A/N:- Yes I know its not fair to start a new one when you guys have been patiently waiting for an update of my other stories. But it was an idea which planted itself and I needed to put it on. So here it is. Its an AU so forget everything you know about the series. Some events are the same while I have taken liberties with others. Rest assured following the story won't leave you confused. Its a team seven centric fic except they never became team seven when they graduated.

Fallen Angels: A Naruto fanfic

Rating: T/M

Characters: Naruto U. Team 7

Warnings: AU, mature themes

Summary: For generations Team 7 has produced some of the greatest shinobis of their age. Their feats of legend while earning them the love and admiration of their peers also brought with it the hatred of their enemies. It has been said after all, that the curses of the fallen can bring the very angels crashing to the earth.

Location: Degarashi Port, Land of Water

Time: 6:14 PM

The two men dragged their helpless prisoner through the streets of the market. The crowd hastily made way for them, keen to avoid their attention. A few of them looked appalled, some looked outraged, some merely indifferent, but most of them were scared and were busy trying to make themselves scarce, lest they incur the wrath of the enforcers.

The men for their part looked supremely confident in their power and authority. Safe in the knowledge, that their aura of invincibility was maintained and sustained by their acts of suppressing these random acts of dissent.

Their victim was a lad who hadn't probably even seen eighteen summers yet. His crime had been his refusal to pay the mandatory protection money their establishment... for the lack of a better term charged for their, well... protection.

Some of them just didn't understand the service they provided. Some of the misguided ones like the one they were dragging with them right now, openly defied them. Hence, the need to make an example. The rebellion no matter how small had to be put out before it was fanned out of control after all.

A new establishment like their own couldn't afford to let these things pass. Even a year ago they were just one of the dozens of gangs trying to control this port town. Eight months ago the place had resembled a war-zone with the streets turning into battlefields. And just when it seemed the gangs would implode within themselves... came Kenshin Homura. That was the name he claimed anyway. He approached their boss for a job as an enforcer.

What happened next would be written in blood in the annals of the town's dark history. The man single-handedly tore through the ranks of the rival gangs. He had cleared the streets within a month and firmly established the dominion of their boss. How he had done it, remained as big a mystery as who he was. Rumours were that he was a ninja. But they couldn't bring themselves to care either way.

Now they controlled the very economy of the port town. But their dominion was still new. And like all new things it was fragile. The last few months of relative peace had caused the people to grow forgetful and hence, careless.

Nothing like a refresher.

The boy groaned piteously as he gazed up to his captors, his one eye swollen shut due to the beating he had received.

"You brought it on yourself kid," one of his captors told him, "you just had to play the hero, didn't you? Couldn't have let things be."

"You'll be put out of your misery soon enough," his other captor said with barely suppressed glee in his voice, "after we've had a bit of fun, of course."

The men led him to a nondescript building at the edge of the town. It was a simple two-storey structure. A year ago it was owned by a cloth merchant. During the gang wars it served as the headquarters of one of their fiercest rivals. Now it served as the place where they took out the trash so to speak.

Dragging the boy across the floor they hung him by his arms, his feet dangling a few inches above the ground, his head collapsing forward, barely showing any signs of life. The room was soon filled with half-a dozen men, the oldest being around forty. The boy had somehow regained enough consciousness to study the scene in front of him, as he helplessly raised his head.

"So this is the dissenter." The oldest of them spoke studying his captive. "He's just a kid!"

The quip wasn't funny at all, but the men had an active interest in keeping their boss in high spirits chuckled heartily.

"Every once in a while, one idiot thinks he can change the world," the boss continued obviously pleased and encouraged by the reaction of his men to his 'witty' observation, "one idiot who believes he can make a difference," he said putting emphasis on the word 'idiot'."and then you have to kill him just to convince him otherwise."

He shook his head in mock regret as he approached the prisoner. He was expecting some reaction from the boy. Whether begging for leniency or defiance. But his men probably didn't leave him in the condition to do so. A pity. He sort of enjoyed the type.

He gazed into the face of his prisoner and couldn't help but be surprised. As bloody and bruised as it was he seemed more aware than he had any right to be. Not only that his lone visible eye didn't show any signs of resignation or terror he had come to expect. In fact he seemed almost bored... and seemed to regard him with the same interest one would regard a bug. He wasn't sure how he came up with that analogy, but it seemed to fit.

It unnerved him a great deal.

"Kill him," he ordered his men, turning away from the boy. He couldn't get away fast enough from him. He was no coward. But something about the boy turned the very blood in his veins to ice.

"Saito... ." The boy said in a calm and clear voice. It was quiet. Almost a whisper. But in the silence of the room, it sounded like an exploding tag.

The boss turned around, surprised by the clarity in the boy's voice. He wasn't looking at him. It seemed he was looking through him. Or to be more accurate beyond him. He turned around with the intent to crack another joke about how the beating his men gave the boy had probably addled his brains. But he froze when he saw the look on the face of his right hand man, Kenshin Homura.

Kenshin was the bravest man he knew. He had seen him walk into an enemy stronghold alone and weaponless, burn the place down, killing everyone in it in the process, all without sustaining a single scratch... and yet right now his face was as pale as a ghost's.

What could possibly scare the man whose exploits had earned him the moniker of 'The Terror of the Hidden Sea'?... and yet here he was frozen like a mouse in front of a viper.

It was with considerable dread that the boss realized that the source of his fear was their captive. Then he murmured what would be his last coherent words.

