2/3

Naruto let out an unsettling chuckle "Well aren't we the clever one?" he disappeared, revealing Shiore in his place "Tell me, if your teammate is really that dimwitted then why would your other teammate come up with a password he'd never be able to remember?"

"Tatsu didn't make if specifically for Naruto, rather for anyone nearby who was trying to eavesdrop on us. Tatsu clearly meant it as a trap, a trap you stumbled right into."

"Impressive, you and that other one certainly haven't dropped your guard have you? This promises to be very entertaining."

'The real question is, where are Naruto and Tatsu right now?'

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Naruto was lying against a tree, completely fried "Ow…"

Tatsu got him on his feet and slapped him out of his stupor "Get up stupid, we got separated from Sasuke and now he's alone with Sakura somewhere."

"Oh shit." then he saw a gigantic snake hovering over them "Oh shit."

"Move!" he grabbed Naruto and got him out of the way as the snake lunged, only for them to be swallowed by it after being caught off guard "Crap! I blame you for this!"

"How is this my fault?!"

"Because every time I'm around you alone when Sasuke isn't here, my life turns into a running gag!"

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Shiore pulled out an Earth Scroll "You'd love to get your hands on our Earth Scroll wouldn't you? It would go so nicely with your Heaven Scroll." using her long snake-like tongue, she swallowed it whole "Well when this is all over, one of us will have both scrolls and the other will be dead." she then cast a genjutsu, showing Sasuke and Sakura their own deaths, paralyzing them.

Sasuke was left extremely freaked out 'Is this an illusion?' he coughed up blood and vomit before falling to his knees 'No, it's more than that. Her thirst for blood is almost palpable. Looking in her eyes, I saw the moment of my own death. Who is she? More importantly, what is she? S-Sakura…" no response 'Should've guessed, she's got it worse than me. We've gotta get out of here… get away from her… She's death…'

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"Let us out of here!" Naruto repeatedly punched the walls of the snake's stomach.

"Naruto, shut up." Tatsu ordered bluntly "I'm gonna try something to get us out of here, I was hoping to save it for later but oh well. Shadow Clone Jutsu!" he formed a clone "Let's make this quick, we've only got one shot before we're digested."

"Right." the clone gathered chakra into the original's hand.

Naruto froze 'What's that jutsu? I can feel it's sheer power from here. Is it his Tenseigan? No, it's something different.'

"Rasengan!" Tatsu, the original, fired a Rasengan at the walls of the snake's stomach, resulting in a gorey explosion that scattered the guts and slime all over the forest "Well that was a lot more revolting than I wanted it to be."

"Tatsu, what was that jutsu?"

"Something I learned from Kakashi specifically for the exam. I'll teach it to you later, but for now we need to find Sasuke and Sakura."

"Right."

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Sasuke was internally struggling 'What's wrong with me? Move… come on, move! That's it, you can do this…' he grabbed a tanto Tatsu gave him from his pouch 'There! Now Tatsu said something was special about this tanto, but what? Well no time to worry about it, for now focus on surviving.' he slowly made his way to his feet 'That's right… come on… even if it's just a little, you've gotta move.'

Shiore smirked "Very good, now what happens?"

Sasuke suddenly froze again 'It's no use… I can't move…'

"Don't worry I'll make it quick, but I don't have to tell you that do I?" Shiore drew two kunai and slowly waltzed forward "You've seen it with your own eyes. I expected you to be more of a challenge, how disappointing." she flung each kunai at one of them.

'Is this really it? Is this how it ends? Old Man Hokage… Kakashi… Naruto… Tatsu… especially Tatsu… after I lost my clan and he lost his brother, he was always there for me. Naruto was always jealous of me and how I had an army of fangirls constantly bugging me, even though I would've given any of them to him in a heartbeat… Still, we had our moments, like when we worked together with Tatsu to free Kakashi the first time we fought Zabuza. In a way, we were probably good for each other, always competing, pushing each other on every challenge, and I nearly sacrificed myself to save him… and I told him not to let his dream die… No! I can't give up like this! If I give up against someone like this, how could I hope to defeat Itachi?' he suddenly deflected both kunai with his tanto, chakra radiating from the blade 'So that's what's special about this blade. Well then… Lightning Style: Purple Thunder Slash!" he channeled the Purple Thunder chakra through his blade and slashed, using it as a cover so he could grab Sakura and escape.

