A/N: Horror, I had to edit this thing at least about four times. The bad thing about typing on a phone is that you do not have an orthographic corrector and the keyboard trolleys you numerous times, anyway, I hope there are not so many errors at the moment.

Disclaimer: I don't own or anything related with both the Anime and Manga, all those are the property of his author (Masashi Kishimoto) and I'm only playing with the sandbox that he created.

Whirlpool's Heir.

Arc One: "The Foxface (Root) Genin."

Chapter Four: [Fox/Salamander] [Illusory Cloud/Flower] [Detatched Root] vs [Serpent].

Key:

"Voice"

'Thinking'

"Summoning/Jutsu!"

"Summon/Bijū talking"

'Summon/Bijū thinking'

[Inner Person]

[Salamander Language]

(Location: Training Ground #44.)

Sometimes Naruto stopped thinking for a moment about the Foundation. He would let his mind wander and his thoughts try to mold themselves into a different and almost alien form for him. Since his four year birthday, his memories were much clearer of what had happened to him. His life had been a vortex of blood and violence, typical things of the Shinobi World that were rarely experienced by people at that age, but by normal people of course.

He never was considered normal. Carrier of an almost extinct bloodline since birth as well as of the very same container of the mightiest of the Tailed Beasts where enough prove for that.

Protected by the Third Fire Shadow since that moment and growing up with the knowledge of part of his heritage, he was dragged in a confused time to a branch of shadows, where he had been instructed, sometimes in a brutal way, how to defend himself, how to fight and deceive, among other things.

Having had that conditioning at an early age had been truly useful, but not indispensable over time.

Those ramblings ceased after a few minutes, and his eyes loosed again the glow they had temporarily gained during that time, only to end up falling in the fox-like gaze as usual or perhaps mere effects of conditioning, the redhead was unaware of which one was, but was similarly satisfied.

Being like that was among the symptoms of conditioning, and Naruto rarely felt any curiosity about the notion. During his short life, Naruto had concentrated his warlike philosophy on the art of adaptation and assimilation.

"Y'know me Yakumo-chan, I like to take pages from other people's books, especially from the ones I'd already defeated in the past."

Although the redhead was far from knowing the judgment that Hiruzen had emitted on him and his abilities, he was in perfect accord with his kinesthetic learning and his pseudo-eidetic memory.

He liked to analyze the movements of his opponents and find a way to replicate and use them for himself, but only if he managed to defeat them. Needless to say, with the number of successes he had collected since his very early career, several techniques and lessons had gone to his brain. The obvious exceptions were none other than the Uzumaki-Ryū, the Kongo Fūsa and the numerous Fūinjutsu and derivates he had learned on his own among the sealed remnants of his clan.

But his training in Shape and Nature Transformation had been a very different thing. To have the supervision of a bespectacled sadist but almost an expert in the subject had served. Outside of those fields, his other skills had been developed by him on the basis of his Philosophy of Assimilation & Adaptation. Stealth, agility, speed and other things indispensable for a true shinobi.

The weapons usage had not been any problem for him. His Shurikenjutsu had been changing over time and for the better. Kunai and shuriken? Years of training with those basic tools and against several excellent users had borne fruit. Senbon? The needles were more medical tools than weapons, that required some precision and mastery to be properly used, Naruto preferred them for its secrecy and especially as a memento of that time in which a renegade shinobi of Amegakure accidentally discovered the Salamander's Realm just when the redhead was visiting.

The poor man, who barely had skills vaguely superior to those of an average Genin didn't have a chance in hell. A lot less against the multiple abilities of the agent of the Foundation.

The numerous scrolls found there and the teachings of the amphibians had also contributed their grain of sand in his prowess. The salamanders were expert sensors and crafty predators, but with very poor hygiene. The Kagura Shingan had been mastered under the tutelage of some of the Pepper-Class salamanders as well as some of his Suiton techniques. It could be said that he had had three tutors throughout his career with the exception of himself: The old one-eyed mummy, the bespectacled and sadistic swordsman and the dozens of social poisonous and overgrown amphibians that were bound to him through the contract he had signed when he was seven.

He had learned what he considered enough for someone of his caliber, but he knew it would never be enough, because he could always make a mistake. Just like in those moments.

'Pff, I'm glad Dokūzetsu is not here. He would not stop recriminating me about proper preparation and predisposition. ' Naruto thought as he remembered the favorite phrase of Amegakure's legendary shinobi that was constantly being repeated by his own personal summon whom he rarely invoked. Said amphibian possessed a much greater addition to Ramen than his own one, and the redhead feared for his wallet when he summoned him.

"Then what will my little brats bare going to choose?" Anko asked as she placed her hands on her waist. "Would they risk taking my exam only to fail shamefully and be sent to the Academy for another year? Or are they going to resign themselves to their short, pitiful future? Find it next wee-!"

"We'll take it!" Naruto replied before placing his hands on the mouths of his two companions, while his patronized look directed them more or less transmitted the following: 'Open the damn mouth and I swear I'll use you as kunai-throwing practice log.' [Or I'll give you two to Sanshouo as a light lunch while I record it]

Sai remembered how good was the redhead's aim, especially when he intended to maim or kill the target. Which he usually did, when he wasn't tempted to 'play' and collect some data.

"That's great." Commented the purple-haired jounin before motioning the three genin to follow her after she opened the Training Ground's gate. Naruto nodded to the other two and followed Anko through the forest whit Yakumo and Sai closely behind, the former closed the gate after he had crossed. There was a reason why it was closed in the first place after all.

The trio continued to follow their new instructor throught the forest for some minutes, in which they saw some characteristics of the Ground. Large, monstrous vegetation was among the first things, closely followed by equally unsealed animals.

Yakumo swore that she had seen a large dead lizard being dragged to a hole beneath dome dead leaves and shuddered thinking about the possible predator hidden in the hole

Despite being unnerved, a perk from his Root training, Sai was in a complete alert. He was by no means a sensor-type like Fū Yamanaka or Naruto Uzumaki but even him was able to detect the hostile atmosphere in the ambient. He had some Sumi Bunshin (Ink Clones) prepared just in case things went wrong and the hand at his tantõ, ready to use the short blade against a possible threat.

Meanwhile, Naruto walked with his hands in his pockets, one of them forming his signature hand-seal allowing the redhead to maintain the Kagura Shingan while walking. To say that he was worried was a mistake. Despite detecting several signatures with hostile intent, he was confident enough that they barely posed a threat. He didn't have any heavy equipment with him with the exception of Guren and some air items such as kunai and shuriken but he wasn't by any means deprived of external sources.

The only one from the group who was acting normally was Anko, who just walked some meters ahead of them like she was in her home (And Yakumo was already suspecting that it really was). The three genin and jounin stopped their walk when they arrived a small clearing with some cut logs that served as seats.

Anko occupied that highest one while the other three seated in the largest. Sai at the left side, Yakumo at the right and Naruto in the middle. The redhead clasped his hands together while the brunette just brushed her braid and the pale boy smiled again.

'My, my, aren't they the most expressive brats?' Thought Anko with a grin. When she finished the test, she was sure that the three were going to be terrified, or if she was VERY lucky, at least two of the three would be excited.

"OK, listen up!" She ordered savoring the moment when the three looked at her awaiting orders. She was looking forward to being used to that reaction, but first, she needed to see if they passed. "This is the part when I'm supposed to scare you with the test and you fail. Every jounin handles this part with their owns methods and I'm not the black sheep so don't expect me to be a chocolate box, got it?"

She was the three nod and continued. "This is the Training Ground #44, also known as the 'Forest of Death' just like Witch over there said." Anko pointed at Yakumo who glared at her for the newfound nickname which provoked a snort from Naruto.

"As you may have noticed on the way through here, it doesn't have that cute nickname just by joke." Continued Anko clasping her hands together with a serious expression now. "It is filled with all sorts of death. Giant carnivorous animals and plants, venomous and vicious creatures that would love to chew you to death and many other horrors that I'm not going to tell you because it will ruin the surprise."

She received three glares in return, which made her shrug.

"Ano, Anko-sensei?" Asked Yakumo raising her hand. "It's there any real possibility of we dying here?"

"Good question Witchy," Replied Anko. "Nah, of course not." That answer made Yakumo to visibly relax. "Only some major injuries and trauma, nothing that a good visit to the hospital can't fix." The brown-eyed girl was now visibly green.

The real deal was that Anko said that with a completely straight face, which made almost impossible to tell if she was joking or not.

Naruto just decided that he now liked the woman.

'Well, at least I can now see why Shikamaru said that she was an older, female version of myself.' Though the redhead while still maintaining his Mind's Eye. No signatures could be detected nearby, so the clearing was a safe-zone, for the moment. But what really interested him was the famous test that they needed to pass. There was no way in hell that he was going to return to the Academy. Four years there where more than enough for him, he really didn't want another to the mix. He watched with amused interest how Anko replied Yakumo and finally decided to ask himself.

