Authors Notes: Alright, the Chuunin Exams are officially underway with the first test already finished, which I skipped and instead focused on Nagato's conversation with Kakashi, now the participants must survive the Forest of Death and claim their required scrolls to pass.

Not to mention, Anko got to meet the girls and was accepted by them. Something that meant a lot of our Snake Mistress due to her past experiences with people. The two pariahs also informed the girls from Berugakure about their own plan to escape the village. This had also lead to the girls warning the two about Orochimaru's plans for the invasion. Fortunately Naruto was able to calm the snake mistress before she could set her mind to do something stupid that could jeopardize their plan to escape.

We also got to meet Tenten last chapter as well, as well as a look into one of Naruto's past pranks, much to the weapon's mistress's amusement. For those wondering, no, she is not going to be in the harem, but she will be a friend later on.

Now then, on to the Forest of Death!

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Review Corner

JintoLin – Sorry for it feeling too short, but I do try to make each chapter a minimum of 5,000 words.

Like I said with the Blood Clone, I wanted to have it set up that he couldn't just pull it out of no where and that it would need time to set up to perform properly. As for Rory, I kind of touched on her nickname back in the first chapter when I was introducing the girls. And yes, I wanted to give Hiruzen a heart attack when he read the sign in sheet.

As for the one who died, sadly not killed by Gaara. Just some poor team that ran right into a massive spider nest.

Blaze1992 – I will say this, Tsunade is unaware about Naruto. This will get touched on in about a chapter or two when she is summoned to Berugakure at Kushina's request. Though Kushina will question if the Slug Princess was in on it.

PraetorXyn – Mabui is top pick for sure. Fortunately, or unfortunately depending how you look at it, I have already selected the dark skin representation for the harem.

YeagerMeister31 – Yeah, the Tenten bit was a little last minute when I was writing the chapter, but I also wanted to mix things up and not have every exact detail follow what happens in canon. As for the Root team, yeah, they are going to get destroyed.

Thor94 – Konoha as a whole won't really pay, as they were mislead by the Hokage. The ones that will pay are the ones who had full knowledge of who Naruto was, and still went along with it willingly. I already have punishments planned for the three main ones.

Naes151 – Yahiko and Konan are alive and are living in Berugakure.

I will probably touch on it lightly in a future chapter, but the short version is that Ame was still liberated from Hanzo's tyranny with the help of Berugakure, leading to an alliance between the two villages.

The Akatsuki will still be present, just without Pein and Konan and a few other members. Though they are not the focus of this story.

FenreldStormblade – Actually, I have plans on how both Esdeath and Pyrrha will be introduced into the story. Esdeath's part is going to be a bit comical.

As for the team size, this was done on purpose. Berugakure works outside the usual structure of the Hidden Villages, with each team being more of their own squad. This is part of the reason Shinobi from Berugakure are so expensive to hire, but they also have a nearly flawless success rate.

Harem

Alright, as it was pointed out to me, there is a lack of representation of dark skinned girls for the harem. So with that in mind, I have added TWO more girls to represent our dark skinned beauties. And those two are….Mabui (from Naruto) and Yoruichi Shihoin (from Bleach).

Naturally, both girls are going to have their ages knocked down a little, well, in Yoruichi's case, a lot. Though they will retain their quirks and characteristics. So, here is the final list!

Anko, Aqua, Esdeath, Kairi, Koyuki, Mabui, Morgiana, Pyrrha, Rory, Sakura, Xion, and Yoruichi.

Remember Me

Chapter 8

Forest of Death

Team 7 had wasted no time when the gates had opened, immediately dashing into the forest, trying to put as much distance between themselves and the other teams as possible that had also started at their gate. Which was much easier said then done, as a handful of the starting teams had aimed to get their scrolls early and actively hunted the other participants right out the gate. Fortunately Naruto had been able to confuse their pursuers with multiple shadow clones, hinged as his team mates, giving his team time to regroup and plan for their trek through the forest.

Now the members of Team 7 stood in a small clearing, various traps set up around them to warn them if any other team were to stumble upon their location.

"So what's the plan?" Sakura inquired, looking between her two team mates.

"It would be best if we got the scroll we needed as soon as possible and head to the tower." Naruto stated. He felt uneasy being in the forest. He couldn't put his finger on it, but something felt off. As if they were being watched, and not by the various creatures that called the Forest of Death home.

"For once, I agree with the dobe." Sasuke smirked.