"Konoha." With a scream Kenshin drew his tanto and in a well executed shunshin which left his comrades baffled plunged the blade into the prisoner's ribs, stopping an inch from penetrating his heart. He just wanted to confirm his suspicions for the sake of posterity.

"Were you sent to capture me?" He asked.

"To capture you? No," the boy wheezed, his lungs flooding with blood as he pushed himself forward driving the rest of the blade through as he brought his lips to his ear. " to kill you."

The boss stood motionless. Frozen in pure terror. His peripheral vision told him that his men weren't faring any better. A couple of them in fact had lost consciousness and then a smell he associated with urine hit his senses. The warmth around his groin told him it was him. At the moment however, he had bigger concerns. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. One moment he was with his men, joking and laughing about to execute a boy, the next moment the boy had seemingly broken free from his restraints, no signs of injury casually wiping a blade after having removed the head of his most powerful enforcer with a single stroke. Lifting the head from the floor, ignoring the blood which had begun to flood the floor, he proceeded to place the head in a scroll. If he hadn't been so terrified he would have wondered how the hell did the head disappear?

The boy then placed the scroll in the pockets of his trousers and exited the building without so much as a backward glance.

"Mission accomplished." The boy spoke into his com link. "Target eliminated."

XxX

Location: Konoha-Kusa border

Time:- 4 PM

Takeshi cursed under his breath as he dodged another wave of kunai. To say that the enemy had caught them by surprise would have been a gross understatement. He was a part of a four-member patrol unit. It was meant to be a routine patrol. They had no reason to suspect anything. So when one of them was literally torn apart by a wire user, they were caught with their pants down.

It was only due to the quick-thinking and experience of their captain that that was the only casualty they had suffered so far. After a couple of smoke bombs, a half a dozen hastily applied Kawarimis and another half-an hour on the run (it felt like six) the only thing they had succeeded in was get deeper into enemy territory.

Being a trap expert his skills had kept them alive so far. Their enemy had cut off their escape the way they came. Now they were stuck taking the longer way, littered with more ambushes and traps.

He was brought out of his musings by the sight of an explosive tag wrapped around a kunai embedded in a tree five yards in front of them.

"Fire in the hole!" He hollered to warn his comrades. It was too late. He managed to change direction in time. The running momentum of his captain however carried him closer to the tag.

The explosion nearly tore apart his eardrums. After he got over his disorientation, he could hear his female comrade shouting.

"...help me...ut."

He recovered enough to focus his vision to see the disheveled form of Sakura Haruno. The medic on their team. Her short pink hair resembled a crow's nest, her face sported numerous cuts, a couple of kunai stuck out of her armour but her eyes remained sharp and focused.

"The captain is hurt, we need to move him fast."

Takeshi nodded before taking him by the shoulder, the other taken by the girl. Together they began to build-up a steady pace.

"Its no good." She exclaimed. "He is crashing."

"Do you think we should leave him here?" Takeshi felt like an ass for coming up with that suggestion. But the fact remained if they kept going the way they were they wouldn't survive this.

"No I am going to treat him." She said with a no-nonsense tone.

"What?" He couldn't help himself. "Are you crazy?"

"See those outcropping of rocks?" She ignored him, pointing to a collection of rocks, about two hundred yards to their right. "It will give us the high ground and enough time to save his life."

"Yes I see them. But we will be running out in the open to get there, not to mention once we are there we will be sitting ducks."

"That may be, but as we are right now, we are playing right into their hands." She countered. "If we can buy ourselves enough time maybe the reinforcements will get here before its too late."

Takeshi didn't have to think for long. He was sick of running anyway. If they had to make a last stand, guess there were worse places to do it in.

"Alright we will do it your way."

Soon they were camped behind the rocks. Takeshi had even found the time to set-up some rudimentary traps. He kept watch as the medic in the team worked on their leader.

"How is he?" Takeshi enquired. For the first time he saw the condition the captain was in. His armour was literally blown off. His right arm and leg looked like they had gone through a meat-grinder. These were the wounds he could see. Thankfully the man was unconscious.

He watched as Haruno worked. Using a kunai she severed the jacket off his body.

"He is in tachycardia." She said. "His heart is beating harder and faster than it should." She elaborated probably catching on his confusion.

"What does that mean?"

"He should be going into shock due to blood loss, his heart should be slowing down, not speeding up." Sakura removed the emergency dressing she had managed on the run while unsealing a syringe from the medical scroll. "It means the shrapnel was probably laden with a toxin to make sure something like this happened."

"But you can extract the poison can't you?"

Sakura removed the cap from the syringe with her mouth, revealing a 3-inch needle. She then proceeded to plunge it into his thigh.

"Won't do any good." She said. "The damage has been done."

Takeshi's heart sank. After all that trouble it looked as if they were going to fail. He had already lost one comrade. He didn't want to lose another. But that was the life of a shinobi. So he was surprised to see their medic still working hard. She had unsealed an IV line from another scroll. She tied a ribbon around her upper arm tying a knot using her teeth. She then proceeded to heat the needle with a lighter with a bluish flame.

"What are you doing?" Takeshi asked mystified by her actions.

"Right now a blood transfusion is his best chance." Sakura explained. "It might be his only chance."

Now Takeshi would never claim to be a medic-nin. But he did have the basic battlefield first-aid and emergency care down pat. And if he wasn't mistaken a blood transfusion between incompatible blood groups was a recipe for disaster. When he gave voice to his misgivings, Sakura merely shrugged.

"My blood group is O-negative, which means I can donate blood to anyone. Its not ideal but it will have to do." She paused, before taking a deep breath as if to steady herself. "He has lost a lot of blood and if he isn't treated he will lose more. More blood than I can spare."

