Chapter Text
Hinata, Naruto, and Shikamaru double-checked the supplies in their packs. They had one shot to get this done. Everything had to be perfect. One slip-up could cause irrefutable damage or their deaths.
“If Orochimaru isn’t here, then why are Kabuto and Sound Village here?” Naruto muttered. They surveyed the leftover teams. There were fewer than last time, but still a good number of contestants. Each one eyed his team as if they were snacks easily to gobble up. Little would they know that they planned to turn the tables.
“You likely did change something by giving Rasa a heads-up,” Shikamaru responded despondently. “Kabuto has been doing this for a few years and is likely feeding Orochimaru whatever he can find about the next generation, and the sound ninja still need to graduate to chunin.”
“That could be why,” Naruto sighed. “What do you think, Hinata? You ready for this?”
She nodded, buckled her pack close, and rose to her feet. “What gate are we at again? Gate 12?”
“Yeah.” Shikamaru nodded, pointing in the right direction. “That was the gate Naruto’s team had last time if I’m correct.”
“E-everyone will be aiming for our team too,” Hinata stammered, tapping her index fingers together. Naruto had gathered it to be a nervous tick for the girl. He didn’t blame her. He had the same uncomfortable feeling in his stomach.
“Let them think we’re weak now,” Shikamaru said. “This is the only chance we got, and we got five days to do it.”
They were given a heaven scroll. Thirteen teams would be battling for spots in the third exam, meaning there wasn’t even enough for half to pass. However, it was entirely unlikely that five teams would get through either. At least one or two would open the scrolls from Shikamaru’s estimates. Many aspects of the exam could go wrong, like teams would kill each other hoping to gain a scroll, some finding it to be one they already had, or worse, the forest would kill them.
They traveled deep into the forest, away from prying eyes, and set up their camp. Some would have said this was a show of overconfidence. However, this wasn’t overconfidence. It was the truth. They set up camp because they knew they could handle the contestants. Now, all that was left for them to do was do what they came to do. They were going to hunt down the agents of Orochimaru and ensure they would never leave the Forest of Death…. alive.
Gara’s team made it to the tower within an hour or something, breaking a whole lot of records if Shikamaru's memory was reliable. They made sure not to camp near the sand sibling’s path of travel. That was one issue they didn’t need to deal with, and Naruto wasn’t ready to handle Gaara yet.
Hinata was scanning the area around them when she said, “Naruto, Shikamaru. W-we got company coming.”
“Which team?” Shikamaru asked, wondering if their hunt was already starting.
Hinata shook her as if to answer his unasked question. “Oboro.”
“Ah, they attacked my team last time, too,” Naruto groaned, remembering the humiliation that occurred. However, an idea still struck him. “They could have any scroll, though. I can make this quick.”
“Take them out,” Shikamaru agreed. “Toss the bodies for other people to find. They’re not our targets.”
“On it!” Naruto saluted, racing off. Despite the fact that Naruto didn’t take revenge like Sasuke. Naruto did, in fact, hold grudges and held many grudges against many people. Naruto was also a spiteful individual. If you were going to mess with him, he would most certainly mess with you. He had not forgotten what the Oboro team did to him.
Naruto waited for one to separate from the group and pounced. Naruto then hedged to take the boy’s place and infiltrated the group before taking them out. It was no fun just to take them on. You need to play with your victims and give them the terror of their lives.
However, Naruto wasn’t cruel either. He tied the unconscious bodies to a tree where fate would decide their future. Either they would escape, be killed by the forest, or be killed by their other opponents. What happened now was out of his hands.
Shikamaru and Hinata were finishing up dinner when he came back. The first part of the exam took the better part of the morning. It was well past lunch when they reached the Forest of Death. Naruto spent the better part of the afternoon playing with team Oboro. After all that, Naruto was hungry. Hinata was an excellent cook and grinned at the thought.
“Had fun?” Shikamaru laughed at Naruto’s fox-like grin.
“I ran into them during our first time,” Naruto said as Hinata handed him a bowl, which Naruto helped himself to eagerly. “They made a bit of a fool of me, and I had to get saved by Sasuke. I thought I’d return the favor.”
Hinata hummed in response. She was more passive than he. However, even she could be a tad spiteful to Naruto’s amusement. “They’re not dead,” he continued, “just tied to a tree. Someone will find them. What happens after that is their problem.”