Sending a soft glare towards the Uchiha boy, Naruto was a little taken aback by the fact that Sasuke had actually agreed with him. If the young teens actions in the academy were any indication, he figured Sasuke would have wanted to stay in the forest for a few days to test himself against the other teams. Glancing over at his pink haired friend, Naruto could see she was a bit surprised as well.

"Then which one of us should carry the scroll?" Naruto inquired, producing the Heaven scroll from his pocket. He then received his second shock of the day.

"You keep it Naruto." The Uchiha instructed as he turned away from the two and stared out into the forest. "Your ability with Shadow Clones can help keep it away from enemy teams, do not lose it dobe."

Nodding silently, Naruto moved to put the scroll back in his pocket, though seeing as Sasuke wasn't looking at him, channeled chakra into one of the storage seals on the inside of his jumpsuit. While at the same time, producing a similar looking scroll and placing it in his pocket. If they were lucky, they wouldn't lose their 'scroll', if not; well, the one to take the scroll was going to be in for a bad surprise.

"So, how are we going to get the Earth scroll we need?" The pink haired kunoichi questioned.

"Easy." Sasuke grinned as he looked back at the other two members of his team. "We go directly to the tower and ambush one of the teams that already have theirs."

Turning back around, the last Uchiha started to make his way in the direction of the tower that was located in the center of the forest, not looking to see if the rest of his team was following him or not. As both Sakura and Naruto were rooted firmly in their spots as they tried to process the recent events. Though both had silently agreed that it was a good plan to ambush a team at the tower that already had their scrolls. Though Naruto did muse it would be awkward if the first team they encountered was of his fiances.

"So, does Sasuke seem off to you?" Naruto inquired in a low voice as the two of them followed after their raven haired team mate.

"Yeah, he actually agreed with you instead of arguing and then acknowledged your skill with the Shadow Clones." Sakura replied in a similar hushed tone.

"Well, if he is an impostor, I like this one better." The blonde chuckled, earning a small giggle from his friend. "Come on, best not to let him get too far ahead of us."

Nodding, Sakura took off after Naruto as they increased their speed to catch up with their team mate.

Berugakure Team, Three Hours Later

The five girls bounded through the tree branches with effortless ease towards their destination, the center tower. However, their pace was casual as they desired to stay within the forest, in case Naruto required their help. While they had faith in his own skills, he made it very clear that he would be hiding them to avoid suspicion.

Within the first hour of entering the forest, the girls had already acquired their required scrolls, as well as a few extras to help eliminate some of the competition. It had almost laughable at how woefully unprepared many of the teams were. Not just in terms of skill and ability as a shinobi, but at their lack of attention to their surroundings and over all, common sense. If anything, the girls did the teams a favor by eliminating them from the exams, as they clearly were not ready.

Though Morgiana had desperately prayed to Kami that they would cross paths with the mutts team that had the audacity to all but demand that she forsake her vows to her beloved. Even going as far as to threaten to force her to submit to him. The mere thought still infuriated her. Oh how she desperately wanted to smash him into the ground.

"Group up ahead." Xion stated, using her sensory abilities to identify the locations of various groups. "Three members."

"Alright, positions girls." Aqua instructed, prompting each of the girls to move into a defensive position to cover each others openings. Often times called the Kame no Keisei, or the Turtle Formation.

A handful of seconds later, the quintet entered a small clearing surrounding by dense trees to find a trip from Kumogakure. All three of which immediately got into a defensive stance as the five girls entered the clearing.

"Great." The dark skinned male with white hair sighed, moving the sucker that was in his mouth to the other side. "Of all the teams we had to encounter, it had to be the one from Berugakure."

The others watched on as the young man began to come up with outlandish and rediculous scenarios that would play out if they were to fight, causing the girls from Berugakure to form a sweat drop at his antics, while his team mates could only shake their head in annoyance before the red haired woman with dark skin and yellow eyes, pummeled him in the head to shut him up.

"I didn't expect to see you here, Mabui-san." Aqua greeted the remaining female of Kumogakure with a smile, as the blue haired young woman recognized the remaining woman.