"Ok, Dango-sensei, could you please tell us about the test?" Naruto asked while noticing the other three stares directed at him.

If possible, Anko's grin grew wide

"My, don't worry Whiskers. I'm getting to it." She answered before extracting something from her trench coat, which made the three genin fo adopt different battle stances. The purple-haired jounin rolled her pupil-less eyes.

"Oh seriously, I'm not going to attack you." 'Not yet, anyways' She said before revealing a small scroll in her left hand. "This is the key to your pass, " She explained, "There are at least twenty of them hidden until two miles of diameter. Your objective's to bring at least ten with you before the sun goes down and believe me, you don't want to be here when that happens." She finished with a toothy grin.

"Ten?" Counted Yakumo with a raising eyebrow. "But we are three, there is no way that we can bring ten each one."

"Ohh, better watch out, Witchy here knows to count." Commented Anko with more sarcasm than usual ignoring the dirty look that the Kurama heiress threw her.

"That means that one is going to fail. It's a competence between us." Reasoned Sai dominating the art in which Root Pawns where experts: Listening Orders.

"A cookie for Casper!" Replied Anko answering the question that the three genin where thinking

"Ok. Grab the scrolls, survive the fucking Horror Forest and return here before the twilight in one piece." Commented Naruto rolling his eyes. Nothing particularly difficult, or at least for him.

"In a nutshell, yes," Anko answered before doing some hand seals and biting her thumb. "But you also need to watch out for these ones. Kuchiyose no Jutsu (Summoning Technique)!" She said before slamming her hand to the ground.

A cloud of smoke envolved the area around her hand and dispelled revealing a large, brown with black markings snake who opened it's maw revealing large jaws which protubed a purple-like liquid which was awfully familiar to Naruto: Poison.

Ok, apparently, their new sensei had the Hebi Contract and knew how to use it. Said sensei just grinned in another awfully familiar way and announced.

"Let's begin!"

The serpent slithered towards them with the menacing maw still open and lunged forward, only to meet Sai's sandal which kicked the reptile off much to its rage. The serpent turned back with the equivalent of a furious rage towards them while hissing.

"My, he is angry, and seeing that you can do just fine with one, I will send more, but don't worry. Most of the animals in the forest have a healthy respect towards them." Commented Anko before preparing to summon more snakes. But before she could even execute the first hand seal, Naruto threw a cannister from his pouch, when the paper ball touched the ground, a cloud of smoke began to envelop the area.

'A smoke bomb?' Thought Anko 'Clever, very clever. It's obvious that the three brats are going to take advantage of this to escape. Unfortunately for them, my pets rarely rely on their eyes to search for their preys.'

Just like she predicted. When the cloud dispelled, she was completely alone in the clearing, even the snake she had summoned had part ways. She took note of the three different footsteps and sighed.

"Haven't they seen a Horror Movie? One of the most obvious rules is to NOT separate from the group." Anko shook her head while doing the remaining hand seals and summoning four more serpents.

"Pursue them, and by Kami's sake, don't swallow them! I don't want shit with the Council, got it?" She ordered to her summons who just nodded before parting ways.

Anko sighed before taking a seat again in the highest log, then she realized something.

"Hey, where did my Dango went?"

xXx

(Location: One Mile from the Clearing.)

Naruto finished the remains from the Dango before throwing the stick while still running. Throwing the Smoke Bomb and creating a useful escape distraction had been easy, using a seal-less Kawarimi to replace himself with one of the logs and grab the last brutally without being noticed by his new Jounin-sensei had been a less more difficult. Now, he was noticing that Anko's claims where real.

Apparently, most of the nearby chakra signatures took a sudden retreat when the signatures of TWO twelve foot snakes appeared, and were rushing towards him.

'They cannot be more skilled than two normal Pepper-Class salamanders' Thought Naruto remembering some of his spars with his summons in their realm. The redhead jumped and quickly channeled some of his chakra through his feet, which allowed him to attach himself to a nearby trunk.

Then, he saw the two snakes approaching through the grass before stopping dead in their tracks, the two reptiles raised their heads and stared at him while taking impulse before jumping with their maws open, ready to threw a venomous bite.

'They're fastrivaled'll give them that.' Thought Naruto before replacing himself with a log and extracting some senbon from his pouch and channelizing through that hand.

'Ninpō: Bari Danmaku (Ninja Art: Needle Barrage)' He thought before seeing how the chakra-powered needles shoot itself from his hand and stricken the snake coils causing some angered hisses before the two summons disappeared. However it was too soon to chant victory, and the snake that lunged from behind knew it.

Naruto unsealed Guren and deflected the incoming strike and striker, which where sent flying towards another trunk before dispelling.

'Well, at least I was not forced to use anything else' Thought the redhead before sealing away his favorite sword. 'I was barely trying to hide my Chakra Signature and who knows who could have been watching.'

Danzō had warned him about the Sandaime's Tōmegane no Jutsu (Telescope Technique) and deemed necessary for him to learn Chakra Represory Techniques, which included the Meseigakure no Jutsu (Hiding with Camouflage Technique), which was later perfected when he began to train with the help of his summons. However, since his reserves where quite large, he had been forced to regulate them with the use of several Chakra Represory Seals which he changed at least every month and were a pain to draw in his skin and his multiple burns in the Tenketsu Points of his arms where prove enough of that.

He prayed that no Hyūga ever eyed his Chakra Network because he or she would be quite intrigued to find several gashes and burns on it. Mementos of the times when his Chakra Control was complete trash and he had burned himself while trying to use the Uzumaki-Ryū. [And after that run with the troublesome Explosion Corp member]

And thinking about that, Naruto retired some of the bandages that covered his arm and channeled some chakra to it. The result was a glowing mark instantly followed by a sharp pain that forced him to bit his tongue. Yep, those burns sure were taking their sweet time to heal.

Then, he noticed something white in a nearby bush. With a kunai in hand, he cautiously approached and much to his relief, he found something else.

One of those scrolls.

However, when he picked it, he noticed that something was wrong. chakra extension the lack of snake's presence in the are, there were still none other Chakra Signature with the exception of his own.

'It looks like the animals avoid this part of the forest, but why would they?' He thought before picking up the scroll and then noticing something in a nearby puddle. Oxigen bubbles on the surface.

'Kagura Shingan (Mind's Eye of the Divine Entertainment)' Thought the redhead focusing more chakra on his sensing technique. However, after seeing what was lying in the puddle and was apparently aware of his presence, he could only say something.

"Oh, crap" Muttered Naruto before rolling at his left seeing how a water column rose over the puddle. It was a large insectoid-like creature with multiple tiny legs that ended in sharp hooks that looked more than proficient to cut flesh to shreds. Two long sharp coils over his head began to move detecting a nearby prey, but when the two pincer-like jaws appeared, Naruto recognized what was it.

"Tch, a fucking ōmukade (Giant Centipede)" Muttered the redhead replacing himself with a log before the head of the monstrous centipede tried to catch him, destroying the log effortlessly. The six crimson eyes of the arthropod stared at him while opening once again its pincer-like jaws.

Naruto didn't wait for too much and did some hand-seals deciding to drop the kunai, whose blade could barely scratch the armor of the centipede.

'Well, if external damage attacks are not useful with that armor, let's see how it deals with internal ones. Suiton: Mizurappa (Water Release: Wild Water Wave)' Finished Naruto before opening his mouth and shooting a concentrated blast of water that met head on the arthropod who cried in pain feeling the power behind the torrent.

Naruto finished the Jutsu and did a single hand-seal focusing more on the water of the puddle. "Suiton: Suigadan no Jutsu (Water Release: Water Fang Bullet Technique)!" He said before a water drill rose from the puddle and launched itself at the left side of the centipede tearing throught the armor.

The monstrous creature cried in pain and twisted it's body unintentionally breaking it but releasing his superior form which crawled through the ground intending to catch the redhead from behind. When it's jaws closed through the form of another log the wind was too late for the centipede.

"Uzumaki-Ryū: Kusanagi no Jutsu (Whirpool-Style: Grass-Mowing Technique)!" Said Naruto some meters behind with Guren unsealed and covered with a layer of chakra in the middle of a slash. The layer extended forward in the form of a curve ethereal blade and cut right through the face of the centipede who could only emit one last cry before felling over, completely dead when the chakra-extension severed the nerves

Naruto panted a little before releasing the chakra flow of his blade. The centipede was apparently the big fish of the area, and it wasn't even at the level of a Genin. So that meant that he was probably safe from being pursued by a bigger creature.

With Guren still on his grip, he approached the remains of the animal and inspected them. While in the Foundation he was rarely sent to other places, one of the few he was familiar was the Great Forest that surrounded Kusagakure in the Land of the Grass. It was a dense vegetation that easily rivalled or even overcame the Training Ground.

Naruto remembered that time when he killed an ANBU from said village in those woods, well 'killed'. He only had damaged the Tenketsu Points of his leg and left him in the bushes, only to see how a pair of centipedes of at least three-meters enjoyed their dinner with him. He almost felt sorry for the bastard, almost.