"So what is the point of all this?" Takeshi interrupted.

Sakura looked annoyed at being interrupted but continued nevertheless. "I will channel healing chakra through my blood and if everything goes well, he should be fine."

"If it doesn't?"

"He'll die and most probably so will I," she said nonchalantly. "Its an extremely delicate procedure and would require all of my concentration. I need you to defend me. Can you do that?"

"Have you ever done this before?"

"No," she shook her head, "Only Tsunade-sama has," she took a deep breath as she plunged the other end of the IV into the captain's arm. "But she demonstrated the procedure and I know the theory so it should be fine."

"Will this work?"

Sakura turned to him, holding his gaze. He thought a saw a moment of indecision and uncertainty in them, but it was gone as soon as it had come.

"Guess we'll find out won't we?." She plunged the other end of the line into her own arm to start the procedure.

Takeshi wasn't sure if he should be amazed or exasperated. He was probably seeing a legend in the making or an idiot who was biting off more than she can chew. But seeing the resolute look in her eye, he couldn't help but admire her. He gave her a grim nod which she returned as she began the procedure. She wanted time, he'll make sure she gets it.

Not a moment too soon as a rain of kunai started to pepper their location. Arming himself with a kunai he prepared himself for the coming onslaught. His comrades were counting on him and he couldn't afford to fail. Peering over their hiding place he could see thirty shinobi scaling the rocks to get to them.

The two in the lead were barely fifteen yards from them, when one of Takeshi's traps triggered itself. The explosion blew them off the cliff while slowing the rest, as they took cover.

The good news was he wouldn't have to face wave after wave of enemy hordes.

The bad news was that now they will switch to long range attacks.

Takeshi wasn't a chakra powerhouse by any means. He really didn't specialize in defensive ninjutsu either. His talents lay more towards the more subtle arts of ambush, tactics and traps. He wasn't suited to a battle of attrition. But his comrades needed him and he couldn't let them down. If Haruno Sakura could risk her life to execute a procedure which if done wrong would end her life, then the least he could do was buy her enough time to pull it off.

He moved himself away from where Sakura was treating the captain. He must draw the fire away from them. They needed a target. He will provide them with one.

Palming five kunai between his fingers he scoured the area. He couldn't see anyone at the moment. At the same time he knew he couldn't afford to let them dictate terms of this engagement. Wrapping a couple of exploding tags around two of the kunai he threw them where he saw them set themselves up.

The screams of alarm and pain told him that he had at least succeeded partially. Leaving his cover for a brief second to allow them a visual he ran through the hand-seals for the bunshin and had them running in different directions.

The E-ranked technique had almost been rendered obsolete, he however hoped that the confusion and chaos of the battle should help him pull off his bluff. A kunai whizzed an inch past his ear, he could barely suppress his smirk as he felt his plan succeeding.

He could feel them closing the distance. They would be on him any second now. Whipping out another kunai he cut a wire to trigger a pre-arranged trap. He hit the ground placing his hands over his head as a mass of kunai flew over his head. He felt them avoid the wave, just for them to trigger another trap. This one involved explosive tags. Takeshi flipped backwards to get away from the blast radius.

He held his stance as he waited to see the results of his efforts through the veil of dust and smoke. It wasn't his best work. His traps tended to be more elaborate than that. But it was all he could do with the constraints of time and resources. He cursed under his breath when he saw an earth wall surrounding the enemy. One of them was holding his arm trying to staunch a bleeding and throwing him a murderous look. By the looks of it his injury wasn't serious enough to put him out of the fight.

Feeling a presence behind him, he ducked a tanto, which would have taken off his head, now only managed a few strands of his hair. He kicked the swordsman away and tried to get some distance between them, except he was now moving closer to the two shinobi who he had just tried to blow away.

He felt a kick to his head which made him see stars. He tried to reach for another kunai, but the enemy was having none of it. A wire wrapped around his hand and pulled back, flipping him on his back.

Spikes of earth rose where he landed, one pierced his arm and another sprouting from his thigh, effectively pinning him to the ground. He nearly blacked out from the pain, when he finally came to his senses, he saw three figures looking down on him. Two of them were masked, while the third was a woman with dark eyes and hair with a rather peculiar shade of blue. She was dressed in a green outfit with a red turtle-neck and brown finger-less gloves. Judging by the deference with which the masked shinobi were treating her, she was the leader. Their headbands had a musical note on them. His throat felt raw. Which meant he probably screamed his vocal cords off.

Oto.

They were supposed to have been disbanded.

"Well looks like we've captured ourselves a tree-hugger." The woman spoke, a mocking edge to her voice. "A nice hole you rats found for yourself. Now only if we could get the rest. You wouldn't happen to know where the rest of your team is would you?"

Takeshi glared hatefully at the man, panting heavily, before spitting in her face.

The woman casually wiped the gob of spit from her face. "Well I guess Plan B it is!." She then proceeded to plunge a kunai in his knee-cap, getting another scream out of him.

"You...are...wasting yo...your...time." Takeshi gasped between his words. "I... I'm not telling where... where they are."

The woman studied Takeshi with a look of mock puzzlement.

"You think I am torturing you to get you to tell me where your comrades are?" She said amusement lacing her voice. "Your stupidity continues to amaze me. You Konoha nins so big on comradeship... the will of fire. So ready to die for your people. Did it ever occur to you that as you would die for your comrades... your comrades will die for you too."

Realization struck Takeshi with the force of a biju. He was being used to get the rest out. He saw her smile as she comprehended the horror of her captive.

