Second Exam: Saviors

Team 7 circled back to the small creek they had stopped at earlier. Sakura scanned the area and found no one nearby. Karin was in the creek, wiping away the blood and grime on her.

Naruto sat cross-legged. Since Karin's reveal, his mind had been trying to process the concept of him having a family, not only a family but a clan. His mind was coming up with thousands of questions for Karin, but he first needed to explain his burden to his team.

Sakura was sitting on a stump while Sasuke leaned against a tree, patiently waiting for Naruto to begin. Karin finished washing up and sat nearby in a position similar to Naruto's.

"How should I even start telling you guys this" Naruto said

"Maybe start by telling us why Gaara said you were the same."

Naruto put a hand to his stomach.

"He's referring to what we both have inside of us; twelve years ago, when the Nine-Tailed Fox attacked the village, everyone thought the fourth killed it, but the fox couldn't be killed and had to be sealed away into something," Naruto explained, his voice betraying the emotional turmoil he was experiencing.

"Or someone," Sakura said, her eyes wide in recognition.

Naruto nodded, lifted his shirt, and channeled chakra to his stomach to reveal his seal.

Karin gasped

Sasuke and Sakura just stared at the seal, the emotion on their faces hard to decipher

"Well, that's the truth, I'm actually a monster; I understand if you guys look at me differently now," Naruto said, his voice getting heavy

Sasuke snorted

"If you think this changes things, you're wrong. You're still an idiot to me, but now you're just an idiot with a chakra demon inside him."

Naruto wiped away some tears. "Thanks, Sasuke."

He then looked at Sakura, who was wiping away some tears of her own

"Sorry, it just all makes sense now how you are treated like an outcast in the village; I'm sorry, Naruto if I knew.." Sakura's voice tapered off as she started to shed more tears.

"It's not your fault. Only the adults know about it; Gramps put a law that made it illegal to talk about it so that our generation wouldn't treat me differently."

"Did it work?" asked Sasuke

Naruto looked up at the sky.

"Not really; I was ignored when I was in the orphanage; the attendants kept me away from the other kids. It may be a surprise, but I didn't talk much as a kid; I just wanted someone to play with or talk to. The only one who would was Gramps."

Karin whispered over to Sakura and asked

"Who's Gramps?"

"It's the Hokage"

Karin's mouth widened in shock at her cousin's apparent close relationship with the Hokage.

"He saw how miserable I was in the orphanage and thought getting me a place by myself was a good idea."

"How old were you," asked Sakura

"I think I just turned five."

"Five," Sakura said in disbelief, trying to imagine her living by herself at that age.

Sasuke nodded, his sympathy for Naruto's upbringing increasing as he realized how it felt to be alone at such a young age.

"Staying in the apartment didn't help; after heading out by myself, everyone would just ignore me and act as if I didn't exist. I ended up sitting in my apartment angry and sad, wondering why people would acknowledge me."

Sasuke and Sakura were shocked by the amount of introspection in Naruto's words. Despite being close friends with him for a year, this was the first time either had seen this side of Naruto.

"What changed?" asked Sakura

Naruto smiled

"One day, Gramps came to my apartment and told me about ninjas. I knew what they were, but no one really talked to me about them before. He told me stories, but the one that hooked me the most was about the fourth saving the village from the fox."

Naruto felt sad at the memory. Looking back, he realized that he was being lied to even then.

"After that, I realized that the village's most respected and loved person was the Hokage, whether it was the fourth or Gramps, so I asked him how I could get his hat. And he told me I had to become a ninja and get as strong as him or the fourth."

"So that's why you became a ninja," stated Sasuke

"I wish I knew I wouldn't have given you such a hard time in the academy," said Sakura with remorse

Naruto waved off her comment.

"Oh, don't worry about that. Sure, your words hurt sometimes, but I was just happy that you talked to me."

Sakura smiled lightly

"Well, you were annoying."

Naruto took a deep breath and let it out

"Thanks, guys; letting all that out felt really good."

"No problem."

Sasuke, satisfied with the answer he received, decided to move on to the next topic.