'Sigh, what a gruesome death' Thought the redhead also remembering when he was sent to retrieve the corpse, or at least what was left of him. The head was missing along with certain parts of the torso while the legs looked chewed and covered with burns, apparently, the poison was quite corrosive. The flak-jacket was ruined beyond recognition but fortunately, the scrolls secured on it were intact.

Throwing a last glance to the dead centipede, Naruto made a mental note to inspect the corpse later. Who knew what secrets could hold the predator? And if it wasn't the case, Sanshõuo or another one of his summons would gladly enjoy free dinner, even if it was equally poisonous.

Thinking about that. Naruto went through that specific chain of hand seals before bit his thumb and slamming his palm on the ground.

'Kuchiyose no Jutsu (Summoning Technique)' He thought before the usual smoke cloud dissipated and revealed Sanshõuo's giant silhouette. The six-meters amphibian raised his head towards his summoner as a greeting.

["Sorry for disturbing you Sanshōuo, but I'm going to need the storage seal that I engraved on your side."] Apologized Naruto before turning towards the giant salamander left side. Then, he channeled some chakra through his hand and a Storage Seal revealed itself glowing bright before emitting a cloud of smoke. The smoke dissipated and revealed a small metal box that landed on the floor.

Naruto opened it and began to extract some things from the inside: Blank paper sheets, prepared sealing and barrier tags, some ink vials and a brush. In a nutshell, intermediate sealing equipment.

Naruto rarely carried that in a scroll with him, especially when his chakra could trigger the seals and forcefully release the contained items which were among the reasons why he didn't have storage seals place in his own body as a tattoo. It was more prudent to improve his still shitty (By his standards) chakra control before he attempted to draw seals of that kind in his skin. He already suffered enough with the ones that helped to regulate and suck his chakra.

However, Naruto had discovered that the salamander's skin was more durable and that Fūinjutsu usage rarely affected his summons, so seeing that he could not afford the privilege of turning his own body into a living sealing scroll, he had to comfort with using some of his summons, like Sanshōuo, who despite having recently reached the Giant Pepper-Class status, still had a healthy length of six to seven meters.

Said amphibian merely let a grunt escape his massive mouth and waited for his summoner to seal again the box in his left side Storage Seal. Then, he disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

["Tch, I'm surprised that he didn't ask for food."] Grunted the redhead before putting his newly acquired equipment inside his jacket. "Whatever, let's get out of here before..."

He didn't get to finish the last statement before he sensed three nearby presences slither in fast towards him. He didn't even felt the need to activate the Kagura Shingan to identify what they were and neither he wasted time waiting for them to appear.

Naruto jumped and crawled through the tree where he had landed equally channeling chakra through his feet and hands and jumped again showing off his acrobatic skills. Furious hisses could be heard below him as the summoned snakes trued to follow him but were eventually left behind when the redhead disappeared between the branches.

Just when they had thought that the trial was lost, a smoke bomb landed near them and exploded. But this time it wasn't ordinary smoke. The smell of pepper occupied the clearing along the cries from the enraged snakes.

Naruto, who was practically immune to the smell having been exposed to more toxic substances, looked amused from the branch where he was resting.

"Well? Look at that. There is a reason why none should upset a salamander, we can produce very nasty things when we are annoyed." Stated Naruto with a mock-grim expression, he had learned the hard way when he had first ventured to the Salamander Realm. Then, his expression changed onto a curious one.

"Hmm, wonder how are the other two doing? Should I check on them? Nah! Don't know about Creepy-san, but Yakumo-chan can take care of herself." Then he muttered. "There is a reason why even Jiji and Sekigan-sama told me to watch my distance from her after all."

xXx

(With Yakumo.)

Being born with a weak body, Yakumo was considered helpless the most part of her childhood. She wasn't spoiled, her uncle had made sure that she didn't grow up pampered. Since her parents had died at a young age, she hardly had another figure in her life.

Born with a weak body, but a strong spirit. That was what meant the Bloodline that her clan carried since the forgotten times, the same one that she carried after almost fifty years. Her uncle and [That woman] had explained to her.

The Kekkei Genkai of the Kurama consisted of an ungodly amount of Inton Chakura (Yin Release Chakra) naturally produced by the user. Yin Release, the elemental affinity that reigned over imagination, Genjutsu was a product from said Release.

According to her uncle and some branch members, she had the potential of becoming an unrivaled Genjutsu mistress.

Such a concentrated amount of spiritual energy didn't come free at all. According to [That woman], Yōton Chakura (Yang Release Chakra) was dwarfed by it's contrapart to the point of being almost non-existant.

Since Chakra was the result from mixed Spiritual and Physical energy, it was logical that her body had too protruded problems on the physical side. If not for the fact that she had to endure several physical exercises that slightly managed to rise her scarce Yang reserves, she would be in a more terrible state.

And on top of that. Her bloodline was more a curse than a gift. Especially when she experimented on first hand just how much power it had.

Apparently, a concentrated amount of her Yin Chakra, being used in Genjutsu had the power to 'disturb' at an extreme level the chakra network of a target, fooling even the brain to convince it that the pain was real. The poor branch member had experienced a real burn when he volunteered himself.

[The woman] hadn't helped. She had tried to seal off her chakra, but she ended up bound to a tree, product of the tool she had found to channelize her apparent 'out of control' power. The very same Hokage had interfered and after some months, she had been sent to the Academy in a subprogram along with other unknown exceptions.

She had been warned that her Kekkei Genkai was dangerous, but no for the reasons she believed. Apparently, the excess of Inton in her system ended up backfiring against the user and strengthened the negative aspects of the mind until a certain point in which it ended up taking awareness by itself.

It was said that some people had demons in their heads, poisoning their thoughts and corrupting their sanities. However, she literally had one.

She almost felt resigned to spend the next four years as a loner, almost. Fortunately, she had been told by the Hokage that she wasn't alone and that she could try to befriend some of her new classmates.

But it seemed that fate had a knack for creating amusing situations. She actually ended up befriending someone, just not who both her caretakers nor the instructors expected.

Naruto Uzumaki. First Uzumaki-san, then Naruto-san and after three years, Naruto-kun was an odd kid, a statement agreed by 99% percent of Konoha's population when asked about their resident prank master. To be fair, she didn't get along at first with the red-haired feral boy who seemed to amuse himself creating pranks and reading without any care of the world.

However, she ended up noticing that he was interesting. And not only that were also similar to her. Cheerful and somewhat caring where his most notable traits, or at least the ones she apparently was the only one that could see them. She didn't count the shy Hyūga heiress because the girl had barely [Never] talked to him and frankly, she seemed afraid of her own shadow.

But anyway. How did she end up being friends with the redhead? Months of seating together and some talkings could do wonders, although her uncle had not been particularly pleased with her choice of a friend. In fact, it was well-known among the Kurama household that the Head of the branch Oxygen and the red-haired boy hated each other with a passion.

Now, four years later. Yakumo had seen that her efforts had borne fruit. She had managed to graduate, although not at the top of her class (That honor was reserved to Sakura Haruno.) but closely, managing to surpass the likes of Ino Yamanaka and Hinata Hyūga. She had also been put on a team with her best friend and an unknown but apparently friendly person (If you didn't take into account the creepy smile.). Their new instructor was a young woman that dressed in a suggestive way and looked ready to kill someone, and also had the particular ability of summoning Snakes of all things!

She cursed her still contra part stamina as she ran through the vegetation, but occasionally hearing the hisses at her back did some wonders, because it made her speed up her pace. Yakumo was smart, perhaps not booksmart like other hopeful kunoichi but a keen thinker. She knew that running away would not work forever. She needed to hide and plan an strategy. But first, a distraction was required.

How lucky, her specialty was basically revolved around that.

"Bunshin no Jutsu (Clone Technique)" Muttered Yakumo after finishing the required hand seals. Almost instantly, three perfect copies of her appeared in front with three puff of smoke. Then, she sent them towards the snake. She doubted that her illusory copies would completely fool the reptiles but it was worth a try, and that wasn't counting the fact that now she had enough time to create a counter.

Making another chain of hand seals, Yakumo felt how her 'inner' channel began to leak her especial chakra outside her body and intensified when she finished the hand seals.

"Magen: Kokoni Arazu no Jutsu (Demonic Illusion: False Surrounding Technique)" She called. Using her manipulation of the Yin Release, she changed the exterior of the clearing where she was located. Through a couple of more hand seals, she added a second layer to the illusion making herself almost undetectable. Hell, unless the snakes were particularly gifted with Genjutsu, they didn't have a chance in hell of finding her now.

Yakumo allowed a smile to grace her lips while extracting from her backpack her favorite tools: A painting brush and a canvas. Since her last reunion with [That woman], she had some help from her family developing a quite peculiar way of wielding Genjutsu: Painting.

As long as the target was at her range. He or she was vulnerable to her potent illusions which were controlled through the painting. According to her uncle, she would eventually learn how to use her power without needing the painting way, but for now, she was comfortable enough.