"So where were we?" She twisted the kunai in his knee as his screams filled the air.

"Stop!" A female voice shouted. The woman torturing Takeshi, turned to the source of the voice.

She studied the girl with a seemingly academic interest.

"Thanks for joining the party miss. " The woman addressed Sakura. "I'm afraid we started without you, but it seems you got our invitation. Well better late than never. Though I can't help but notice the guest list isn't quite complete."

"He is dead." Sakura said shortly seemingly not keen on playing games. A part of Takeshi was really relieved that Sakura had come. He didn't know how much more of that he could take. Another part felt ashamed of that part. Now instead of just him dying, Sakura would too, and so will the captain. If he wasn't dead already.

"You people are sooooo... predictable." She whined impatiently. "It'd have been funny if it wasn't so... pathetic."

At an unseen signal a couple of Oto-nin approached Sakura from behind with the intent to capture her, but they had underestimated the medic. She ducked under them, then proceeded to execute a leg-sweep catching them off-balance. In the blink of an eye she had the two acting as meat-shields for her, with her kunai at their throats.

"How is that for unpredictable?" Sakura said, a mocking edge to her tone now.

Takeshi couldn't help being amazed at this turn-around. They just might get out of this alive.

The woman after a moment of stunned silence, started laughing hard.

"I must admit," she conceded once she had her amusement under control. "You are more interesting than I expected."

"So this is how its going to work," Sakura said ignoring the woman. "You're going to let my comrade go, in return for one of yours. We're going to hold on to one for insurance, till we are safely out of here."

The woman studied Sakura like a poker player who knew she had the best hand in the house and was just playing along her opponent's bluff to raise the stakes. Takeshi knew that look. He had seen it one time too many during games' night in the chunin lounge. That's how he knew they were screwed.

With a wave of her hand she ordered the nin holding the doton jutsu pinning him to the ground to release it. The woman grabbed him by the collar and pulled him to his feet, completely disregarding his pain, the smile never leaving her face. She pushed him forward towards Sakura. He barely registered the look of satisfaction on Sakura's face as she saw her gamble being pulled off. Then slowly it turned to one of horror.

Takeshi didn't get it. What had happened? He looked behind to see what was causing his comrade so much distress. The enemy hadn't moved. The group of Oto-nin were holding their place. The woman was still holding him up, her arms supporting his back, smirk in place.

Except it wasn't an arm anymore. It was... a pink crystal shard, going through his back and now protruding out of his chest.

His vision darkened as he coughed out blood. He didn't even register the pain as he faded into oblivion.

Location: Iwagakure, Chunin Exams Stage-II, Day-3

Venue:- The Valley of Lost Souls

Time: 2 AM.

Katashi rubbed his arms to generate some warmth for his body. He hated to be the last one on watch. But unfortunately, he had drawn the short straw. He suspected the game had been he knew exactly who to blame. Too bad he couldn't prove it.

He sighed helplessly as he waited for dawn to break. It had been a long 4 days. Actually, that wasn't right, it had been a long month. It all began when their jounin sensei decided to nominate them for the chunin exams barely 6 months after they had graduated the academy.

He remembered the day their sensei had announced the news. Kai ,their third teammate had lost his balance painting the second floor window of a client's house during one of those dreaded D-ranked missions.

The idiot had landed on his ass and broken his tail-bone. The doctor put him out of action for 6 weeks, followed by a month of rehabilitation, effectively putting him out of contention for participation in the exams and by extension the entire team.

Just when they had thought to have said goodbye to their chances of having been the youngest team to compete in the Chunin Exams in almost a decade, their sensei had found them a replacement in the form of an older genin who went by the name of Naruto Uzumaki.

He had joined their team a couple of weeks before the start of the exams. He looked about sixteen, which put him quite a few years ahead of them.

If there was one word he would use to describe him it would be...LOUD!

Everything about him from his golden locks to mischievous blue eyes to his clothes with a high ratio of orange screamed at him. Even when he talked he managed to be loud... even though he wasn't shouting. If that wasn't enough he had whisker birth-marks on his cheeks.

He didn't know what he had been expecting when he was told they would be joined by a veteran genin. But it sure wasn't this. To make matters weirder he was the goofiest guy he had ever come across. Even more so than Konohamaru Sarutobi, the class clown in his batch.

That probably explained why he hadn't been promoted till now. It was almost an unwritten rule that if you didn't get promoted within the first two years after graduating you were unlikely to go far in your career as a shinobi. Uzumaki Naruto seemed to be one of those people who had hit that wall and now found it insurmountable. In short he was a wash-out. He had shared his concerns with the female member of their team, Miyuki. She had been more optimistic about this addition than he had been.

"You seem to be overlooking the fact that he has survived so far," she told him when he brought it up during a sparring session. "If nothing else, his experience should count for something."

After that he stopped sharing his concerns with his ex-classmate and now teammate. Experience or not, he would take Kai over him any day. Or someone, hell anyone whose manner didn't scream incompetence.

But it was the best they could do in such short notice. Over the next week and a half, they trained together and ran D-ranked missions to get some semblance of familiarity with each other. That's when he discovered another strange thing about Uzumaki. The older genin wasn't only competent in the D-ranked missions, he excelled in them and actually seemed to enjoy them too.

No-one enjoyed D-ranked missions. Even Miyuki had been mystified by his enthusiasm and when she had voiced her curiosity, he had stared at her for a full thirty seconds, his face losing its goofy nature to be replaced by a thoughtful one.

His answer had been left them even more curious about the enigmatic blonde.

