros: Karin will not encounter Sasuke or Team 7 during the exams, but they might come in contact later on in the story.

maxslayer10: Kakashi is pretty much aware of everything, as well as the Third Hokage. They know the basic gist and the important details of what is to come. This foreknowledge will help them prevent events from playing out in the future.

UseFistNotMouth: I realized. Thank you :)

thedarkpokemaster: Possibly. This Naruto is a bit more mature since he actually wants to save everyone this time around... But sometimes history repeats itself. Oh boy, a tag team sexy jutsu...

Aevrum: I made him slightly more mature because I wanted him to be portrayed as the character that is seeking to actually save everyone, and in order to do so he needs to be stronger and more mature. At heart, he's still the same old Naruto. But he's changing quickly on the outside. If you have any suggestions about the development between Sakura and Naruto, feel free to PM me.

Hexlixical: We're already seeing small changes and massive changes will happen after the chunin exams. It's only up to that point that the story will stay near canon. Afterwards, it'll be a wild ride :)