After some minutes, in which Yakumo saw how the three large snakes that had chased her earlier where busy trying to found her. Though luck that their sight and smell senses where practically useless as long they where trapped inside her illusion.

Yakumo wondered if that was how the Nidaime Mizukage, one of her idols felt when he released his wide-scale illusions over the battlefield. She had read in the Kurama's library how even the Uchiha and Kurama Clan heads of that time had struggled to combat the Genjutsu prowess of the Second Water Shadow, who practically sent them back to school.

However, the brown-eyed girl was more than aware that she needed to expand her skills. Her Genjutsu potential would only take her so far, she needed more, were and effective skills to back up her Illusions. She hoped that with her best friend and now teammate through could help her to that path.

But first, the test had to be passed.

Yakumo smiled at the painting she had created in some minutes, it depicted an identical clearing, however, the snakes on it were bound by some vines, and thinking about it, she did a single seal using one hand.

"Magen: Tsurubaku no Jutsu (Demonic Illusion: Vine Bondage Technique)" She muttered. Almost instantly, the snakes in the clearing saw how a group of vines emerged from the nearby bushes and began to bind them to the floor. Their hisses where more audible now as they tried to escape their vegetal prison.

Too bad for them that their prey had already escaped by the time they realized it was an illusion and could dispell themselves.

Meanwhile, Yakumo continued running through the forest before stopping at another clearing, this one with a few ponds around as well as what looked like a half-sunk rotten trunk with an equally rotten miasma coming from it.

'That smells worse than Naruto-kun's rotten pepper bombs' She though before grabbing a nearby stick to test the waters of that puddle. It wasn't that deep, so it wasn't probably inhabited by any large animals and...

Some meters ahead of her, a ripple of water emerged from the puddle only to reveal a medium-sized boar that looked troubled, the animal struggled on the water to continue floating while something was dragging him again to the bottom. The boar emerged again with a cry and desperately tried to swim towards the shore. Then, Yakumo noticed what creature dragging him.

More like creatures. They were at least twenty different flat-shaped things swimming in the water, their pale brown bodies looked covered with slime and mirth and only when Yakumo noticed their tiny mouths armed with diminutive teeth, she realized what they were.

Leeches. The pond was probably their den, that explained the rotten vegetation floating in the water as well as the log. The brown-eyed girl could only watch in morbid fascination how the boar was swarmed by the leeches as they began to suck him dry at the point that the animal's body began to sunk in the pond.

'That could be a great Genjutsu' She thought imagining the possibilities. An illusion where the victim was swarmed in a similar way and had the sensation of his or her chakra being sucked. Hell, was it even possible that she could really learn how to absorb chakra through her illusions? She knew that some Ninjutsu were able to do it.

She was so distracted by her thoughts that she didn't realize that some of the leeches had apparently taken an interest in the unknown presence that was close to their den. Yakumo felt something slimy over her leg and let a shriek escape her mouth before she removed through an slap one of the brown worms that had managed to climb to her leg.

Yakumo cursed before taking a kunai from her pouch, the feeling of solid metal made her feel secure against other treats, although she preferred her brush.

She saw how many other leeches began to emerge from the pond, all crawling towards her with clear intentions. She grabbed the kunai more tightly as she thought of what to do.

'Calm down Yakumo, they are only leeches, it's not like they can poss a treat' She thought before creating a Bunshin to see how did they react. The illusionary copies approached and were immediately swarmed by the leeches who where attracted to it like moths to a flame. 'Yes! They bought it' Yakumo smiled.

However, her smile disappeared when she saw how her copy dissipated and her eyes narrowed when she saw how some of the leeches seemed a bit bigger and also, how a bluish glow surrounded their mouths.

Yakumo's eye twitched at the sight. It was pretty obvious what had happened.

'Chakra-sucking Leeches...How charming, what kind of monsters did they put in this forest?' She thought while breathing to calm herself. 'Ok, calm down, it could be worse...'

The sound of more water splashes behind her provoked Yakumo to look behind. Several other leeches were emerging from their respective ponds and some of them were even larger than others. The brown-eyed girl could swear that the biggest one had more than 2'10 of length as well as a more wide mouth with a sharp circle of fangs covered by mirth.

It was ironic actually, she had imagined a Genjutsu of leeches that could suck chakra off the target and now she was being targetted by the reality.

'I had to open my mouth, isn't it?' Thought the Kurama heiress while looking the incoming swarm of chakra-sucking annelids.

xXx

(With Sai.)

Logically unknown to almost every external source (With the notable exceptions of the best Spymasters of the Elemental Nations), the Foundation was well-organized into several divisions and ranks, a feature that wasn't adopted from the original ANBU corps.

Ranks that held the same names than Shōgi Pieces. Why? Because it fitted the best. All shinobi forces where no more than pieces on a table, but at least in Root it was completely clear.

The director, being Danzō-sama the closest person to held the King rank on the one who led the other. Followed closely by the two Generals: The Gold and Silver, Haise Sasaki and Tatsuma Aburame or the ones who managed the rest. Then, the Bishops were next two ranks that were currently missing and protected the King. Then, the two Rooks, which were the leaders of their own camps and only took orders directly from the King as well was another series of non-combat related activities.

Both Rooks and Bishops had first-hand rank: The Promoted One, in which the shinobi held more importance on the hierarchy.

Uzumaki-senpai reached the Promoted Rook status for his prowess in the Sealing Arts.

After the Rooks came the Knights, which were the most focused on combat. And finally, the bulk of Root's forces: The Pawns.

Those where the well-known conditioned drones. More weapons than men and women, they only lived to perform the mission. All Root members were expendable at the end, just like regular shinobi tools.

But there was different between a kunai and a sword, which was the same with pawns and those above the hierarchy. It wasn't just a matter of skills because several pawns had fighting prowess that rivaled the one of the experienced Jõnin. It was more of worth as an individual.

non-existent was a Pawn before being released by his master to keep an eye on some persons of interest and eventually become a Sleeper in the Regular Forces. For some reason, he expected to be in the Uchiha's team knowing the interest that his master had shown towards all related to that Clan but he wasn't THAT surprised when he ended up with the former Promoted Rook.

Most Root members knew that the last Uzumaki had been personally picked by Danzō-sama at a young age taking advantage of the tumult that had maintained the Sandaime's gaze out of the reach of the Jinchūriki.

Who knew that the former Golden General and now S-ranked Missing-Nin would go as far as to break a secret of that magnitude and unknown benefit the Foundation?

But now, that wasn't important. He needed to complete this pseudo-mission in order to become a Genin, although he knew that something was off about the picture.

Anyway, he had already 'dealt' with the two snakes that had pursued him. There was a reason after all why he was considered an exceptional pawn in assassination after all. His Chōju Giga (Super Beast Imitation Picture) was a very versatile technique, only limited by the quantity of paper and ink that he could carry.

Some Ink Serpents had been more than enough to subdue the summons and swift slashes with his tantõ had finished the job. Now he was more focused on finding the white scrolls.

He had found three after many minutes of searching, in which he had to deal with some of the Forest's inhabitants.

Said dodged another vine-whip and quickly draw a pair of Ink Lions in his notebook. "Chōjuu Giga (Super Beast Imitation Picture)!" He called before animating the ink creatures that attacked the aggressive plant that seemed to guard the clearing.

Said vegetal ended up subdued after he used a Kawarimi to appear at its side and stabbed the 'Flower' bisecting the body in the process. Almost instantly, the vines dropped dead and Sai was able to collect the fourth scroll which was resting right in the flower.

'Four to go' Though the Root operative before disappearing in a Sumi Shunshin (Ink Body Flicker) and reappearing in another clearing.

Sai scanned his surroundings looking for another scroll when he felt something crack under his feet. He looked below only to see some fallen branches, some pale and ancient branches. Then he realized, those weren't branches, they were bones.

Some noises from the bushes behind him and something rushing with the intent of killing where his only warns before he replaced himself with a nearby log and entered the stance of the Ansatsu no Jutsu (Assassination Technique).

His attacker was a medium-sized feline with orange fur and black lines on it. The predator was now glaring at him before roaring and rushing once again towards the pale soon-to-be-genin.

were

Sai wielded again his tanto completely aware of the other presences on the bushes. 'Odd,' he thought, if he had the emotional knowledge, he would have probably narrowed his eyes at that fact. 'Tigers are usually lone predators, but nothing in this forest seems completely natural, I wonder if the former Golden General had something do to with this place.'

Two other tigers emerged from the bushes and surrounded him waiting for an opening to strike. Sai didn't hesitate on quickly creating two Sumi Bunshin (Ink Clones) to assist him to deal with the newcomers

Sai rushed forwards releasing his blade in a horizontal slash that inflicted a deep wound on the first one and took advantage of the hesitation to deliver another slash that ended up cutting the jugular. The predator dropped dead like his other two brothers.

Sai dispelled his copies and found another scroll hidden in a tree trunk. Now he had five of them.