"Its good, honest work. Something of a rarity in our world. What's not to like?" He had said, before reverting back to his goofy persona.

So when the time finally came for their departure, which in itself raised more questions as both his and Miyuki's families had taken time to see them off and wish them luck, but not a single well-wisher had made time for Uzumaki. Maybe because he had none, and for the first time he found himself feeling sorry for his temporary teammate a sentiment apparently shared by his teammate.

He sighed warily. To top it all, as much as it rankled him, the blonde genin had been the reason they were even in the second round. If there ever had been any doubt about his usefulness, they had been dispelled in the very first stage of the exams. If they had followed Katashi's directions they would have jumped off a cliff possibly to their deaths and definitely to disqualification.

Their arrival had been relatively mundane. Though he had to admit the history books didn't do justice to the sheer size and majesty of the place. Iwa was a valley surrounded by mountains which made Mount Hokage look like an eroded plateau. There was little greenery and most of the houses and buildings were made of red stone aiming for practicality rather than aesthetics. The visiting teams were settled in their community centre, which had temporarily be turned into a living space for over seventy teams of genin from 5 major and fifteen minor villages. Despite being the greatest ninja village Konoha had thought it was prudent to send only one team. It wasn't all that surprising considering the history between Konoha and Iwa.

The living conditions weren't ideal but considering the fact they were to spend only one night there, none of them minded them particularly.

The next day they had been directed by one of the officiating chunin to proceed to the village square. Two hundred and sixteen genin lined up in groups of three representing the pride of their respective villages. The experience was a moment of great humility for them.

From there they had been led up on Mount Kamizuru, named after the clan of their First Tsuchikage. Once they reached the top of the cliff they were instructed to stand on an elevated platform over six hundred feet in length and made to face the cliff, in a single file, a distance of two and a half feet between them. He remembered breaking into cold sweat when he had actually dared to peer over the edge of the precipice. At least he had his teammates with him.

"Welcome to Stage-I of the 25th Chunin Exams." Their proctor, a big man wearing a red jacket and black trousers, standard attire for Iwa jounin addressed the gathering after joining them on the platform. "My name is Hibiki Kyouzo and I will be your proctor for this portion of the exam." He paused letting his words sink in. "A chunin is a leader. They must be courageous, resourceful, pragmatic and most importantly...decisive."

He paced along the row of nervous genin.

"A chunin must know exactly when to proceed and even more importantly know when to cut their losses and retreat. This test has been designed to test these very qualities. Pass and you proceed to the next round." He stared into the eyes of the genin, Katashi gulped audibly. "Failure will result in instant... elimination." The way he said the last word had sent a shiver down his spine

"At the ends of the platform you are standing on you can see two jounin." Katashi spied Miyuki risking a glance to confirm the proctor's word. She wasn't the only one, as several heads were now swiveling in either direction to sate their very human curiosity. "They are the ones holding this platform using an earth jutsu." He paused again for dramatic effect. "All you need to do to complete this section of the exam is... jump off the platform."

Katashi never thought he would describe silence as deafening, but that's exactly how he would describe the one that followed this declaration. Slowly as the genin got over their shock pandemonium broke out. The accumulated genin threw out shouts of indignation and outrage as they protested the rules.

"SILENCE!" The proctor roared over the din, causing everyone to go quiet immediately. "Those are the rules, and you will abide by them."

Katashi froze in his place. He couldn't believe this. He was being told to jump to his death? Next to him Miyuki's face had gone white. How could they do this? Was this Iwa's way to cut out the competition. Suddenly the honour of being nominated to participate in the Chunin exams didn't seem like an honour. Maybe it was Konoha's way to weed out the weak from their ranks. Suddenly even Uzumki's presence in their ranks was beginning to make sense. After all he was a career genin without a family or friends. His death won't mean anything in the grand scheme of things.

"What if we decide not to jump?" A genin from Kusa enquired.

The proctor's brutal face broke into a smile. A smile which bore no goodwill for their recipient.

"You will be given ten seconds to make the decision after which the jutsu will be released and the platform will collapse." His grin turned even more sadistic as he said the next words. "Your time starts now!"

10...9...

A group of genin to his right immediately jumped off the cliff.

8...7...

The first group was soon copied and several others decided to follow their example.

6...5...

Maybe he should be jumping too. He had heard things about the first stage during the Konoha Chunin Exams. He recalled hearing how the proctor had threatened the end of the careers of the participating genin if they failed to answer a question. The participating genin were given the option of foregoing the question altogether to save their careers. Eventually the ones who had stayed to participate had been passed.

4...3...

Maybe that's what this was. A test of their courage in the face of the unknown. Moreover they won't kill people in the first stage of the exam. That came later. His resolve strengthening he prepared himself to launch himself off the cliff.

2...1..

Just as he was about to, a hand grabbed his shoulder and with surprising strength pulled him back away from the cliff, backward off the platform. As soon as his feet left the platform it collapsed taking the rest of the candidates with it.

"That..." He turned to face the sunny visage of Uzumaki Naruto his hand still firm on his shoulder, "wasn't very smart of you."

Katashi turned to see approximately twenty teams had gotten off the platform. Miyuki was on her knees breathing heavily.

"Congratulations," They were greeted by the voice of their proctor as he surveyed the remaining candidates. "on passing Stage-I. Instructions for the next stage will be given shortly."

He had been a little out of it when it had been explained why they had been passed, trying to get his heartbeat in control. He was pretty sure the gist had been that the stupid people jumped into the cliff, the indecisive ones stayed on the platform till it collapsed while the ones who passed jumped off the platform, but backwards. There had been a lot of explanation regarding how the decisions chunins made on the field were life and death and consequences of a wrong decision can be disastrous.