"So what's this about Naruto's clan?" he asked as he turned toward Karin

Karin adjusted her glasses as she began to recite from memory the stories from her mother

" The Uzumaki clan hail from Uzushiogakure. It was a small island off the coast; we were world-renowned for our skills in sealing jutsu, red hair, long life spans, and huge chakra reserves. And we were staunch allies of Konoha for years, so much so that apparently, a temple was built for the Uzumaki. The first Hokage even ended up marrying a Uzumaki.

"The first Hokage married Uzumaki?" questioned Sakura, with both Naruto and Sasuke equally befuddled, trying to grab from their memory banks of Konoha history.

Karin gave them a puzzled look.

"You guys didn't know. Do they not teach history in your village?"

Sakura, her eyes trying to focus.

"I remember a Mito, but not much outside of that. Do you know anything else?"

Karin shook her head.

"No, that's all I know about the Uzumaki's connection with the leaf. Mom had no books about our history, so she told me all from memory."

Naruto hadn't' said anything, trying to process all the new information.

"Wait, why do I have blonde hair if I'm an Uzumaki?"

Karin shrugged

"It's a common trait, but mom mentioned that it wasn't unusual for some Uzumaki to have different hair color, especially if one of their parents wasn't' an Uzumaki."

Naruto nodded and then asked a question at the forefront of his mind.

"So, if our clan is so famous, why are you the only Uzumaki I met."

Karin's eyes grew downcast.

"During the second war, Kumo, Iwa, and Kiri performed a joint attack on the Land of Whirlpools. The nation was completely destroyed, many were killed, and those that survived were displaced. My parents were out of the village at the time."

Naruto felt a bottomless pit of emptiness in his stomach at finding out about such a loss of something he never had

"Why, why would they do that?"

Karin shook her head.

"I don't know; Mom disliked talking about it." Karin's eyes began to water, and she started to sob softly at the memory of her mother.

Naruto walked over to Karin, squatted down, and put both his hands on Karin's shoulder.

"I don't know what happened to your mom, but I'm sorry she's gone; I wish I could say I know how it feels, but I didn't know my parents. We're family, so we must watch each other's back no matter what."

Karin wiped away tears from her eyes

"Family huh"

After a while, Karin and Naruto began to talk, as if they had known each other's entre, talking to each other about their lives and interests. Sakrau observed, to her surprise, that Karin's timid Nature was just one aspect of her personality as she became noticeably more animated during her talk with Naruto.

The scene warmed Sakura's heart greatly as she watched the kindred souls bond. She then noticed Sasuke was walking away from the camp a little. She walked over to a masked

"Where are you going, Sasuke?"

"To scout out the area"

Sakura was confused as she surveyed the area, but she picked up the general discomfort in Sasuke's body language. Sakura then realized that conversations about clans and family probably brought up a lot of bad memories for Sasuke.

"Take as much time as you need."

Sasuke nodded and began to go off into the woods.

Kiba extended his claws, and Akumaru began growling at En, who was leaning against a tree

Shino, seeing Kiba's aggression, warned him

"Stay calm; we don't want to do anything rash against an unknown opponent."

"What do you want from us?" growled Kiba

En scratch his goatee.

"I'm a merchant by trade, and my stock consists of special brats like you. You'll probably all catch a decent price, especially that Hygua girl. If I sell her to Cloud, I could probably retire."

"Like hell, I'll let that happen" yelled Kiba

"Kiba, wait," said Hinata, trying to calm her friend.

Kiba, ignoring her, leaped up into the air with Akaumaru following; they then began to spin rapidly, creating a whirlwind.

Fang Over Fang

The spiraling whirlwind of claws and fangs crashed toward En,

En calmly reached into his sleeve and pulled out a hollow red staff with two holes on the ends and a hitch in the middle where it could be extended. En held the staff up in front of the attack. Kiba and Akumaru crashed into the weapon, but instead of crushing it, they ended up in a stalemate, grinding against the staff. As they clashed, it slowed the momentum of the whirlwind. En then swung his staff, redirecting Kiba and Akaumaru into a tree.

Hinata gasped; she knew firsthand just how powerful Fang over Fang was, and for it to be so easily deflected did not bode well for their chances for the fight.