However, more footsteps began to calmly at his back, and when he turned around, three more tigers were emerging from the bushes, and all of them were focusing their KI in one target.

Him.

If he had known how to, he could have sighed before unsheathing his blade and preparing to summon another Ink Creation.

xXx

(With Anko)

"How boring, " Commented the purple-haired jounin while eating another of her dango sticks. At her side was a crystal orb that looked completely normal. "Shame that I didn't have time to memorize their chakra signatures, that way I could see just how are the brats holding up." Anko finished before a puff of smoke appeared and revealed a small brown-scaled viper.

"Anko-ssama," hissed the summon, "Three of the mudjawsss are dead and another two are paralyzed. The three Ningen (Humans) have evaded them for now, do you wish for my kin to continue?"

"Nah, is fine" Nonchalantly replied Anko with a hand gesture, "Just observe them and report their location to me. I've my suspicions that one of them is a sensor."

The snake nodded before disappearing by the same way it had appeared leaving their summoner alone in the clearing. Completely alone.

Anko turned her head several times to check that she was completely alone and extracted a familiar orange book from her trench coat and began to giggle perversely when she read the marked part.

'Ooh Mihō-chan, you're so naughty~'

xXx

(With Naruto)

To say that Naruto was excited was an understatement. The redhead hadn't stopped to scan his surroundings since he had left the clearing with the smoke bombs. The results of his own training had made sure that he kept his emotions in check, but that hardly meant that he wasn't allowed to mentally laugh at the sight of the snakes angrily coughing.

'Cunning and sneaky summons my ass' Thought the redhead still amused since the encounter. He had collected two more of the famed white scrolls and was on his way of finding the fourth one. He had 'distracted' himself along the way when he ended up finding more than dangerous inhabitants.

A large, swamp-like clearing connected through a river and multiple small streams extended in front of him. He sniffed the humid air before directing his gaze towards the rotten vegetation in the muddy water.

'Smells too much like 'home' Thought Naruto remembering the essence of the Salamander Realm as well was the ponds behind the Mask Shrine where he had his not-so-secret [For Root] 'hideout'. He always had found comfortable when he was close to a water source, it made him feel more secure, and coming from someone that was quite familiar with that element was logical.

Holding his hand in a Ram seal, he activated his Kagura Shingan and scanned the water surface. Just like he though, several low-level chakra signatures where present on the water, and strangely, all of them seemed to be moving towards the place where the rotten vegetation and trunks were present.

'Huh?', Naruto tilted his head a little before approaching the water surface, 'They must have detected a nearby predator or perhaps a source of food' He reasoned while searching for another nearby signature.

'Their signatures are too low for being fishes, so their predator cannot be a crocodile or another big fish and I can't detect anything else though' Continued the redhead while narrowing his eyes before focusing more chakra in his closest technique.

His sensor inner world expanded allowing him to detect even more than his usual range. His piercing blue cerulean eyes detected a large concentration of blue dots that seemed to crawl over a more larger signature.

'They are attacking it?' Questioned Naruto before channelizing chakra through his feet, which allowed him to walk over the water surface and began to rush forward still maintaining the Kagura Shingan active which forced him to struggle with his control before dropping it completely. Naruto managed to jump airborne and attach himself to a nearby trunk, where he got a full view of the scene.

A large deer was struggling to free itself from the raging swarm that was covering large parts of its fur. Brown and muddy-colored plain worms that attached themselves through their mouths at the deer's body sucking it dry.

'Leeches' Thought Naruto not bothering to hide his disgust, he had issues with those creatures since a certain mission that he had taken in the past. Needless to say, he never saw the blood-sucking worms in the same way after that. Naruto activated once again his Mind's Eye only to discover something disturbing.

The chakra signature of the deer was decreasing while one of the leeches was increasing, and when he saw how the bluish glow that signaled the presence of chakra was sucked by the low ones from the leeches were he realized what they truly were.

'Oh great' He facepalmed 'As if those worms weren't troublesome enough, now the also suck chakra, just great!' He sarcastically though while looking to another side. Even though having a pair or two of those creatures could also be interesting, he could probably use them to improve the already shitty Hiruko Kyūin (Leech Child Absorption Seal) that he was capable of making on his own.

However, when he detected a quite familiar signature several meters ahead and almost surrounded by the chakra-sucking blue dots of doom his eyes widened. However, when he detected a layer of chakra surrounding that particular area he relaxed.

'Damm Yakumo-chan, I almost though that you were going to end like the deer over here' Though the redhead before hoping over the next branches. He was quite thrilled to see how his best friend had managed to keep the leeches at bay although he had already guessed the answer. Being proud of his Fuuinjutsu progress, Naruto had also a healthy dose of respect towards those dedicated or with a great talent in a shinobi field, and Yakumo was among those persons.

The redhead continued to move between the trees keeping Kagura Shingan active, which allowed him to detect the chakra mantle that covered the area. 'Genjutsu' Naruto thought as he let the external flow of chakra enter his system allowing him to fall into the illusion.

Naruto whistled when he saw what the leeches were perceiving. Apparently, the worms did not have enough reasoning ability to be able to distort their chakra systems and thus, they were trapped in Genjutsu. The leeches were sensing being on top of a hot iron plate and judging by their reactions, they seemed to be experiencing it very well.

Naruto only dispersed the illusion out of his system before observing through Kagura's Mental Eye the location of Yakumo. He didn't take long to find the Kurama heiress on a small rock while continuing to cast the Genjutsu. Without wasting any time, he used a seal-less Kawarimi to quickly to substitute with occasionally branch a few meters of distance.

He walked quietly to her side as his other hand formed a faded seal that slowly began to suppress his chakra signature. Once he got to Yakumo's side, he lightly touched her shoulder.

"Boo."

Yakumo screamed as she jumped and looked at him annoyed. "Idiot, don't do that ... Naruto-kun, what are you doing here?"

The redhead just grinned as usual.

"Mah, mah, I thought you had missed me." He said feigning mock hurt before noticing his friend's glare and composing himself. "I was just passing over here and decided to check if you were okay, after all, we are supposed to have a team and your uncle would have more reasons to hate my guts if he knew that I left you alone to fend against an army of chakra -sucking leeches." He said while looking at said group.

"I see, but I also had it under control," Yakumo replied, pointing to the bloodsuckers still trapped inside the illusion she had conjured. "And how exactly were you going to help me with this, were you going to seal away all the leeches into a scroll or what?"

Naruto just grinned again before doing some hand seals. "Oh please, don't be silly, Kami knows that I rarely rely too much on a single aspect of my skills." Said the redhead finishing the hand seals, "Fūton: Kūdan (Wind Release: Air Bullets)"

Naruto opened his mouth and spit out several air bubbles that flew towards the swarm. The air projectiles tore through the leeches bodies killing many of them almost instantly. Naruto prepared again the hand seals and shot another barrage that ended up killing much more leeches whose book smart bodies could barely contain the pressure of the air projectiles. The poor leeches did not stand a chance.

Yakumo felt his jaw drop a little to see the damage done by the Wind Jutsu.

"... Since when are you able to use Elemental Ninjutsu? That's chūnin-level material at least!" Exclaimed the brown-haired heiress a bit were. She knew that her best friend was skilled, bu she didn't think that he was THAT skilled. He truly was way more than just what he wanted everyone to believe he was, which was a little unsettling, especially considering what he could achieve by simply proposing it and with genuine commitment.

Naruto turned around, still smiling. "It will be better if this remains between us for the moment, it could be useful in case Dango-sensei tries to measure us in another way." He said sporting the toothy version of his fox-like grin.

Yakumo gulped before nodding. The way he said about 'different way' was not helping with the doubts that were beginning to invade her mind.

"What do you mean differently?" He asked finally breaking his nerves.

"Think about it," replied the redhead before firing another wave of air bullets at some survivors. "Our Jounin-sensei asks us to collect ten scrolls as a requirement to pass the test even though there are only twenty in existence and we are three."

Yakumo nodded but still did not grasp where her best friend was heading.

Naruto tsked his mouth in disapproval and together both hands. "All the teams have always been four-member: Three Genin and one Jounin with no exception so far." He paused a few seconds before continuing as he knit his fingers in a manner somewhat similar to a certain Hyūga heiress.

It was there when Yakumo caught what the redhead was trying to say.

"Iruka-sensei kept saying that Konoha appreciates teamwork over almost everything, so the answer to the scroll dilemma is that, teamwork." She beamed at her friend while he just calmy nodded.

"Precisely, so we should also look for some fissure in the Crazy Snake Lady's instructions." Pointed out Naruto before parting his hands and uniting them again in a silent slap.

"But I have another question," added Yakumo who seemed to be convinced by the words of earlier, "How did you come to that conclusion?" She asked a bit curious.

"I would like to say that I figured it all out in a complicated system of analysis taken but it would not be true," Naruto replied before scratching behind his neck, "I just found this." He said, pulling out of his jacket and showing what appeared to be one of the scrolls except that it seemed to be dissipating, causing Yakumo to squint before realizing what it was.