"You actually figured all that out?"Miyuki asked Naruto having followed the words of the proctor.

"Not really," the older genin had said rubbing the back of his head, a sheepish grin playing on his lips, "the scary proctor told us to jump off the platform, I just thought it'd be pretty stupid to actually jump off the cliff."

At this Katashi tried hard to fight down the blush threatening to colour his cheeks.

"Thanks for the save sempai." Miyuki said to Naruto, who just laughed and rubbed her head earning a blush from the girl. Even Katashi managed to mutter a thanks once he got over his mortification.

"Do you think they're dead?" Katashi enquired regarding the fates of the genin who had disappeared down the cliff.

"I doubt it." Naruto replied. "They must have some protective mechanism for making sure they lived. They really wouldn't want to start a war... I think."

"What do you mean sempai?" Miyuki said puzzled.

"We're shinobi." Naruto had offered as a way of explanation.

His relief at having survived the first round of the exams overcame any uneasiness he might have felt at that statement. They were led from the mountain to a valley on the other side. The valley was completely barren and uninhabited. Stretching for leagues.

"What you are seeing in front of you, is the Valley of Lost Souls." Their proctor explained. "Before the time of the great villages, this used to be a thriving market for the Land of Iron. Unfortunately it met its untimely end during the one of the most brutal battles of the First Shinobi war. Consequently as you can see what was once a symbol of the pinnacle of our civilization is nothing more than a barren wasteland now." His words had been surprisingly regretful. "And today it will serve as your battlefield."

So, that's what had brought them here. All the teams had been given a red banner. Their objective was to find the five check-points in the valley. They were supposed to tie each banner on a designated spot and in return would gain another one, which held clues to the next check-point and so on. Sounded simple enough. Except with everything that came with being a shinobi, this too came with a huge catch.

The final check-point will reveal itself only on the noon of the fifth day. After which they will have a window of only ten minutes to place their banners. The banners which remained at the end of the window will determine who qualifies for the final round.

With rules like that, bloodshed was guaranteed. Katashi had been of the opinion that they race through the course, get to the final checkpoint and set-up an ambush for the rest.

Naruto had immediately over-ruled that.

"First-off you aren't the only one who has come up with that brilliant plan. I am sure others have thought of it too." He told him when Katashi had protested being overruled. "Secondly the check-point isn't going anywhere. Rushing in will only end-up tiring us out."

So, they had gone with the slow and steady approach. They had just gotten their third banner. So it could be said that they were on schedule.

He was brought out of his musings when he felt a sharp jab to his ribs.

"You are a lousy lookout you know that?" Came the irritated voice of his female teammate.

"I knew it was you." Katashi lied, trying to get his heart-rate to slow and trying to keep his voice his voice from quivering, "Couldn't sleep?"

"Yeah, I just keep expecting for something to go wrong." Miyuki removed the kunai from his neck and walked around to take a seat opposite to him. Despite the chilly night they had refrained from making a bonfire. The reason being it would have just acted as a beacon to all the other candidates announcing their position. Being warm and comfortable just didn't seem like a good enough reason for getting their throats slit.

"We have made it this far haven't we?" Katashi assured her. "We will be fine."

Miyuki smiled at his effort to make her feel better, but it just didn't reach her eyes.

"So what do you think of sempai?" She asked, causing warning bells to go off in Katashi's head. He wouldn't claim to be an expert but he could tell what a question like that meant. Miyuki had never been one of those girls who took an active interest in boys. She was hard-working and skilled enough to have been one of the best graduates in the academy that year. She was in fact unrivaled in accuracy and a very good support and long-range specialist. The hint of admiration which entered her tone despite her obvious attempt to hide it, was a dead giveaway. Something that irritated Katashi for some reason.

But before he could answer, his ears were filled with a strange buzzing sound.

"Do you hear that?" Miyuki went on guard palming her kunai.

"Oh my god!" With dawning horror Katashi realized the danger they were in. It was bees, hundreds, maybe thousands of them, surrounding them. "Wake up Naruto. We have to get out of here." He ordered Miyuki while running through hand-seals to apply a genjutsu.

Miyuki went to the lump on the ground that was Naruto a few yards away wrapped inside a sleeping bag with the intention of waking him up, when a kunai wrapped with an explosive tag landed a yard in front of her right next to him.

Reflexes ingrained into her due to years of training moved her body away from the blast.

"Sempai!" She screamed helplessly for her fallen comrade. She tried to get to her feet, when killing intent the likes of which she had never felt in her young life flooded the area. She couldn't move, paralyzed by the fear enveloping the very blood in her veins like poison. Her body broke into a cold sweat as the sound of buzzing came nearer.

But no! A defiance brought out by desperation pushed itself out of her. She will not die here. She moved her body just in time to avoid the first wave of bees. Her senses began to work overtime as she flattened herself on the ground. The killing intent was still permeating the area but it wasn't paralyzing her the way it had a few seconds ago.

Their enemy had yet to show themselves so they were entirely on the defensive. A hand found its way to hers and pulled her to her feet. It was Katashi with a sleeping bag over his head to protect himself from the killer bees.

"Where is Naruto?" He questioned.

Miyuki shook her head and Katashi swore under his breath.

"I placed a genjutsu on the bees." He said trying to explain the situation. "Its probably the only thing that is keeping them from attacking us."

"So what do we do?"

"We need fire. But unfortunately I don't know any fire jutsus."