A young, dark skinned woman with vibrant green eyes and straight, light gray hair pulled back into a bun, with two bangs that framed both sides of her smooth face, which only served to make her emerald eyes stand out even more. Her attire consisted a dark gray low cut outfit, which displayed her sizable cleavage, a tactic used to catch male opponents off guard, even some female one as well, with mesh armor underneath. A pair of black bicycle shorts cover her lower region, accompanied by shin high kunoichi boots. A kunai holster positioned on her left thigh, while her shurikan pouch was located on her right thigh. A pair of black hand guards, and a modified Kumogakure white flak jacket that covered her stomach only in a girdle like fashion finished her attire.

"We only arrived this morning." The now identified Mabui replied, relaxing her guard a little, much to her team mates surprise. "And you?"

"We arrived yesterday afternoon." The blue haired kunoichi stated, taking a similar relaxed posture, with the other four girls from Berugakure relaxing as well.

"Mabui, what are you doing?" The red haired kunoichi demanded while she readied her katana for attack, wondering why her team mate was acting towards the girls. "They're a potential enemy!"

"Exactly, they could be luring us into a false sense of security so we will drop our guard, and then they will capture us, take our scroll and sell us as slaves to a foreign country!" The white haired teenage boy added, taking an offensive posture as well.

"Karui! Omoi! Stand down, now!" Mabui demanded, glaring at her two team mates, prompting them to lower their weapons and look at her in confusion. "Sorry about them, Aqua-san."

"It's okay." Aqua waved it off. "It's actually refreshing to see a team ready for these exams. We've lost count of how many teams that were woefully unprepared for this. Speaking of which, what scroll do you have?"

At this, both Omoi and Karui tensed at the question. Their hands itching to grab their weapons once more.

"We have the Heaven scroll." The gray haired young woman replied without a worry.

Nodding, Aqua turned to Kairi whom had already begun digging through her pouch before producing an Earth scroll and handing it to the blue haired kunoichi, whom in return handed it to Mabui. Much to the shock of the other two Kumo genin.

"We have a few extra." Kairi smiled.

"As stated, we've lost count of how many teams were not prepared for this." Rory added with a giggle.

"Has…has there been any word yet?" Mabui inquired the girls in a soft tone, causing Omoi to scowl slightly at the question. Something that did not go unnoticed.

"Yes." Aqua answered with a smile, causing Mabui to look up in surprise. "We found him, now we just need to bring him home."

"He's here, isn't he?" The gray haired woman narrowed her eyes as she began to piece together the pieces.

"What are you talking about, Mabui?" Karui asked with an expression of confusion. "What's this about and who is this guy you are talking about?"

"Naruto-kun." Kairi whispered.

"Naruto, Naruto….wait, isn't that the name of the brat that the Raikage forced you into that engagement thing with?" The red head stated rather untactful, earning a few scowls from the Berugakure girls.

"I wasn't forced into the engagement." Mabui sighed. "It is open ended that I am allowed to walk away without any threat to the alliance of our villages. However, I feel it is only fair that I at least meet him and get a chance to know him before I make any choices."

"Which is very admirable, Mabui-san." Xion commented.

Meanwhile, Omoi scowled at the implications as he walked away from the group of girls and posted himself against a tree just on the outskirts of the clearing. Clearly not wanting to hear what the girls were talking about.

"What's with him?" Morgiana inquired as she noticed the white haired teenager walk away.

"He has a crush on me, and is jealous that I have rejected him every time he has asked me out on a date." The gray haired young woman replied with a slight tone of frustration. "Anyways, did you meet him? What's he like?"

"Yes, we did get to meet him." Aqua replied with a slight sigh, a far away look in her eyes. "After seven long years, it felt great to be held by him again."

"Wait, what happened?" Karui blinked, as she was not aware of the entire situation revolving around this Naruto go. The only thing she had been informed of was the arranged engagement between the boy and her friend and team mate.

"Seven years ago I was suppose to meet my fiance for the arranged marriage. It was suppose to be a surprise for him, as his mother had arranged for our meeting to be on his birthday." Mabui recounted with a slight frown. "However, before we could meet, he was kidnapped from his own village."

"What!? Why!?" Karui exclaimed.

At this, all of the girls exchanged a look before Aqua let out a sigh.

"Because Naruto-kun is a Jinchuriki." The bluenette beauty stated bluntly, earning a gasp of realization from the red haired Kumo girl.

"And you think Konoha took him?"

"Not think, we know." Morgiana stated, clenching her fist in anger.

"He's being monitored, no doubt by ANBU." Aqua continued to explain the situation surrounding the blonde haired boy. "It was by pure luck that I managed to run into him last night, and I am sure if we didn't play that communication game when we were younger, we wouldn't have been able to talk at all."

