Chapter 65

Jiraiya explained the rules of the exam with the most disinterested voice the Sannin was capable of. "You'll probably die so you have to fill out these release forms." He yawned and pulled out a stack of papers. "Take them over there when you're ready." Then he began to pass out forms to the genin.

I was scanning the crowd, looking for familiar faces. There was the Sound team I remembered that Orochimaru sent to test Sasuke. I had forgotten their names since they weren't in any bingo books for me to cross reference with my notes. "Wonder what they're here for this time..." There were a few other noteworthy teams. Kiba was here, although I didn't recognize his teammates. Naruto was nearby also, talking excitedly to Shino. A couple of Grass teams also caught my eye, although it didn't seem like the Snake Sannin was disguised among them this time.

"Sakura, remember what I said. Don't use it unless it's a life-or-death situation," I cautioned the pink-haired girl. Sasuke was somewhat trustworthy but I didn't want to risk anything until the finals.

The girl nodded in acquiescence. Sasuke noticed and asked, "What are you talking about?"

"Just something I've been working on with Sakura. It's not ready yet though."

At that point, Naruto came by with Hinata and Shino to wish us luck. Sasuke dropped the subject but continued to look at me suspiciously until we handed in our forms and reached the gates to the Forest of Death.

As soon as the gates opened, Sasuke, Sakura, and I rushed into the forest.

I swiped my hand over the seals in my bracers and shin guards. "Man, these seal-based weights are really convenient. I'm pretty lucky Zabuza had such a big bounty. Maybe I should think about becoming a bounty hunter." Then I paused for a moment to dismiss my chakra, something I had started to call Zetsu, even though chakra and nen worked very differently. I found it easier to describe it to Hinata if I named the technique.

I flipped up my hood over my head and spoke, "Alright, you two go find some scrolls. I have something I need to take care of. See you later!"

"What? Where are you going? You can't just leave us in the middle of..."

That's all I heard Sakura say as I veered off toward my target. The two of them should be enough to take care of any genin that they came across. Hopefully I'd be back before they met any really strong ninja.

"Hopefully I won't get swallowed by a giant snake before I can get back."

I followed a crow through the forest to a particular Kusagakure team. As it was, I had a lot of extra eyes in the forest already. My birds weren't really very talkative partners but it didn't hinder our working relationship.

I hopped from tree branch to tree branch, concentrating on moving silently and not accidentally falling off without my chakra. Eventually, I sighted the three Grass genin. Two males and one female. They seemed to be talking to each other quietly.

I readied a pair of senbon in each hand between my fingers. "I hope all my practice with Haku paid off." From my perch above them, I flung the senbon into the necks of the male genin. They fell to the ground limply and the red-headed girl started to scream.

I dropped down and raised my hand toward the girl, my fingers curling upward. "Karin, join me and together we can rule the galaxy," I rasped.

"Who...who are you?" she asked fearfully as I stood over her.

Through my hood, I spoke, "Karin, I am your father!"

She fell backward and screamed, "No! It can't be true! My parents are dead!"

I broke into laughter. "Yeah, you're right. I was just kidding." Her reaction was priceless. In the back of my mind, I hoped to God that I wasn't actually her father because of some stupid Time-Travel jutsu. My life was enough like fanfiction as it was.

Eventually, Karin was able to work her mouth enough to ask, "What...what's going on?"

"Here's the deal, Red. I just killed your teammates. You can either come with me and defect to Konoha or die right now. If I were you though, I'd pick the option where you get to meet your only living relative, Uzumaki Karin-san." "Other than Nagato, that is."

"What...what are you?" she stuttered in terror as she looked toward her fallen team mates.

"I'm no one of any significance," I answered.

"No...Why don't you...why don't you have any chakra?" There was a note of curiosity in her voice.

"That's not important right now. Look, Red, I don't have all day. I still have to get scrolls to pass this stupid test. Are you going to come with me or do I have to kill you?" I asked impatiently.

"Are they really dead? They still have..." Karin poked one of her team mates, who let out a groan despite being paralysed.

I formed a tiny bit of chakra in my hand and used it to activate the seal containing the Kubikiribocho in my sleeve. I brought the sword down clean through the neck of the young genin. His head rolled a couple inches away from Karin, who screamed.

Unfortunately, no one was around to come to her aid. If the other genin knew what was going on, he wisely chose to play dead. It would be important that someone report back to Orochimaru.