Shiore made no attempts to stop him 'So that's how it is. Rather desperate, but clever. He let the discharge of chakra allow him to overcome the fear, so this prey is not so helpless after all.'

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Sasuke put away his tanto away and put a hand over Sakura's mouth 'Gotta move… gotta get away from her… but how? Where?'

Sakura had been freaking out until she finally got Sasuke's hand off "Sasuke, behind us!"

Sasuke looked at the giant snake behind them, and they just barely got out of the way "This is unbelievable, I didn't even notice. I'm losing it!" he saw a shadow of Shiore on top of the snake and nearly lost it "STAY BACK!" he frantically fired a barrage of shuriken, killing the snake instantly, the corpse leaking blood.

Then the skin cracked open, and Shiore emerged from it "I sense your fear and desperation."

Sasuke's Sharingan flared into life.

"It's only natural, the prey must never let down its guard, not even for a moment, in the presence of its predator." she wrapped her extending snake-like body around a tree, her snake-like tongue sticking out of her mouth.

Sasuke let out a fearful yelp and was about to unleash Purple Thunder, when…

"Wind Style: Skybound Wind!" a blast of wind severed the branch in two "Looks like we showed up just in time.

Sasuke looked to where the blast came from and breathed a sigh of relief "Tatsu… Naruto… you're here…"

Naruto smirked "And by the way, what was that password again?"

"Good, you're both here. Let's team up and-"

"Change of plans." Tatsu cut him off by chopping him on the neck, knocking him out "Sorry about this Sasuke, but we can't let you find out Naruto's secret, at least not yet."

Shiore smirked "So you two managed to escape from my friend, well done."

'I figured there was no way for that to be a random giant snake attack, but this chakra feels so foul and impure… no, it couldn't be… could it?'

"I don't know what's going on but you've been picking on my teammates and I don't like that so just slither on back into your hole before we make a pair of shoes out of you!" Naruto barked.

'Idiot! He's just gonna get us killed! I'll have to use my Tenseigan Chakra Mode, but it takes time to build up that much chakra.' he looked over to Shiore "Tell me, what's your purpose here?"

"What makes you think I have one?" asked Shiore.

"You're obviously skilled. You could've easily killed Sasuke and Sakura, then taken the scroll and fled. You've been toying with them until now."

"Well aren't you the clever one? Yes, I could've ended this little game any time I wanted but I merely wanted to see what the last Uchiha was capable of. I wasn't impressed. Perhaps you'd be willing to entertain me?" Shiore shot forward and sent both Tatsu and Naruto rocketing to the ground, only for them to dispel "Shadow Clones?"

"Nice technique, huh?" Naruto appeared and slugged Shiore in the face, sending her flying into a tree 'Tatsu you'd better make it fast, I don't know how long I can hold her for.' then he looked over to Sakura "Aren't you going to help me?"

"We need to get out of here Naruto, she'll pick us apart!" Sakura yelled.

"We need to slow her down first, she's no genin and even all of us together won't last long. We've gotta buy time for Tatsu to use whatever he's got planned, then we can escape."

"We should just give up our scroll and run."

"Weren't you listening before? She could've ended this in less than a minute if she wanted. If we're gonna survive, you're gonna have to pull your weight." and he charged "Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu!" he formed 30 clones 'I've only seen this a few times and haven't gotten any practice with it, but it's now or never. Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!" each clone fired a fireball into the air, turning it into one massive ball of flames, and the original leapt above it "Wind Style: Crimson Wind!" he fired it into the ball of flames, greatly increasing the size and sending it downwards.

"Forget it, just because you two are too stupid to know when to quit doesn't mean Sasuke has to be killed because of it! If you guys are gonna be like this, then the least you can do is cover our escape!" and she took the unconscious Sasuke and took off.

"What the hell? Sakura, where're you going?"

Tatsu was pissed at this 'That little bitch took Sasuke and bailed on us! She's so gonna pay when this is over!'