They all understood what would happen to them if a group found them before they escaped. No one said it out loud, though.
“What scroll did they have?” she asked. Naruto tossed her another heaven scroll. It was a useless scroll to them now, but it cut down the competition.
They bedded down for the night. Naruto took the first watch. However, the other genin teams would be twitchy and eager to take on the rookie genin. He signaled to his teammates when he felt another team on the outskirts of his seals. After observing them on his trip with Jiraiya, Naruto based the seal on spider webs. It told Naruto where they were but didn’t harm them yet, allowing them to entrap themselves further.
“Where?” Shikamaru said sleepily, stirring from his bed.
Naruto gestured in three directions, and three screams cried through the forest. They got too close to the camp, setting the second layer of the seal. Hinata, Shikamaru, and Naruto split up. When Naruto got to the genin entrapped, his heart skipped a beat, and he grew nauseous. The woman was dead. Blood dripped from her wounds, as was the purpose of the seal. However, he didn’t expect to catch Team Shiore in his seal. The ninja wire had dug into the woman’s flesh. It wasn’t enough, though; he had to be sure. His hand shook, but he cut into the woman’s face regardless. It was the woman and not Orochimaru.
“Naruto, are you alright?” Hinata asked as he returned. Naruto nodded mutely, but his body trembled as he sat down.
“Your seals worked,” Shikamaru replied, glancing sparingly at Naruto. “They were dead when we arrived. They had an earth scroll, but Hinata’s right. Are you okay? You look a bit pale.”
Naruto folded his arms across his chest, tightly hugging himself. “Team Shiore was the team Orochimaru killed to get into this part of the exam. The one I found was the lady Orochimaru took over.”
“Ah,” Shikamaru said dryly. “You okay?”
Naruto nodded with an unsteady breath, and Hinata rubbed his back gently. “I’m okay now,” he murmured.
“Go to bed,” she whispered in his ear, and he leaned onto her shoulder with a whine. “It’s my turn to keep watch.”
“Come on, Naruto.” Shikamaru helped him up, leading the blond to his bed, and tucked him in before tucking himself in.
Naruto groaned. His head pounded as though he was thrown a good distance. When he rolled over, he found himself in the shadow of a giant snake. Naruto’s legs felt numb and wobbled underneath him. What. How had he gotten here? Orochimaru wasn’t here. He wasn’t that woman this time. Then why was it here? Why was he here?
The snake struck, and Naruto scurried to get out of the way, but he was too slow, and the snake coiled around Naruto, squeezing him before swallowing him whole.
Hinata rubbed Naruto’s back as he twitched in his sleep. His face crunched, whimpering softly. It was still early dawn, and she and Shikamaru were already setting up for the morning. They had a lot to do.
“How is he?” Shikamaru asked, peeking into the tent.
“He’s having a nightmare,” she replied. “It’s this place. It’s triggering old memories.”
Naruto jolted awake, and Hinata gave him room, jerking back. The last thing they needed was for him to believe that she was a threat by getting too close. They were trained ninjas. He could seriously hurt her, or she would need to hurt him, neither of which they could afford.
Clarity slowly came to the forefront of his eyes.
“Hinata.... Shikamaru?” Naruto shook his head and rubbed his eyes to rid himself of the last bits of sleep fogging his mind.
“Hey, you with us now?” Shikamaru asked quietly. He nodded.
“Sorry,” he said softly, barely making any noise.
“Don’t be,” Hinata reached to touch his cheek, and Naruto leaned into her touch. “T-this place has bad memories for all of us, but once this is over, we can head to the tower. You are not alone, Naruto. We’re here with you.”
“Thank you.” Naruto picked himself up. “I couldn’t have gotten this far without you.”
“Nor could we,” Shikamaru chuckled. “We don’t have that sort of manpower. We make a good team.”
“Lazy ass,” Naruto muttered and shook his head.
“Hey!”
Hinata could only giggle.
Naruto yawned as his seal permitter got tripped once again. He hated waiting, but they were baiting their prey. The teams were practically drooling to go after the weaklings; they might as well use it to their advantage.
“Hey guys, we got another incoming,” Naruto announced. “They’re careful, too.”
“Alright, let’s split up,” Shikamaru told them.
Hinata used her byakugan. While her eyes didn’t let her see normal sight while using her byakugan, she could differentiate the team.