Hinata began to panic and breathe heavily. Was this it? After all these years, she would still end up in the cloud, disgracing her family? Her panicked thoughts were interrupted by Shino's voice.

"Hinata, try not to engage directly with him; you're the best asset in disabling him."

Shino's calm tone and logical words brought her back to reality. She wasn't going to let her teammates down; they were relying on her; she needed to stay in the moment and not worry about the future. Hinata steadied her breathing and got into her taijutsu stance.

"Got it."

Kiba and Akaumaru recovered from their misfire and were back ready to engage.

En was waiting patiently, staff in hand

"Kiba"

Kiba looked over, and Shino went through some hand signals

Distract- Disable- Capture

Kiba nodded, knowing what strategy they were using; he turned toward En and gave a fang-filled grin,

"Get ready because I'm about to tear you apart, Akuamaru growled as he and Kiba set off in opposite directions and began their techniques.

Fang Over Fang

Kiba and Akumaru began to spin rapidly and head toward En in opposite directions.

At the same time, Shino began to direct his Kikaichu to form a wall and encircle En to restrict his movements. As Kiba and Akaumaru reached the wall of bugs, the bugs formed holes in the wall, allowing them to enter from opposite sides.

En stuck his staff in the ground and grabbed the top of the staff; with a twist, the staff began to extend up into the air, expanding the length to fifteen feet; the sudden extension gave no time for Akumaru and Kiba to react at they both crash into the staff from opposite sides,

Shino began to send the wall Kikachi up toward En, who he thought was in a vulnerable position,

En casually began to go through one-handed signs and put his hand to his mouth.

Fire style: Great Flame Technique

En spat out a wide spray of flame at Shino's Kikaichu

Shino rapidly began to recall his Kikaichu, but it was too late, as most of them began to be encased in flames. En twisted the staff slightly again, sending himself back down, allowing him to narrowly dodge Hinata's strike, who had jumped off a nearby tree and was close to hitting him.

En then pulled the pole up toward himself and grabbed the bottom half; he aimed it toward Hinata, and with a twist, the pole extended, jamming itself right into her stomach and knocking the air out of her.

Kiba managed to brace her fall by awkwardly catching her.

"Are you okay?" Kiba asked

Hinata took deep breaths, trying to get air into her lungs,

"Yeah, I'm good."

Hinata looked over at En, who was back on the ground in the same casual position he was before, with an analyzing look in his eyes behind his glasses.

Shino spoke

"He's extremely well-versed in combat. He countered all of our attacks and did it with as little movement as possible. We may be outmatched here.

"Are you saying we run away from this bastard?" said Kiba

Shino shook his head.

"That most likely won't be an option either; I'm just making an observation; he took out thirty percent of my hive with that last attack; not only can he use fire techniques, but he also does them with one hand, as long as he has that capability, my usefulness is little."

En pointed at Shino

"There goes that Aburame pragmatism that I heard about; I was waiting to decide if all three of you would be worth taking, but after that little combo, I've made up my mind. If I get the three of you, I could call it a day."

Kiba stepped forward, fangs barred.

"If you think I'm going to let you touch my teammates, you got another thing coming,"

In a flash, En stepped forward and shoved their knee into Kiba's stomach, bringing him to his knees.

"Calm down, a dog shouldn't disobey' their master."

He then reached down and grabbed Kiba by the throat. Kiba scratched and clawed, attempting to get out of EN's hold, but his strength was overwhelming.

"Now, you two, better do exactly what I say unless you want your friend's neck to be snapped."

A whistle in the wind made En drop Kiba and put his arms up to guard.

Dynamic Entry

En winced as a sandal slammed into his arms, sliding him back a few feet.

Her eyes began to twitch, and for the first time, she began to show an emotion other than indifference.

"Who the hell are you?"

Rock Lee put his left arm behind his back and his right arm forward in a stance.

'I'm the Leaf Village's most handsome devil. My name is Rock Lee, and I'm here to defeat you."

Shikamaru's mind was going at a million miles per minute as he analyzed the situation. Whoever this guy was, he was undoubtedly dangerous. They had no clue of his skill level, but the fact that he killed two teams with no visible injuries should put him at least at a Jonin level.