"Communication game?" Mabui tilted her head in confusion.

"Yes." Aqua giggled. "When we were younger, we created a form of rhythmic communication to give each other answers to a test or just talk during class without the teacher suspecting anything."

"But why didn't he try to run away or get a message out?" Karui asked, crossing her arms over her chest as she tried to wrap her head around what she was hearing.

"Because he had a memory seal and a loyalty seal placed upon him, which only recently broke." Xion answered, earning a scowl from both of the Kumo girls. "So he wasn't even aware he had been kidnapped until about two weeks ago."

"So there's no chance to meet him right now?" The gray haired kunoichi inquired.

"Due to them knowing about our history with Naruto-kun, we can't afford to be openly friendly with him." Aqua lamented with a sigh. "But you are an unknown, so you may get a chance to talk with him without arising too much suspicion, just don't be too quick to judge. He has to put on an act until we can get him out of the village."

"I hope Kushina-sama nails the Hokage's balls to the wall for the shit he's pulled." Rory hissed in anger, earning a nod of agreement from the other Beru girls.

"Wait, are you talking about 'THE' Kushina? As in Kushina of the Crimson Blade?" The red haired Kumo girl asked, wide eyed. "Why the hell hasn't she already smashed down the gates and raze the village?"

"Because Kushina-sama has something far more devious planned." Xion gave a sadistic grin. "We don't know what it is, but willing to bet, it will cause far more lasting marks then property damage."

"Well, we better….."

Suddenly a wave of coldness washed over all of the Beru girls, prompting them all to look in the same direction just to the east of them. Each of their eyes widening in terror as they realized what the feeling was.

'Naruto-kun!' The all mentally screamed.

"We gotta go, now!" Aqua ordered, earning a concerned look from Mabui due to the girls sudden change of demeanor.

"What's going on?" The Kumo girl asked as she watched the girls begin to bound off.

"Naruto-kun is in trouble." Was the quick answer she was given before the group of girls from Berugakure disappeared into the trees at full speed.

'Good, maybe if something happens to the brat, Mabui-chan will finally notice me.' Omoi thought darkly as he kicked up off the tree he was leaning against to rejoin his two team mates.

Team 7

Sasuke was writing in pain on the ground, desperately grasping his neck where the strange man had bitten him, screaming out in agony before falling unconcious. Sakura on the other hand sported numerous minor injuries and was battered and bruised and panting heavily, leaning against a tree for support as she could only helplessly look on as the monster that had attacked them stalked slowly towards her blonde team mate and friend. She struggled to get up to help, but only succeeded in stumbling over her own feet and falling face first into the dirt.

"Who the fuck are you, bastard?" Naruto questioned aggressively as he took a defensive stance with a kunai in hand, readying himself for anything this creepy looking man would throw at him.

"Ku ku ku, isn't this a surprise." The lanky man chuckled with a sinister smile as he stalked closer to Naruto. "The missing heir of the Uzumaki royal family, my my my, what a scandal my former sensei has embroiled himself in."

Hearing this, both Sakura and Naruto's eyes widened, each for different reasons. For Sakura, it was in shock upon learning that Naruto was thought to be some missing heir to a royal family. Naruto though, it was in fear as he realized just who it was that stood before them. From there, the blonde jinchuriki was able to connect the dots as to what the Snake Sannin had done to the fallen Uchiha. Then there was the fact that Orochimaru knew who exactly who he was, which caused the blonde boy to cast a cautious glance at his pink haired team mate, knowing full well that she had heard what the snake bastard had said.

'Guess she is going to have some questions if we survive this.' Naruto mused.

'We'll get through this kit.' Kurama reassured his host. 'If nothing else, I can take control and we can brush it off as my chakra seeping out due to dire stress.'

'Would prefer not to.' The blonde mentally sighed as he imagined various scenarios that would cause. 'We're lucky they didn't tamper with the seal due to the events in Wave. Guarantee that if we do that here, the old bastard will tighten the seals.'

'Fair point, kit.' The fox agreed with a light scowl. Sure, he would be able to ward off the memory seal and loyalty seal if it was to be reapplied and other such seals, but if the bastards tampered with his actual seal, it could spell all sorts of trouble for the both of them.

"As for young Sasuke-kun, I merely gave him something to remember me by." Orochimaru chuckled, turning his attention fully back towards the blonde before him, causing Naruto to flinch under the mans cold glare. "You however, could become a problem to my plans."