"I see." Shiore got their attention, appearing heavily scorched, and bound Naruto with her tongue, causing the clones to disappear "When your anger is roused, some of the Kyuubi's chakra is released." her fingers glowed with purple flames "What an interesting childhood you must've had, and an impressive plan too. If you'd been a few seconds faster I wouldn't have been able to substitute with a mud clone." her tongue lifted up his shirt "The spells that seals it within you has appeared on your skin. 5-Pronged Seal!" she slammed her fingers onto the sealing formula, causing it to glow purple and Naruto to black out 'For 12 years the seal has remained unbroken, soon the demon's chakra and the boy's will be as one. But for now, he's just in my way.'

"Hey!" Tatsu suddenly appeared with a cyan-coloured Rasengan in his hand and pinned Naruto's unconscious form to a tree with a kunai 'Now the power of my Tenseigan Chakra Cloak has been transferred into my Rasengan, giving it one hell of a power boost. Tensei-Rasengan!" he slammed it into Shiore's torso, sending her flying through several trees, the remains of which were then torn out of the ground by the backlash resulting from the attack, Tatsu himself nearly being blown off his feet 'Dammit… at least I know that the whole power corruption thing is negated by using the Tenseigan chakra in short bursts.' he went over to Naruto and took him onto his back "Come on buddy, let's get moving before she comes back."

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Outside the forest, Anko learned of 3 faceless corpses found near the exam, one of them being the real Shiore.

The disturbing part to Anko was that she recognized the technique used.

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They didn't realize they were being watched.

"Unbelievable." Kin muttered "He actually defeated Lord Orochimaru, even if he was holding back severely."

"He's not someone to mess with." Dosu agreed "Don't forget that we were ordered to go after Sasuke, if we're going to carry out the order then we'd better do it before Tatsu and the blonde regroup with them."

"Right."

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Anko eventually found Orochimaru, her former teacher, and tried to kill him with little success, learning in the process that Sasuke was his target.

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"The other teams will be calling it a day soon." Neji noted "And that means that it's time to strike. You know the plan, we split up and fan out. Whatever happens, whether we make contact with another team or not, we meet up back here in this spot." he marked the spot on the ground with a kunai "Got it?"

Lee nodded, with Tenten doing the same "Right."

"Alright then, let's move."

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Sakura looked over the unconscious Sasuke 'At least he's breathing easy, but he's used up a lot of chakra. Looks like it's up to me for the time being.'

She'd have to pull her weight.

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Anko was trying to take care of the wounds she'd received from Orochimaru, but knew she had to tell Sarutobi right away.

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Dosu and his team watched Sakura tending to Sasuke from afar "There they are. Remember Orochimaru's orders, we strike at daybreak. And don't forget, the Uchiha is our target."

"Yeah, but if the girl gets in our way it's okay to take her out right?" asked Zaku.

"The girl yes, but if Tatsu and the blonde show up then pull out. Considering what he did, even if Lord Orochimaru was going easy it's still not something we could take on and survive. If they show up then we retreat, end of discussion."

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Naruto finally regained consciousness "Wha-?"

"Good, you're awake."

Naruto looked to see Tatsu holding a big net full of fish "Tatsu? What happened? Last thing I remember we were fighting that Hidden Grass ninja."

Tatsu looked at him, his eyes deadly serious "Naruto, that was no Hidden Grass ninja. That was one of the Legendary Sannin, Orochimaru. He's an S-rank rogue ninja. From what I sense, that seal he put on you prevents you from using any of Kurama's chakra."

"Dammit!"

"So let's go over this. I'm almost completely spent after hitting Orochimaru with a Tenseigan-powered Rasengan, your access to Kurama's chakra is sealed off, Sasuke's out cold, Sakura abandoned us and took Sasuke to god knows where, and it's only been 2 days. Yeah, I'd say we're f*cked. You got any ideas?"

"I've got a ton of scrolls in my bag, we could change one of these to look exactly like the Earth Scroll we need."

"No way, forget it. Even if you could fake the outside, how do you fake the contents inside? You couldn't know without reading and it's against the rules. Besides, don't forget that Sakura has our Heaven Scroll."

"I've got that figured out, I think these things have a secret code written in them that only makes sense when you put them both together, and that secret code is like the password you need to get into the tower at the end of the exam. Get it?"

"I get that you're doing what I never told you to do. Thinking. Besides, we're not faking the scrolls, we're not looking, we're sticking to the rules, end of story."

"That's the right train of thought here." a voice cut in "Opening the scroll is a really bad idea."