"But we can create fire." Miyuki muttered. "I have an idea."

She opened her bag and studied the inventory. She had a flint, 8 explosive tags, sixteen kunai, three sets of shuriken, a spool of ninja wire 30 feet in length and other knick-knacks. Text-book shinobi survival kit. But there was only one thing that she needed right now. Reaching for the explosive tags, she took a kunai and went to work.

"Are you crazy?" Katashi exclaimed on seeing what she was trying to do. "You are going to blow us up."

"Sshhh." Miyuki shushed him impatiently. "I know what I'm doing."

At least she hoped so. Katashi was right to be wary. Explosive tags were volatile in the most controlled of situations. This was anything but. Her brother had shown her how to deactivate an explosive tag. Most people thought that explosive tags were nothing but compressed chakra exploding. Nothing could be farther from the truth.

An explosive tag was nothing but a storage seal, with different layers. Each layer acting like a storage scroll would, containing a component of the explosive. During activation all a ninja has to do is channel some chakra into the tag to unlock the seals allowing the components to mix to form the deadly mixture which then acted as an explosive.

So all she had to do was break one of the seals and drag the component out of it without breaking the rest. In this case the highly flammable accelerant.

Theoretically, it was simple. Practically... not so much.

One mistake and the accelerant would flow into the seal instead of outside of it and would result in exactly what Katashi feared.

But they had no choice.

"How long will your genjutsu last?" Miyuki asked her teammate while working on her third tag.

"About that." Katashi ventured tentatively. "I have good news and bad news."

"Hit me."

"The good news is my genjutsu seems to be working just fine."

"The bad news?"

"It isn't supposed to."

Miyuki froze as she heard the grim tone of his voice.

"What do you mean?"

"What I mean is that those bees. They are not wild." Katashi's face was ashen. "They are summons."

The uncertain terror in Miyuki's gut solidified to take a more concrete shape. Summoning was a high-level skill used by high-level ninjas. Whoever was targeting them were anything but genin-level.

Taking a deep breath to steady herself she steeled herself.

"One problem at a time," she said, "we need to get rid of those bees first."

She had deactivated three of her tags to get enough accelerant for her purpose. It had taken only thirty seconds to make a make-shift flamethrower using the rest of her supplies. Using the flint to spark a flame she used the accelerant to fuel it and aimed the flame at the summons.

For a second she wondered what she looked like with flames seemingly coming out of her hands. It seemed to be working too. The bees seemed to scatter in front of the dreaded fire. Just when it looked like they would be out of danger, another wave of killing intent washed over them. This one was even stronger than the last one. It actually brought them to their knees.

She saw visions of her own death. She saw herself lying on the floor bleeding to death, while Katashi lay disemboweled next to her, the stench of decay and rot permeating the air.

"Pathetic." A male voice reached her ears dripping with disdain. "Gotta admit they did well to survive the bees, but this seems to be the end of line."

"Stop playing with them Hiro." Another voice broke in. "Just put them out of their misery so we can move on."

"Fine, but you are no fun." The other said in a resigned tone.

As she heard those words she gained some clarity. She could see the two figures standing casually in front of them, without a care. Why shouldn't they? They had already killed one of them, and the other two were too helpless to do anything. She could see Katashi throwing up next to her.

"Don't worry." Their tormentor said in a soothing voice. "This will be over soon."

She saw the trajectory of the kunai thrown their way. There were two of them. One for each. It would impale her forehead. She saw it coming. Any resistance or defiance would be futile. She won't survive this.

She felt a tug of chakra on her body. The kind she felt when she used the kawarimi. But she wasn't using the jutsu. Though she didn't fight it and let her body go with the flow. Soon she felt arms around her shoulders as they dragged her away. A part of her wondered if the enemy decided to capture her. Maybe cut open her body and take whatever secrets they can glean off it. Though she didn't know what secrets they could possibly glean out of a genin level shinobi with no kekkei genkai.

"Is she going to be okay?" A voice she didn't think she would ever hear again said.

"Don't know she seems to be in shock. Might need to give her some time." Came the same voice again. Was he talking to himself?

"Miyuki," he said as if trying to calm a scared animal. "I need a sign from you to tell me if you can hear me. Squeeze my hand."

A hand moved into hers. After some coaxing she managed to return the grip.

"She is responsive." The voice was now filled with relief. "I think it is now safe to do this."

Suddenly warmth flowed back into her body. The terror leaving her like the darkness which retreats to the shadows when the sun rises. Her shallow breaths turned deeper.

"That's right breathe." The voice encouraged. "You're gonna be okay."

Slowly but surely her vision came back to focus on the sunny visage of Uzumaki Naruto.

"I thought you were dead." She gasped

"Well all evidence to the contrary,"he smiled at her reassuringly.

Her relief at surviving and joy at seeing him alive finally overcame her and her hands found their way around the blonde's neck and she was sobbing on his shoulders. The older boy seemed to hesitate for a few seconds before returning the embrace. All this time she hadn't known how much bigger Naruto was than her. In his arms she felt like a little kid. He was warm and smelt of pine and earth. There was something both honest and comforting about it.

"There there its going to be alright." He gently stroked her hair trying to calm her down, but she only held on tighter.

She didn't know how long she had been in his arms, but after a while she finally recovered enough to extricate her arms from around his neck.

"Are you going to be alright?" He asked her looking concerned. She just nodded in response, wiping her nose with the back of her hand, that's when she doubled back when something caught her eye. A few yards away, she saw two more Narutos arguing in hushed tones over the unconscious form of Katashi.