"Genjutsu," Replied the Kurama after a few seconds, "Only taking care of giving it the form of a certain inanimate object for were time." Not the most original but effective illusion and Yakumo could respect that.

Naruto nodded. "Precisely, I found two of those, so I don't think it's a simple coincidence." Pointed out the redhead. "That's why I think the intention of collecting them has to be as a team, if there are more than five hoaxes, the rest can be divided into three equal parts."

"I see, then we must work as a team, we can start by reviewing this area." Suggested Yakumo before getting off the rock and extending his hand to take the one of the redhead who only just raised an eyebrow.

"I'm surprised you took it so well. How do you know it's not one of my pranks in order to appropriate your scrolls so I can pass the test?" Naruto stopped when he saw Yakumo turn around with a defensive posture and added. "I'm kidding."

"AHA." He nodded at the Kurama before continuing until he heard a sneeze from Naruto who still continued with his usual mocking stance.

"Are you thinking about walking all that way? Imagine the things that could go around here were and I'm not just talking about leeches [Lie, I killed the alpha predator of the Zone earlier.]" Asked Naruto toying with a kunai that he probably extracted from his pouch.

"Of course, how else are we going to-?" She was about to answer when he saw how Naruto had finished a few seals and stamped his hand on the floor. "Kuchiyose no Jutsu (Summoning Technique)!"

A huge Japanese salamander appeared in a cloud of smoke with Naruto standing over close to the head. For the second time in the day, Yakumo's jaw dropped a little.

"So," said Naruto before sitting on the amphibian's head. "Do you want to go for a ride?"

THUMP

Naruto sweatdropped after seeing the fallen figure of his friend. 'Oh...She fainted.' He thought before feeling how the head of the Giant Pepper-Class Salamander slightly lifted. ["Hey! Don't look me like that, in my defense, I didn't expect her to faint."] Said the redhead ignoring the rolled eyes of the salamander.

["Do thou want me to shallow her?"]

["Of course not stupid, just crouch a bit so I can take her on board."] Smacked Naruto while jumping over his summon to help his fallen friend.

'Hmm, I wonder how is Sai! we will pick him after this. He can take care of himself.'

xXx

(Location: Not so far.)

Sai sneezed as he tried to avoid another courtesy tug from a tiger that had come too close. Nearby, his copies of ink and creations were occupied being cut in the middle or finishing with the other attackers. He rolled over the ground before deflecting another of the claws and lashing with a blade that cut deep into the animal fur. The feline stepped back in a rush of pain but his voice was silenced when the blade of one of the clones caught him from behind.

Sai drew a pair of snakes that slithered toward the attackers, immobilizing the remaining felines, who tried to resist uselessly before their lives were mown by the swords of the clones of ink.

The Foundation's agent did not blink at the deaths and merely wiped the sweat from his forehead before it made his vision difficult.

It had not been so difficult to deal with predators. This was no more skillful than a couple of Academy students, of whom Sai was sure that he could annihilate with complete safety. But they were not in Kirigakure, so that action would have no relevance.

Silently, he set out to take another of the white scrolls he had located near one of the bushes. However, a few shrieks and creaks behind the trees put him on guard again. Whatever it was, they were not tigers.

The crunches again appeared until there was a movement among the larger shrubs. It was clear that there was something out there very large and that it was watching him. Sai added the data to learn how to use someone else's chakra sensory techniques for future uses, it was a skill that could serve him later to make his orders much more efficiently

The creaking continued for a few seconds before a pale object shot out of the branches in its direction.

The first impulse was to dodge, which allowed him to see that the thing was nothing more than a viscous substance that had stuck almost instantly where it had fallen, which meant that the identity of what was hidden was ...

Branches crunched when powerful pedipalps pushed them and revealed the immense bulk of a gigantic spider whose six ruby eyes were fixed on Root's pale limb.

A gigantic spider and apparently with some intelligence.

If he had had the emotional intelligence required, Sai's eye would have twitched at the sight. It looked like he would need to use a Tactical Retreat. I.e. running away for his life.

'Perhaps it would have been more logical to team up with Uzumaki-sempai. If there is anyone who is able to walk the lines of a Heavy Hitter and an Assassination Specter is him.'

xXx

"ACHOO!"

Naruto sneezed before he could cover his mouth which caused a few drops of his saliva to end up in the mouth of the giant salamander that did not seem to matter the action, of course, when you swim most of the time in a series Of springs covered with mud and rotten vegetation a piece of saliva is nothing, or at least that thought Naruto always.

The redhead pinned the tip of his nose before taking a breath. "Huh? Someone was talking about me, I wonder who and why?" He wondered before he heard a groan behind him.

He turned around to see how Yakumo tried to sit up on the scaly back of the salamander on which both were above. The brunette looked like someone who wanted to murder somebody, which was understandable since she had apparently discovered two shocking secrets from her best friend, but hey! It's not like he hadn't told her that.

"Oh, you're awake at last." Commented the redhead trying to break the ice and failing miserably on it.

"At last?" Growled Yakumo before approaching. "When you are going to tell me that you are this advanced ?! I thought you trusted me!"

Naruto just waited until his friend finished her rant and poked her head.

"I do trust you, Yakumo-chan, it's just that I like to keep some things wrapped so that people can appreciate them better." Explained Naruto which was partly true, he didn't like to show off THAT often, he preferred to only reveal the tip of the iceberg.

"And besides, it's not like you've never kept something to yourself, don't forget that I can know when someone is lying." Pointed out Naruto with a reassuring smile. The smile that disappeared when the salamander stopped and lifted its head. Yakumo heard how a rough grunt like- sentence escaped through the amphibian's mouth only to be answered by another one by Naruto who narrowed his eyes before continuing to talk in the strange tongue.

Naruto replied, "Dokuzetsū (Poisonous Tongue), is the language of the salamanders, some speak ours, but the oldest and largest do not."

Yakumo nodded, not really understanding much. "'And how did you learn it?'

Naruto shrugged. "My memory helped a little, but it was a couple of salamanders who helped me. It was a pain in the ass."

Another grunting by the amphibian used as a mount was heard, which led the redhead to make a growl that probably did not need translation so that one could understand what was said.

"[For Ibuse's fucking tongue. What the hell do you want now Daizetsū?"] Growled Naruto. Salamanders weren't nice animals nor summons. They where hungry predators that bordered in traitorous. Naruto knew that if he dropped his guard too much, they could turn against him so it was of great importance to maintain an image of impotence.

"[Don't you sense it, you whiskered monkey? There is prey nearby]" Growled Daizetsū sticking his tongue out of the mouth while the pores of his head detected a nearby presence.

"[I can only sense stuff when my Mind's Eye is three meters you Overgrow-]" Naruto stopped his rant when Yakumo poked his arm in the same manner as he had done to her before.

"Naruto-kun, please stop swearing or yelling. I think there is something else here." Said Yakumo while pointing towards a nearby group of bushes whose branches were violently twitching.

Naruto noticed what both Daizetsū and Yakumo indicated and concentrated on detecting the area chakra spike and what he found made his eyebrows arch a little.

'Oh shit!'

The silhouette of Sai running through the other side of the six meters while being pursued by the largest spider they had seen in their entire life and whose monstrous dimensions caused Naruto to wonder if he had actually killed the area's predator because at least the fucking centipede had not been that big.

Before Yakumo could do anything to stop him, the redhead had already jumped out of the salamander and ran towards his future teammate. Sai continued to run before jumped into the air and landed near the mount.

The spider emitted a kind of crunching from his jaws as he watched as Naruto approached but failed to notice the series of seals that Naruto was running with one hand.

"Fūton: Daitoppa (Wind Release: Great Breakthrough)" said Naruto before a compressed gale of the wind formed around him and was expelled towards the spider. The giant arachnid was knocked back some meters behind and cried of pain feeling how the wind attack damaged it's body.

Still rushing forward, Naruto unsealed Guren and swung it in a horizontal slash. "Uzumaki-Ryū: Shōja no Jutsu (Whirpool-Style: Serpent's Thrust Technique)" The chakra extension-like serpent slithered through the air before brutally biting the spider's frontal legs. The redhead jumped taking impulse from the chakra extension and did another one-handed seal while airborne.

"Kōngo Fūsa (Adamantine Sealing Chains)" He said before four shining chains emerged from his back and impaled the arachnid's back who could only cry of pain as the four sharp kunai-like tips of the chains pierced its exoskeleton.

"I didn't though that his chains were able to to do that."Commented Yakumo still above Daizetsū who apparently was looking for something akin to hunger the spider. Sai, who was standing next to the giant amphibian shrugged.

'So those are Uzumaki-senpai notorious Chakra Chains' Thought the black-haired member of the Foundation. 'Such versatile tools, able to maim and bind opponents almost instantly. Not even Fū and Torune-san were able to evade them during their duel.'