At this, Naruto readied his kunai, trying to shake off his fear as much as he could. He knew he stood no chance against the Snake Sannin as he was. Especially due to how this cesspool of a village had sabotaged his growth.

"Especially with that beast in your gut." Orochimaru stated.

Without warning, the snake's tongue shot out of his mouth towards Naruto, completely catching the young blonde off guard as the tongue wrapped around his arms and chest, while the tip of the tongue moved to lift up the lower part of his jumpsuit, exposing the seal on his belly.

'Shit/Shit!' Both Naruto and Kurama thought at the same time, immediately knowing what the snake bastard was planning.

Sure enough, Orochimaru's fingers on his right hand lit up with a blue fiery like aura at the tips, aiming straight for the seal. Out of desperation Naruto used both hands to block it from making contact, fighting against the snake like tongue that was wrapped around him. Just barely keeping the Sannin from making contact with his gut.

"Hey! Assbutt!" A girl shouted from the side of the two.

The next thing either of them knew, Orochimaru was sent smashing into a tree curtousy of the blunt end of Rory's massive halberd, as the black haired beauty landed next to Naruto. Casting a concerned look to her fiance, receiving a subtle nod from the blonde. Giving a subtle nod of her own, Rory then turned her attention to the tree she had sent the snake bastard flying in to, gripping her weapon. As she did so, Xion landed next to her with her massive sword at the ready.

As the two raven haired girls kept watch for the Snake Sannin, the rest of the girls entered the battle field, though it wasn't missed by Sakura that as each of the girls entered the small clearing, their eyes immediately locked onto Naruto, and she had a feeling it wasn't because of his orange jumpsuit.

"We meet again Naruto-san." The girl with blue haired commented as she approached the blonde as he slowly stood up, her blue eyes scanning all over his body for signs of any serious injuries. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, thank you Aqua-san." He replied, wanting to alleviate any concern his fiances had. Knowing that his 'Lover's Seal' had to have notified them that he was in danger.

"How does she know your name, Naruto?" Sakura inquired from her position sitting on the forest floor, prompting the blue haired girl to turn around and see the state the pink haired girl was in.

"Kairi, help her." Aqua instructed before turning her attention back to Sakura as the red haired Beru kunoichi set to work checking over the pinkette's injuries before utilizing her Iryo Ninjutsu to heal her wounds, much to the amazement of Sakura. "We met last night at Ichiruka's when I went to get some ramen for my team, even paid for my order. Such a gentleman."

With her task of healing Sakura done, the red head then moved over to Naruto, earning a small smile from him as he nodded for her to go ahead and heal him. Despite the fact that Kurama could easily take care of his wounds, he knew it would mean the world to his red haired fiance if she could help him. Across from them, Sakura watched as her blonde team mate and friend seemed perfectly relaxed around this strange girls. While she was well aware that Berugakure were allies with Konoha, they were still participating in an exam, making everyone, even teams from their own village a potential enemy.

"What happened to him?" Morgiana asked, gesturing towards the unconscious Sasuke.

"Son of a bitch pedophile bit his neck and put a hickey on him of some kind." Naruto replied, looking Aqua directly in the eye, making sure she understood exactly what he was implying.

Nodding, the blue haired beauty moved over to the fallen Uchiha, checking the boys neck to identify the mark. Seeing it, a scowl settled in upon her face. Sure enough, just as she suspected, Orochimaru had marked the Uchiha with his cursed mark. Quickly, she reached into her pouch and pulled out a brush and some fuinjutsu ink.

"What's she going to do to Sasuke?" Sakura asked, standing up.

"The one that attacked you wasn't a Genin, as I am sure you know by now." Xion commented as she approached the group. "His name is Orochimaru, the traitor Sannin over your village. As for what Aqua-chan is doing, she is applying a suppression seal to keep the Curse seal restrained until it can be removed safely."

"That's what the bastard did when he bit Sasuke, Sakura-chan." Naruto added as he joined the girls, squatting down next to Sakura before looking up at the other black haired beauty who was now approaching the group.

"Slimy bastard ran away." Rory grunted as she leaned against her weapon with a pout. "And Sasha here was so eager to taste his blood."

"So, you're the team from Berugakure?" Sakura inquired, attempting to strike up some small talk with the blue haired girl identified as Aqua continued to work.