"There are three of you?" She deadpanned.

"Yeah." The 'Naruto' with her laughed sheepishly rubbing the back of his head. "None of us is the boss if that's what you are wondering."

"The boss?"

"We are shadow clones."

She would have persisted with her questions except now she had bigger concerns.

"Is he going to be okay?" She made her way to the unconscious boy.

"He had an allergic reaction to the bee stings. But don't worry he has been given a dose of epinephrine and some follow-up chakra-therapy, so he should be fine once he sleeps it off."

Something still seemed to be bothering her that she couldn't put her finger on. It must be her recent ordeal which must have put her in this state.

"If you guys are clones." She ventured tentatively. "Where's the real one?"

All three clones froze for a second and then shrugged at the same time. Something she found both creepy and fascinating. She had never seen clones act so independently from their user.

"Well it seems like the boss is done." One of the clones tending to Katashi said.

"Done with what?" Miyuki asked even more mystified.

"You'll see," the clone with her replied before helping her to her feet, "c'mon let's go."

Confused but managing to hold her tongue Miyuki simply followed the group of blondes. Katashi had finally regained consciousness but had to be by the clones supported to be able to walk. He didn't look in good shape, but at least he was alive.

She saw him crouched on the ground checking over a body. She recognized the place as where they had setup camp. In the light of the breaking dawn it looked almost like a different place.

"Hey boss!" The clone escorting Miyuki greeted him. "We got them."

The original 'Naruto'. Or at least she assumed it was the original looked up and his face broke into a relieved smile when he saw them.

"You're okay." He grinned. "Thanks guys, I owe you one."

"Any time boss." The three clones chorused before dismissing themselves in identical bursts of smoke.

"Did you do all this?" Katashi said slightly slurring his words.

"Yeah I did." Naruto replied matter of factly.

"You took out all three of them?" Miyuki enquired amazement colouring her tone. She saw the three bodies lying in various degrees of distress. One of them was lying a few yards away who from the looks of it had his neck broken. Another had his chest caved in, by what could have been a meat grinder, his eyes open in shock and terror. The third one could have been mistaken for being asleep if not for the thin line of red running across his neck.

Then she studied Naruto. Other than a few scrapes he didn't even look like he had been in a fight. When she thought about how outclassed she and Katashi were last night, the feat seemed even more impressive. Forget about fighting, they couldn't even stay on their feet. For the first time since she chose this life she was beginning to doubt her resolve to be a shinobi.

"Stop blaming yourself," Naruto addressed her seemingly reading her mind, "there's no way you were ready for this kind of opponent."

"But they're genin too." Miyuki couldn't keep the hurt of her voice. She knew she had been outclassed, but to be told so by the object of her admiration was another thing entirely.

"Are you sure?" He asked her. "Take a look again."

More than a little perplexed, Miyuki obeyed and studied the bodies again. At first she wondered what he was talking about. But slowly it began dawning to her.

"They are too old." Katashi said joining the conversation, before realizing what he had said. He gave Naruto an apologetic look who merely waved it off.

Miyuki winced at his bluntness but agreed. They were old. Older than even Naruto. These guys looked to be in their twenties.

"Correct, but that's not what I was talking about." Naruto said approvingly before approaching a body and ripping off the sleeve of one of the dead, revealing a tattoo of the symbol of the Hidden Stone Village. "Congratulations my young friends, last night you had the honour of being targeted by the Iwa ANBU."

"What?" Miyuki exclaimed after getting over the shock of that statement. "Why would ANBU attack us?"

"Whenever a village hosts exams, it makes sure to send in a ringer team to get rid of the competition." Naruto explained. "After all the host village needs to look better than everyone else. This is their way of doing it."

"But isn't that illegal or something?" Katashi said not being able to help himself.

At this Naruto burst into peals of laughter. He must have continued for a minute or so before finally managing to control himself, heaving lungful of air.

"You almost managed to succeed where the Iwa ANBU failed, kid." Naruto said, causing Katashi's face to go red with mortification. "If you're gonna worry about legalities, you're in the wrong line of work my friend."

"But what if we expose what has been done here?" Miyuki ventured.

"You'll be dead before you can say the words 'cheater'." Naruto used air-quotes to emphasize the words. "Surviving is victory here. Take what you can."

"So should we continue the exams?" Katashi said, his voice full of uncertainty.

"No, the exams are over as far as we are concerned."

Miyuki wasn't sure if she should be relieved or disappointed. It wasn't just because of what she had gone through, but suddenly her entire world view seemed to have changed. She found herself questioning things she had taken for granted and now she wasn't sure if she wanted to walk this road anymore.

Her eyes met Naruto's and she could see no pity only understanding.

"Why are you still a genin?" Katashi asked with an accusatory stare at the older genin. "If you can take out a team of ANBU single-handedly, forget Chunin, you should have been a jounin."

"Strength and power don't determine whether you are promoted or not."

"Then what does?"

A smile broke into Naruto's face quite unlike his usual ones. This one actually reached his eyes if only to reveal the melancholy in them.

"I'm sure you'll tell me when you're promoted."

So, that was the introduction of the three main characters. Kakashi will be up in the next chapter. This was just a sneak peak into the different characters .Little being a misnomer cause that was easily twice the length of a usual chapter. In case you are wondering the assassin at the beginning was Sasuke. The story will be character driven so those who like those probably won't be disappointed. So, don't forget to leave a review. Until next time. As it is an AU I'd like to ask you to disregard anything you know about the canon... plot-wise at least. I haven't changed the world much just the situations.