Meanwhile, Naruto had raised Guren still enveloped with the blue layer that signaled the chakra influence in the blade and descended forward piercing instantly the head of the monstrous spider whose screeching turned off as well as the light on its six eyes.

Naruto swung Guren cleaning it off the filter and sealed it beneath his jacket as his adamantine chains retracted to his back. "Man, this forest it's getting so fun." commented the redhead to cheerfully as if he hadn't just slain a giant spider of all things!

Yakumo's eye was practically twitching at that while a dark aura began to appear around her body releasing raw waves of KI.

"You think?" She sarcastically asked while Sai just smiled again.

xXx

(Twenty Minutes Later.)

Sai had already narrated his side of the story and the pursue as well bt the time the trio was finishing to cross the nearby water source mounted on Daizetsū. Naruto was at the front on top of the salamander's head with Kagura Shingan active in order to scan the surroundings. Even if the already encountered predators where chakra-sucking leeches, killer-intent using tigers and a giant spider it never hurt to be more cautious, or at least that was what Naruto said when quoting the other shinobi who was worldwide known for using the same summons than him.

Yakumo patted the salamander's back when the giant amphibian finally reached the shore. Daizetsū seemed o appreciate the gesture and attempted to lick the brown-haired girl's face if not for Naruto's interference, who merely ordered the summon to hide underground and wait for future instructions wich Daizetsū did, after all, the summoner had given him the remains of the dead spider for lunch.

"Trust me, you really don't want to be licked by one of those guys," said Naruto noticing his best friend's glare at him. "Saliva would be the least of your worries. [The poison would paralyze you, and kill you, slowly.]"

That seemed to relax the Kurama heiress a little who just flinched at the idea. "So, how are we going to do this?"

Naruto looked at Sai, who just nodded. Then, both boys showed their respective collected scrolls. The five of Naruto and the six of Sai, Yakumo added her five ones.

"Ten scrolls each one and there is only twenty of them. However, five were fake ones while only fifteen remain as genuine." Pointed out Naruto looking at the scroll pill. "I assume that it was on purpose to make us fight between us, which actually, pretty much backfired since we were busy enough saving our own hides from being eaten."Deadpanned the redhead which provoked a few nods of approvement from the other two.

"However, she also told us that we had to follow completely her instructions." Added Yakumo thoughtfully, or was the last statement just another trick fro them? It was difficult to guess, especially when the purple haired jōnin acted so unpredictable.

"I think that she planned that since the beginning. " Said Sai looking at the pile without blinking. "However, I believe that the scrolls serve to another purpose."

Naruto squinted his eyes in a fox-like manner before grabbing one of the scrolls and inspecting it. Nothing special for other people, a simple paper scroll with a kanji for Gen (Black) engraved in the center. However to him, being a sensor and an Uzumaki, the sole touch of the paper revealed to him the presence of inactive sealing arrays that connected with the central character.

'I don't recognize the sealing pattern' Thought the redhead while activating Kagura Shingan to inspect better the seal. He narrowed his eyes seeing the deactivated matrix which was something rare, even for him.

"What do you think, Naruto-san?" asked Sai. Naruto inwardly flinched at the use of his name in that way but recovered. He grabbed another two scrolls and discovered the same pattern. He looked at the pile and the bluish glow was the only response he met. 'I should have known, it's a Sanjū Senkei no Kasen-Ka (Triple-Lineal Activation)'

"It's a puzzle." Answered the redhead tilting his head a little. "Each one of the scrolls has the same character engraved on them, some with Byaku while others with Gen, we need to put them in the correct order so the seal can be activated."

Yakumo nodded. "Okay, let's do it." She said trying to accommodate the scrolls only to be stopped by Naruto once again.

Feeling the interrogative stare, the redhead sighed again before throwing a glance at Sai who just nodded in return.

"Kurama-san, don't you recall that Mitarashi-sensei said that she would know when the scrolls were gathered?" Offered the pale by giving another fo his fake smiles, which the girl would found unnerving if not for the fact that she had been subjected to the Jigoku Kitsune no Shizen (Gaze of the Infernal Fox) for some years.

Naruto nodded. "It's a Substitution Item." he looked at the other two who waited for him to elaborate and sighed again. Kami, there were times when he just missed Tsukino. "They are complex formulae that are written in a scroll when activated, they can summon an object or even a person as long at it is at a range and has an active chakra signature. They are said to be rare to create and use."

It was a pure truth. During his times working as the Promoted Rook of the Foundation, he had been put in a charge of several Fuuinjutsu-related projects by Danzo. The modified Zekka Konzetsu no In (Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal) was one of then along the creation of several inactive wards of defensive seals i.e, barriers. He had also been tasked with the creation of a couple of Substitution Items, which had been completed after some months of work, a testament to the skills that the redhead had on the Sealing Arts.

"So," continued Yakum. "That means that when the puzzle is completed, Anko-san will appear here?"

Seeing the two equal nods provoked a groan from the brunette. What were they supposed to do now?

"Well, that means that we have to prepare a good welcome for her."

Said the redhead smiling as he began to place some of the scrolls in order but omitting those from the center.

"What are you doing?" Yakumo asked. Sai looked equally intrigued even though his mind was already beginning to process the situation well.

"Working as a team ..." Murmured the pale member of the Foundation, "Maybe the real test is that, but just in case, it never hurts to make sure first. "

"Unpreparedness is one's greatest enemy." recited Naruto. "If Crazy Snake Lady doesn't want to pass us for good. She'll have to do it the hard way. Now, Sai, Yakumo-chan, what little surprises should we show our future Jounin-sensei?"

The other two could only shiver when they saw the evil gleam in the blue eyes of the redhead.

xXx

(Ten Minutes Later)

"Agh!" Anko grunted. "These brats are taking so long, is it so difficult to gather the fifteen real pieces ?! I would swear that a group of students could do it faster!"

Then she calmed down a little. "Although, that will give me time to prepare an amazing entry," thought the purple-haired jounin who was now busy thinking about possible poses that she could use.

Then she sank into her gut before a cloud of smoke enveloped her and ended up falling into another clearing.

"Ha, I knew they were going to make it." Declared the Jounin as she placed both hands on her waist and inspected the place. "Meh, it does not seem to be the big thing but ... A Genjutsu like that will not work against someone of my caliber [Especially when your best friend is basically the best Genjutsu user in the village.]" Anko said before doing a single hand seal, "Genjutsu: Kai (Illusion Technique: Release)"

The surroundings seemed to dissipate until it revealed a practically identical clearing with the exception that there were some dry trunks scattered about.

"Aww, how cute, they left me logs for Kawarimi, I wonder what else they left me," Anko commented as he left the rectangle formed by the scrolls that formed the Substitution Item.

However, she soon regretted to do so as soon as she put a foot out, a formula hidden in the ground glowed slightly before a metal sound was revealed followed by a barrage of senbon that almost managed to reach Anko, who saw herself forced to replace with one of the trunks to evade the projectiles.

"What the fuck?" She said only to see how another barrage was approaching, but this time she managed to jump evading them. "Where the hell are they coming from ?!"

The answer was revealed in the form of a pair of Sealing Tags planted on some of the trunks. One of them glowed before releasing another barrage of needles which provoked a curse from the purple-haired jounin who managed to evade them again. 'Of course, the redhead's brat specialty is Fūinjutsu. So that means that the Genjutsu was from Witchy, which leaves...'

She did not have time to finish the thought when a series of ink splinters were swept up to her and ended up pouncing on her figure.

'Ink? Beware of what you ask for Anko ... ' She thought while wielding a kunai and stabbing the nearest ones that dissolve to contact very much for her taste. But while she did, Anko forgot to take care of the senbon that still continued to be fired each time the formula engraved on the floor detected chakra usage.

"Ah, shit" she swore when she felt like three of the needles were nailed to her back. "These children are not normal." She commented before replacing again with another of the trunks. 'I must get out of here, I don't think that the little brats have marked ALL the clearing.'

However, when she stumbled against an invisible wall that sent her to the ground and Anko realized the gray labels placed close by she swore a curse. 'A barrier? A BARRIER? What the fuck are they teaching kids today ?! ' She mentally cried before noticing something else. The air felt heavy as well as the atmosphere, so her eyes widened when she understood it.

'A double-layered Genjutsu?' Man, these kids are not pushovers' Anko thought while breaking the second illusion. This time, she appeared a little far from the scrolls in the clearing, but the trunks weren't there anymore, instead, she found her the three genin waiting for her, all three with smug expressions drawn on their faces.

"So, sensei, did we pass already?" Asked Naruto harboring a toothy grin now while both of his hands were inside the pockets of his gray jacket.

'Oh, I'm so going to wipe out that smile from your face, you little fox ..' Thought Anko while her usual expression returned to her face. The Tokubetsu Jounin walked a bit with her hands on her waist.

"Of course not," She took note of any of the visible reactions of the three and concluded that they had already prepared for that, 'Damnit! That would ruin the surprise, 'Thought the purple-haired jounin with a mental frown before shrugging. 'Nah! It's not like they'll be that troublesome to deal.'