"You are correct." Xion replied. "Name's Xion, Berugakure's 'Queen of Blades'."

"I am Morgiana, Berugakure's 'Feral Fist Master'." The pink haired Beru kunoichi introduced herself, prompting Sakura to take a double glance, since only her father shared her hair color, much to the mans embarrassment.

"Rory 'the Reaper'." The girl with long black haired stated with a smirk as she gauged the pinkette's reaction to her nickname. She was not disappointed as Sakura's expression was one mixed of shock, and a trace amount of fear.

"I'm Kairi." The red head that healed them earlier introduced herself. "My goal is to surpass Tsunade-sama as the Elemental Nations best Medical Kunoichi."

"And the snow cone over there is Aqua, Berugakure's next Fuinjutsu prodigy." The girl named Morgiana stated as she gestured towards the blue haired kunoichi that was finishing up with the seal on Sasuke.

"Pleased to meet you all." Sakura bowed her head. "My name is Sakura Haruno, as for my dreams, well, they have shifted recently."

The four girls from Berugakure each smirked and shared a knowing look between one another before they all turned their attention to their blonde lover, whom only shrugged his shoulders with an expression of confusion written on his face.

"He should be fine, but he will be out of action for up to twelve hours." Aqua informed the two conscious members of Team 7.

"Thank you Aqua-san." Naruto said as he stood up once more to meet the blue haired kunoichi.

"It is no problem, we are all friends after all." She smiled.

"Um, what scroll do you need?" Kairi inquired.

"We have the Heaven scroll, so we need an Earth." The blonde jinchuriki answered.

Upon hearing the answer, Kairi quickly rummaged through her pouch and produced an Earth scroll, handing it to Naruto, much to the shock of Sakura to see the girl just hand over one of the scrolls as if it was nothing.

"Thank you, Kairi-san." Naruto smiled, causing the poor red head to blush. Prompting her to clench her fists tightly to restrain herself from tackling him in a hug and claiming his lips.

"We can stick around, if you would like Naruto-san." Aqua offered.

"We should be good now, thank you." The blonde replied with a smile. "We're going to rest and set off first thing in the morning for the tower."

'Besides, Kairi-chan is already struggling to keep her emotions reigned in, as am I.' The blonde mentally sighed. After the previous night, he desperately wanted to take each of his girls into his arms once more.

"Very well, Naruto-san." The blue haired kunoichi replied, a little disheartened at his refusal, but she understood his reasoning. She could already see the frustration washing over Kairi's face, and no doubt the other girls were feeling the same way. "We shall see you at the tower then."

With one final nod, the Berugakure kunoichi departed towards the massive tower visible from their location, leaving Sakura and Naruto alone with an unconcious Sasuke.

Silence fell over the two conscious team members as Sakura stayed in her sitting position near the tree, trying to wrap her head around what had just transpired in the span of twenty minutes. First they were attacked by Orochimaru, Konoha's most well known traitor for the sole purpose of placing some sort of mark on Sasuke for reasons she didn't quite understand yet, though she knew no good could come from it. Then there was the fact that the Snake Sannin had called Naruto the missing Heir to the Uzumaki Royal family, and even implied that the Hokage was involved some how.

Lastly, there was the Berugakure team. The pinkette couldn't put her finger on it, but it felt as if Naruto had a connection with those girls, far deeper then what he had let on. The sense of familiarity that seemed to emanate from each of them when they acknowledged each other. Especially the red haired one, Kairi. Sakura noted how the aspiring medic blushed when she was close to Naruto while she was healing him. Not to mention, she could see the girls muscles tensing, as if trying to restrain herself from doing something more physical with the blonde boy. Causing a sense of jealousy to rise up within the pinkette.

Sakura didn't know the exact reason why, but she was positive that the five girls had come to help Naruto, and that her and Sasuke had only benefited due to being on the same team as the blonde.

'I say when we get to the tower, we should corner him about it.' Inner commented.

'Why not now?' Sakura mentally questioned. 'I mean, Sasuke is unconcious and we're alone.'

'Because we're in the middle of the Forest of Death.' Her inner self pointed out. 'We may be alone, but we are not safe.'

'Good point.' The pinkette conceded, casting another glance at Naruto who was beginning to clear an area near the massive roots of one of the trees.

Having made her choice to corner the blonde in the tower, Sakura got up from her spot and set out to help Naruto set up the camp. While she furnished a make shelf shelter of sticks, leaves and mud, the blonde jinchuriki and set off to make various traps around the camp site as well as secure some food and water from the bountiful resources the forest offered, before heading back to camp.