Tatsu and Naruto both looked to see Kabuto sitting beside them munching on a fish "Kabuto."

"You had me worried there, but I guess I should've had more faith in the son of the Leaf's Crimson Wolf and the Silver Claw's younger brother. There have been others who've broken the rules and tried to read the scrolls, I've seen what happens. They're protected by a powerful Hypnosis Jutsu, a kind of booby trap for anyone unwise enough to try and read them. It'll knock you senseless, and by the time you wake up the exam is over."

"Thanks for the heads up Kabuto. By the way, what're you doing wandering around all by yourself?"

"Don't worry, I'm not after your scroll."

"Even if you were, we don't have it."

"I know, I'd been watching you guys go up against that Grass ninja and decided to help you out."

"So you're looking for an Earth Scroll too?"

"Actually, I already have them both." Kabuto held them up "I had a run of luck, I was just on my way to the tower to wait for my teammates to show up. So if you'll excuse me." he started walking off.

"Wait a second. Sorry to cut to the chase here, but what would you say if I offered to fight you for your Earth Scroll? Nothing personal, but we don't have time to waist. For all we know, by this point Sakura might've gotten Sasuke killed. Out here it's all about survival."

Kabuto pushed up his glasses and smirked "You're lying."

"What makes you so sure?"

"Come on, admit it. For all your tough talk, your heart really isn't in it. If it was true, if winning was really the only thing that mattered to you, why openly challenge me to a fight? Why announce it and put me on my guard? Why not just jump me when my back is turned? After all, that's what a ninja would do."

"I see. You're pretty sharp."

"It's okay, actually I admire you for it. So here's what I'll do, I'll show you the path you should follow. Now let's go, it's best we get out of here before blondie's BO draws the attention of every wild animal in the forest, and not only animals but the competition too." he subtly looked back, but saw nothing, and smirked."

"Lead the way."

"Gladly." so Kabuto took to the trees, with Tatsu and Naruto following.

"So there are still plenty of candidates out there? Stupid question, it's only the 3rd day."

"Exactly. Just think about it. What do you think is the most efficient way of finding the scrolls in an area as large as this? To go searching through the forest for them? No, you wait for them to come to you. The tower at the center of the forest is the goal, right? So the closer to the end of the exam you are, the more teams the area will be crawling with, verging on the tower with their scrolls."

"Like an ambush, so we just head for the tower and find a hiding place so that when a team comes along with an Earth Scroll, we can jump them and take it, and then go track down Sasuke and Sakura."

"That's ⅓ of the problem."

"We're not the only ones thinking of this?"

"Of course not. Every other team without a scroll will be lying in wait, just like you."

"So we basically find a team, punch them out, keep them from getting what they think will be our scrolls, and then go track down the rest of our team."

"That's ⅔ of the problem. There's bound to be some collectors lurking around at the finish line."

"You mean the pricks who try to gather as many scrolls as they can to get as many teams out as possible."

"Exactly, along with various other things. They'll be there alright, and they're bad news. The closer you get to the tower, the more likely you'll be to run into them."

"And you brought us along because you're scared, right?"

"You bet I am. Wait." he stopped them when the tower was in view "There it is, now comes the hard part."

"Well it's about time!" Naruto blurted out "Bring it on!"

"Quiet." Tatsu hissed "There's someone back there."

Naruto hurled a kunai, only to strike a gigantic centipede "Damn, this place is full of scary stuff."

"Hey Naruto." Kabuto spoke up "Do us a favor and try to keep it down to a dull roar will you?"

"Huh?"

"See the whole idea is not to let anyone know we're here, if you go crashing through here like an elephant you're going to draw collectors like flies. We wanna find them before they find us."

"Oh yeah, I see your point."

"Take it slow and quiet, let's use all the time we've got left."

Tatsu nodded "Agreed."

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Naruto quickly found himself tangled "Dammit, how long have we been doing this?!"

"20 minutes." Tatsu said dryly.

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Once Naruto was free, Kabuto checked his compass "Okay, we're getting closer."

"Pretty close by the look of it." Tatsu looked up and saw 3 corpses in the trees above them, impaled with all sorts of kunai "I guess a couple of idiots fell into a trap."

"Yeah, and it only gets worse from here on in."