“It’s Team Dozo.”
Shikamaru grimaced. “Cover your ears. These guys manipulate your hearing, popping your eardrums, making you dizzy.”
“Got it,” Naruto and Hinata replied. It wasn’t long. Naruto slammed a rasengan into his guy, and Shikamaru restrained the other two while Hinata took them out.
“I found their scroll,” Hinata said. “It’s a heaven scroll.”
“Great, we got three heaven scrolls now.” Naruto threw his arms up. “Let’s go find Kabuto’s team.”
Kabuto woke slowly, taking stock of his body. He found his movements restricted, and his chakra coils burned inside his body. His glasses were gone, and the image of the world around him was nothing more than an unfocused camera lens.
“Oh, good, you’re awake.” Though a bit blurred, Kabuto could make out Naruto, of all people. He smiled eerily. “It took you long enough. We’ve been waiting for ages, y’know.”
“Naruto, what?” Kabuto struggled against his restraints, which tightened in response. Hinata Hyuga and Shikamaru Nara stood behind Naruto with stern, cold faces. These kids thought they could take him on. “Naruto, I-I thought we were friends. You don’t need my scroll. We could help each other.”
“I’m gonna be frank here.” Naruto popped to a crouch so he and Kabuto could be at about the same level. Kabuto’s eyes and Naruto’s were level with each other; Naruto’s eyes were like a blue sky on a winter day. “We know you’re working with Orochimaru. What I want is info. So spill.”
“I-I don’t know what you’re talking about?” Kabuto stammered. “I-ah!”
Naruto dug his kunai into Kabuto’s shoulder. Warm red blood dripped from his shoulder.
“Stop it,” Shikamaru growled, grabbing the Kabuto’s shirt. “We know about the planned assignation of the Kazekage and the Hokage.”
“If you know that much, why do you need me?” Kabuto gasped. He tried to access his chakra, but his coils burned to even try to use it. Did the Hyuga shut his coils? It made sense, but that didn’t bode well for him.
“Because Orochimaru isn’t here, now, is he?” Naruto said, twisting the kunai deeper into the wound. “Did Orochimaru take the Kazekage’s place?”
Kabuto gritted his teeth through the pain, his mind reeling for a way out of this. Naruto yanked out the kunai and dug a new tool out of his bag…. a lighter!
“If you don’t tell us, I’m going to set your hair on fire,” Naruto told him in a tone that promised him pain. Kabuto’s eyes widened. They wouldn’t…. they were rookie genin…. with practically no experience….
“But you’re pipsqueaks!” Kabuto exclaimed, voicing his thoughts, and struggled against the restraints with all his might. How did they know how to tie so well!? “Little genin who been out of the village about once in their lives! I have all of your records. All of them!”
Naruto flicked the lighter on, and Kabuto’s stomach dropped. “You don’t even have the guts. You’re just playing with what you saw Ibiki like. Trying to be tough. You little squirts don’t have the guts.”
Naruto yanked Kabuto’s head forward by his hair and lit his ponytail.
“Now, we could put that out, or you could cooperate,” Shikamaru suggested lazily.
“Lord Orochimaru wasn’t able to defeat the Kazekage!” Kabuto screamed. “They knew he was coming and had to retreat!”
Naruto put out the fire by cutting his ponytail by the base with a flick of his kunai. Kabuto knew they wouldn’t go through with it. He’d give them info. When they let him go, he’d killed them then.
The Hyuga smiled, patting Kabuto on the head. “Good boy,” she cooed. “Now, what is his plan for Konoha, and what is your plan during the exams?”
“Who sent you?” Kabuto spat back. They didn’t come up with this on their own. Even if he did kill them, he must warn Lord Orochimaru of this new potential threat.
“That wasn’t an answer, dick,” Naruto snarled, slapping Kabuto across the face, making Kabuto’s head throb. “Answer the lady, or I will start breaking your fingers one by one.”
“You might as well break my fingers off completely,” Kabuto grunted out, spitting out blood from his mouth from biting his tongue.
“We can do that,” the Nara said nonchalantly. Kabuto whitened; he was bluffing. These kids would back out at the last minute. However, at that moment, he noticed his dead, bloodied teammate crumpled on the ground at the tree in front of them. “Naruto, hand me those pliers.”