'We're being watched kit.' Kurama growled, sensing three figures lingering just on the outskirts of the trap line he had set up.

'I know, they've finally managed to take out all of my clone teams that were sent out as decoys Pretty sure our scrap with the pedophile attracted them to our location.' Naruto replied with a small sigh.

'Took them long enough, even if your clones weren't fighting back.' The fox commented. 'So what's your plan, kit?'

'I've got a surprise in store for them, but I am going to need your help.' The blonde chuckled darkly.

Later That Night

Screams echoed through the trees as various genin teams fell to the nightly horrors the properly named Forest of Death concealed. For his part, Naruto did not envy those who were unprepared for this place. Having sought refuge in this forest numerous times over the past seven years away from the angry mobs that would gather each year on his birthday, he knew full well the horrors this forest held. Which was part of the reason he had insisted he would take the night watch to watch over his team and allow them to sleep through the night. As much as she had grown over the past few weeks, he knew Sakura wasn't ready for this place at night time.

As he sat there, he could feel the three chakra signatures maneuvering through the traps he had set up. Smirking to himself, he waited for them to get closer to the camp before he stood up and face the three unwanted visitors. This was the other reason Naruto had insisted he take watch.

"You're not genin." He blatantly stated, eyeing the three individuals. "What are you doing here?"

"Kyuubi Jinchuriki." One of them stated stiffly, prompting Naruto to frown slightly.

'Emotionless, skills higher then that of your typical Genin and full knowledge of my status.' Naruto surmised. 'This has the old bastards scent all over it.'

"You two carry out the mission, make sure she doesn't survive." The one in front of Naruto ordered, causing him to scowl further. "But leave Uchiha-sama unspoiled."

At this, Naruto couldn't help but let out a low laugh, catching the three Root members attention. Looking up, he decided to let them in on his own personal joke.

"Fortunately, my team isn't here." He said.

As soon as he spoke, the campsite began to dissolve into nothing, revealing that it had been a genjutsu all along, much to the horror of the three nameless Root members, since their mission was now in jeopardy.

"Let me guess, you were ordered by that old bastard to kill Sakura-chan in order to break my mind and force me to use the Kyuubi's power." Naruto gave a sadistic knowing grin. "How we just skip to the part where I just use the foxes power instead, shall we?"

Upon saying that, Naruto's eyes flashed red, as red and yellow chakra began to engulf his body. A single chakra tail swaying in a threatening manner behind him. A few seconds later, screams erupted through the trees, shattering the still of the night.

Additional Authors Notes: And done!

So this chapter was fun. Sakura got to meet the girls, and while she wasn't able to show it, she is a little jealous of how familiar they seem to act around Naruto. Not to mention, PediMaru blurted out Naruto's secret, which gives our little pinkette a bit more to ponder about her blonde team mate, friend, and crush. Now, as for Naruto identifying Orochimaru simply based off the snake mentioning his old sensei, I figured it would be common knowledge that Hiruzen trained the tree Sannin as it would be on of the old mans shinning achievements before Orochimaru betrayed the village.

Also expanded the Berugakure girls a bit more, with their nicknames and dreams for the future. I figured Kairi would be the best pick to be the medic of the team, with her caring personality, while Aqua would be the one that would be the Fuinjutsu specialist with her focused mind. As for the others, they are clearly the front line support of the team. Though I will say that all of the girls are proficient in Fuinjutsu, just Aqua is more adapt at it.

As for the bit with Sasuke, I debated on whether I would have Naruto put the suppression seal on the curse mark or not, before deciding to have Aqua do it. Which hers will be a lot more efficient then what Kakashi would have done, so there is less of a threat of him being influenced by the mark.

And lastly, Mabui was introduced into the story, with a little bit of background about her engagement with Naruto. As you notice, she doesn't use the -chan suffix with the girls or the -kun suffix with Naruto. This is on purpose as she doesn't have the same bonds as the others do, at least not yet. As stated, Naruto was kidnapped before they were to officially meet, so not even Naruto is aware of her yet.

We can also see Omoi is a bit jealous of Naruto, which is going to be fun in the next chapter during the preliminary fights. So you can guess who Naruto is going to end up fighting.

Anyways, I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter. As always, leave your thoughts in the reviews, or hit me up with a private message!