"Shit!" that was when Naruto triggered a trap, sending a bunch of kunai hurtling towards him.

"Look out!" Kabuto pushed him out of the way, then saved himself from being impaled using a Substitution Jutsu "Well that was close."

"A Substitution Jutsu."

"Like I told you, it only gets worse from here on in."

Then Tatsu noticed something off "Hang on, is it just me or is the tower not getting any closer?"

Naruto blinked "Now that you mention it, I was thinking that too. It's weird."

"Maybe not. We must've been spotted, someone's playing games with us."

"Looks like it." Kabuto pointed "Ring a bell?"

Naruto looked and the saw the centipede he'd killed before "Hey, what's the big idea?"

"Genjutsu." Tatsu guessed.

Kabuto nodded "That's what it looks like, and we completely fell for it. We were so concerned with not being seen by anyone that we didn't notice that we were walking around in circles."

"You think they're trying to wear us down and strike when we're frustrated and exhausted, like we are now."

"Right. They'll be coming soon." Kabuto looked back.

Then a number of black-cloaked ninja with blindfolds appeared from the trees, courtesy of Oboro and his team, hiding from the shadows.

"Well Naruto, you did say you wanted a fight." Tatsu noted "How does 3 against 30 sound?"

Naruto smirked "I like those odds."

"They're clones from the look of it, and a whole lot of them."

The clones chuckled "Like cornered rats "

"Oh yeah? Cornered rats, are we?" Naruto thursted a fist and slammed it into the clone's gut, only to phase through them in a gooey mess "What the-?"

The clone then grew a second head, along with a kunai.

"I just touched him and he turned to mush."

The clone cut itself free, leaving a second upper body attached to the legs, and flung a kunai.

Tatsu was about to dodge, but stumbled, feeling the after-effects from using the Tensei-Rasengan catch up to him 'Damn, my chakra-!'

"Get down!" Kabuto pushed him to the ground, being cut in the process.

'My chakra hasn't recovered from using that attack on Orochimaru, I've gotta be careful how I use it until I can meditate to gather it all back.'

Kabuto examined the kunai 'It's obvious this thing is real enough, no illusion here.'

"Kabuto, the fact that you're wounded and bleeding means that these are real Shadow Clones. But they're supposed to vanish when you hit them." Naruto pointed out "These things don't, so what the hell are we dealing with? Some kind of genjutsu?"

"Surrender your scroll." all of the clones kept repeating over and over.

Naruto whipped out a kunai "Like hell we will!"

"Don't!" Tatsu cut him off sharply "You'll only be fighting illusions, it's definitely genjutsu."

"But how? That gash on Kabuto's arm is real enough."

Kabuto nodded "That's true, but Tatsu's right. It could be that the real enemy is hiding somewhere in the woods nearby, watching real attacks from behind a smoke screen and illusions, and coordinating their movements with them so that we're fooled into thinking these genjutsu shinobi are the ones attacking us."

"Well whatever they are what're we gonna do, just stand here? Let's go find these clowns and take care of them!"

"Hold on Naruto, they'd like nothing better than for us to go searching blindly through the forest while they sit back and take us out one by one. We'd be making their job easy for them. I know this kind of attack, the kind who use it do so because they are weak in taijutsu and afraid of close hand-to-hand combat, according to my data. We've no choice, all we can do is hold our ground and fend off their attacks."

"Okay fine, whatever. Let's just do it." he began dodging kunai from the clones, only to soon get bored with the plan "Okay, this isn't gonna work." he formed the hand sign for Shadow Clones.

"No, it's pointless. You'll only waste your chakra, by trying to fight these things you'll be doing just what they want."

"If we were to eliminate all the illusions then whoever's casting them wouldn't be able to hurl kunai at us without us being able to see where they're hiding. I'll show them 2 can play at this game. Shadow Clone Jutsu!" he summoned a barrage of Shadow Clones and began attacking the illusion clones left and right, but they just kept reforming "Back for more huh? Well okay then!" he charged in unfazed.

Tatsu let out a sigh "Idiot, he's given us no choice now. We've gotta now."

"You're right." Kabuto whipped out a kunai "He's gonna need us so that's that, we fight!"

"Kabuto take the right, I'll take the left!" Tatsu drew his sword and charged, slashing through clone after clone until daybreak.