"But why?" Yakumo asked. "We worked together as a team to gather the scrolls and bring you here, Anko-sensei?"

"Ah, and that was very good, but guess what? I didn't see shit of that, so I cannot evaluate correctly unless ..." Too late, the purple-haired jounin had already finished the chain of hand seals that she had been preparing discreetly and had already stamped it against the ground, "Kuchiyose no Jutsu (Summoning Technique)!"

Four medium-sized snakes sprouted out of the cloud of smoke and slid toward the three Genin, but before they could get even closer, Naruto did a single seal, "Fūin Fuda Kekkai: Ketsu (Sealing Tag Barrier: Bind)!"

Formulae threads emerged from the soil thus revealing a dozen sealing labels hidden underground. The threads succeeded in enveloping some of the snakes successfully binding them.

"Now!" Commanded Naruto while running a couple of more hand seals, making many more threads emerge from the sealing tags, some trying to reach Anko. As soon as they heard his orders, the other two set out to execute different things. Yakumo started a chain of seals while Sai seemed to be drawing at high speed.

'Tsk, to be a brat out of the Academy, he's good, very good.' Anko thought, evading several threads, 'His knowledge about Seals is disturbing to someone his age, not even him knew so much about the subject.'

Suddenly she saw that instead of threads, there were vines the things that were trying to paralyze her. 'Genjutsu?' She thought before releasing a chakra pulse to dissipate the illusion, only to meet a series of Tomoe Lions made of ink running towards her.

"But what the-?" She could not finish the sentence before she saw how the same vines that she had dissipated now began to wrap underneath her legs and were quickly followed by the same threads of the sealing formulas.

'Not even in dreams would they catch me so easily, the others would never let me live after this!' Anko thought before replacing herself with a dry branch. 'Now, let's see how good they really are at close quarters!'

Making use of her great agility, Anko managed to approach the redhead with great speed and kicked him directly towards his head. Naruto, seeing her come, ducked accidentally not noticing the next blow to the right side that stunned him a little before being received for a kick that only on his best day could have avoided.

'Agh!' The redhead thought, 'She is not a jounin for nothing, her Taijutsu is pretty good ...'

Sai ran a lot faster and tried to kick up from the top as a feint, but Anko was much faster and rolled on the ground avoiding the blow and only extended her hand, "Sen'ei Jashu (Hidden Shadow Snake Hands)! "

Several snakes were ejected from her sleeves and managed to trap the pale boy until his form dissolved revealing an Ink Clone in his place. Anko retreated to the ground before ordering the snakes to paralyze the three, which they were willing to obey before seeing as a blue wave sent two of the specimens flying.

"Uzumaki-Ryū: Kusanagi no Jutsu (Whirpool-Style: Grass-Mowing Technique)!"

Anko turned only to meet the recovered figure of Naruto who did not seem very happy to have been hit so easily, in his hand held a sword of ninjatou type enveloped in a layer of chakra.

'Chakura Nagashi (Chakra Flow)? Just who the hell is this kid ?! '

The redhead took an attack stance as he brandished his sword, releasing an identical chakra wave through the tip of the blade. Anko leaped out of the chakra's edge and kicked at the waving hand, only to retreat at the last moment by means of a Kawarimi when Naruto executed a blockade.

'His Taijutsu could improve' Anko thought as he landed and extracted a kunai from his pouch. 'But that skill with the sword and chakra flow partly compensates it, it was always dangerous to fight against Asuma and his fucking knives after-'

Naruto lashed out again with a wave of stabbing from various angles, stealing the slightest opportunity for the jounin to have a single breath. However, Anko took advantage of the least distraction to be able to use again the same Jutsu that had previously used against Sai.

"Sen'ei Jashu (Hidden Shadow Snake Hands)! "

Several snakes emerged again from his sleeve and pounced on the redhead, who had no qualms about blocking the reptiles with his sword causing them several cuts at the same time before running an inverse bow.

"Do you like the snakes Dango-sensei? Look at mine!, Uzumaki-Ryū: Shōja no Jutsu! (Whirpool-Syle: Serpent's Thrust Technique!)"

Anko's lower jaw hung a little as she saw a spectral serpentine form appear from the tip of the redhead's sword that stretched threateningly, opening her mouth and revealing sharp jaws.

But that did not stop him from reacting in time and avoiding the attack, Anko threw his kunai towards Naruto who diverted it with the shape of the snake like a whip before it dissipated. 'Of course, Chakra Flow techniques require a lot of control' The Jounin thought before using Sen'ei Jashu (Hidden Shadow Snake Hands).

But then she began to feel a great heat and saw her surroundings light up, Anko looked up and watched as a huge burning ball rushed towards her. If it had been a rookie, it would have worked, but Anko had more than just normal experience in the Genjutsu field. She dispelled the illusion only to notice Yakumo some meters at her left with something akin a predatory grin and the purple-haired jounin soon realized the motive.

Numerous serpents and leeches made of ink were around her and seemed ready to wrap her along the sealing threads.

"...But how?" Anko said weakly.

"How many illusions do you think I put in you?" Yakumo asked. "More than five in total."

"We were just the distractions." Adding Sai, who was unharmed, taking into account the fact that he had used Kawarimi numerous times with Ink Clones, was not uncommon.

"It was fun while it lasted." Finished Naruto who looked completely normal if you didn't take into account the slight thorns in his mesh shirt. The redhead came smiling. "Well, I'll repeat the same question from beginning. Have we passed the exam yet? "

Anko smirked and shook her head. "Nope, nope, and nope, I'll see you in the Academy."

Three glares focused on her before the redhead sighed. "Well, I had hoped that we wouldn't reach this part but alas, it seems that today is not the case [Lie, you were waiting for this since the Giant Centipede nearly chewed you]."

Naruto placed his hand on the floor and channeled a pulse of chakra. 'Ninpō Kuchiyose: Ryūkuchi (Ninja Art Summoning: Rising Maw)'

Anko was confused before a huge mouth emerged from the earth and engulfed her completely. Daizetsū emerged from the hole into a normal position and looked at his summoner who just nodded. "[You can let her out now]"

Daizetsū seemed to nod before opening his maw and releasing a slime covered Anko who looked murderous. Yakumo and Sai took a step behind while Naruto was debating whether creating Kage Bunshin and get the hell out of there or let Daizetsū shallow her again. He really was considering the second option.

"Eh, taking into account that you ordered us to play the treasure hunter in a forest full of lethal animals, being swallowed by a giant salamander does not sound so bad." Tried to reason Naruto before feeling a wave of KI towards him.

The screams of the redhead could be heard all around the clearing.

xXx

The walk through the forest was a quiet but tense journey. Anko ignored the glares of Yakumo, Naruto, and Sai. Naruto was able to walk under his own power after a few minutes which brought questions to his teammates' head. Anko could feel the intent of the three and it just made her smile more.

"Well, I got to say that you three surprised me. But taking into consideration that the three of you graduated with high marks in the practical fields, it wasn't that far-fetched to think that you would all pass." Anko said without facing them.

"Taking into account that we almost died there ..." Yakumo grunted under her breath.

"Don't be like that. I did say that you three surprised me. Now, we can get to the true life of a ninja." Anko said.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Naruto redhead was still sore about being bound with snakes of all things and used as a kicking sack for a few minutes. If not for his natural regeneration, he would barely be able to move. 'Gah, I hate feeling so weak.'

"According to the Hokage, you three have the potential to be a high specialized team. Each of you has the skills for it. Usually, such teams are rare to appear but you guys make a solid on. This test was just to see if you could work together." Anko explained.

"There could have been a better way to do this," Yakumo growled.

"Where's the fun in that?" Anko asked and resumed walking.

The team sighed and followed her. It would be another hour before they reached the exit. Anko locked the place up before turning her attention back to her team. "Well, I've got to go and let the Hokage know of my team's success [Lie, I've to do that tomorrow]. Meet me here at eight." She said and was gone.

The team just looked at each other for a little while. Naruto finally broke the silence.

"I'm heading the Ichiraku's. Are you guys coming?" Naruto asked.

"Are you buying?" Sai asked. Naruto just shrugged and walked away. Sai followed him with his hands in his pockets. Yakumo soon followed and the three of them made their way to the ramen stand.

The pale boy and former member of the Foundation hadn't missed the look that the Jinchuuriki had threw to him and then, he noticed a small note attached to his black shirt. Discretely, he took it and read.

'Even if you're only a low Pawn. I'll not drop my guard around you. We'll maintain this teamwork, for now. But allow me to clear something. If you try something funny, I'll not hesitate to make you an acquaintance of my summons.'

P.S: This thing will be destroyed soon.

-Foxface.

A/N: I'm sorry, almost three weeks to upload this chapter, the reason was that I passed at least one of them without internet and some high school projects, but well, better late than never.

This Introductory Arc will be finished at least in one of the next chapters before moving on to the next one, do not expect much character development for the moment.

See you in the next chapter.

-Ezequiel Kirishiki- (04/28/17)-