By that point, Kabuto had slumped against a tree "That's it… I'm out…"

Naruto got beaten back, but came back for more "I'm just warming up!"

That was when Oboro's comrade Mubi stepped out "Sun's coming up, time to move in for the kill."

The last of the team, Kagari, nodded "I think you're right Mubi. We've crushed their spirits, now all that's left is their bodies."

Then Oboro glared at Tatsu "You! I know you, you're the one who burned my back. That really messed me up you know. Oh well, now I can finally pay you back with interest." then his eyes shot wide.

"Well well, now who's the cornered rat?" a voice rang through the air "Looks like Naruto's plan worked like a charm." then Tatsu appeared behind team Oboro, with Kabuto right next to him.

"What? It can't be, if they're over here then who are they?"

"Confused? Sorry, but it was the only way to get you guys to come out of hiding." Naruto then formed a hand seal, dispelling the transformations on the Shadow Clones next to him.

"How? Don't tell me, that little brat- It's not possible!"

"The Shadow Clones were only the first part of it, my real trick was coming up with clones for the others. While the doubles did all the fighting and took the beating, they were safe and sound waiting for you to show yourselves." then he fell to one knee.

"Naruto, take a break." Tatsu told him "You've earned it, Kabuto and I will take it from here."

"Like hell!" Naruto slugged Mubi in the face, sending him crashing into Kagari and Oboro and sending all three crashing to the ground "After all the work I've done, there's no way I'm gonna stand back and let you have all the fun."

Mubi was in a stupor "This kid shouldn't be able to move, let alone this."

Oboro was more confident as he and his teammates formed hand signs "Not bad, but that doesn't mean it's over. We're still feeling lucky. And besides, time's running out for all of us so we'll just have to take the gloves off and show you our ninjutsu. Ninja Art: Fog Clone Jutsu!" they all formed an army of clones.

"Shadow Clones?"

"They're real clones." Tatsu told him "Don't waste your strength, let them make the first move."

"If these are clones then the real ones are in there with them, all I've gotta do is smash my way through them until I find the ones that squeal. Just stay out of it, I can handle this!" and he charged forward.

"Not again." Kabuto charged in after him.

Tatsu almost did, but stopped 'My chakra is almost completely drained.'

"Take this!" Naruto charged through clone, but only phased through them 'So those are all clones.'

Kabuto leapt into the fray "Naruto stop!"

'Gotta… try…' Tatsu attempted to sense out the originals.

"Naruto!" Kabuto pushed Naruto out of the way of Oboro's attack, getting his leg cut in the process.

"Hey, you okay?" asked Naruto.

"Ow…"

Naruto glared at the clones "Now you're gonna pay!"

"Forget it." Tatsu stopped "You can swing at them all day, you're just wasting your time and chakra on them. The real ones aren't there."

"What're you talking about? That last attack didn't come from any clone! Of course the real ones are here, they've gotta be here. If they're not then when the hell are they?"

"Use your head, if I knew that then we wouldn't be in this mess."

'I'm exhausted, I can't even use any more Shadow Clones.'

"Looks like they've reached the end of their rope. Oh well, it was fun while it lasted." that was when Oboro charged in.

Then Tatsu noticed them emerge from the ground behind Naruto 'That's it, they hide with Earth Style and attack while we're distracted by their clones!'

Naruto watched in horror as Kabuto was slashed by an attack from Oboro "Kabuto no!"

Kabuto fell to the ground and glared as the Hidden Rain ninja and glared at them through his bloodshot eyes, making them back up slightly.

"This ends now!" Naruto sent them all flying with one kick, sending them all flying and causing the clones to dispel "Like you said, never give your enemy an opening."

Kabuto breathed a sigh of relief "Thank you Naruto, you saved my neck."

"Nice work." Tatsu limped over, panting heavily, then tied up the Hidden Rain ninja and checked for a scroll "Hey Naruto, they've got a ton of scrolls over here. 3 Earth and 3 Heaven each, so as long as Sasuke and Sakura didn't do anything stupid we'll be fine."

"Good for you, now let's head over to the tower."

"You go ahead, we've gotta go find our teammates. Thanks Kabuto, and good luck. See you later." Naruto slung Tatsu's arm over his shoulder and leapt off "Let's just hope Sakura didn't get them killed."