"Shika, what do we do?" Ino asked

"Give me a second"

Hidan kept walking forward at a snail's pace.

Shikamaru continued to evaluate the best course of action. Going back to the starting area wouldn't be an option; in the case that the three of them could outpace this guy, they likely wouldn't be able to push full speed without breaks without getting caught eventually, His mind then went to the survey they did at the start of the exam to find landmarks. They had elected to go near the area's edge to avoid conflict. Shikamaru cursed internally; it looked like they would have to take a gamble on running into a stronger team. He hated how reliant on luck the plan was, but it was the best he had.

Shikamaru clicked his tongue. Thinking all of that through only took a few seconds, but it was enough for Hidan to close the distance considerably.

"I have a plan, but we have to find a way to get some distance from this guy first; we should probably play it safe and try to find an opening to dash toward the middle of the forest. "

"Okay, Shika, just tell us what to do, and we'll disable this guy," Ino said, gaining some confidence due to her belief in Shikamaru's decision-making.

Okay, we should first spread out.

"Oh, Shut up over there!" Hidan yelled over as he interrupted

"I swear this happens constantly; they start planning, then it devolves into self-sacrifice. You guys go ahead, I'll keep him busy," Hidan said mockingly.

"I saw this shit go down like twice today. I'm tired of it."

Hidan paused his advance and began picking in his ear,

"How can I make this more interesting."

Hidan then snapped, "Oh, I know. I'll give you guys a ten-second head start to get as far away as possible, which will at least make it a little fun for me.

Team 10 was stunned and terrified at the confidence of their foe.

What are you guys doing? I've already started counting; you're at six seconds, by the way.

"Move now" yelled Shikamaru

Team Ten began running, jumped into a tree, and began their race for survival.

"What are we doing, Shikamaru"

"We have to delay this guy as much as possible until we find one of the top five teams or proctors. It's a gamble, but it's the only thing I can think of; just follow me the best you can; he's probably faster than us, so we just have to take routes he can't follow easily.

Ino turned around, and her eyes grew wide.

"Move!"Choji and Shikamaru followed suit as the three of them spread apart 's scythe launched at them, slicing into a tree,

"How many smoke bombs do you guys have,

"Two "

"Three"

"If we stay in his sight for too long, he'll clip one of us; when I change directions, throw down a smoke bomb; you throw your fist, Ino, then Chjoi, and then mine. Stay close and look for my callout."

"Now"

Ino threw down a smoke bomb covering the trees. Hidan took a wide berth, expecting them to continue jumping through the forest, but he saw them transfer to flat ground and begin to take off in another direction.

The chase continued through rivers, trees, and hills, with them tactically dropping smoke bombs to confuse their pursuer.

After around twenty minutes, they hadn't seen Hidan for at least a few minutes.

"Do you think we lost him?" asked Choji, hopeful

"I hope so, but stay alert; he could be anywhere," said Shikamaru

"God, why do we have to be stu…"

Ino's words turned into a scream of pain as Hidna's scythe pierced through her right calf. Time slowed, and Shikamaru looked into Ino's eyes, a silent call for help in them. Hidan swung his scythe, sending Ino hurling into a tree; she hit the three with a loud crack, leaving an indent in the wood, the force sending the scythe straight through her calf.

"INO"

Shikamaru and Choji began to follow her descent.

Choji used his Human expansion technique to grow out his arm and catch her before she hit the forest floor. He reverted to his normal size and held Ino in his arms,

Shikamaru examined her state; she was unconscious, and her right arm was heavily bruised and looked to be broken; she had a head wound on the side of her head, but the worst of her injuries was her leg, it was close to being wholly dismembered, as he could he see it was only being held on by her fractured leg bones, and torn muscles.

"Shika"

Choji held out Ino for Shikamaru to take

"Just take her, please."

Shikamaru carefully took Ino into his arms.

Choji reached into his pocket and pulled out a case of three colored pills.

"Choji, you can't eat those."

"We have no choice"

Hidan landed behind them and gave an impressed whistle

"Damn, I really snagged her good; probably one of my better swings."

Choji went to pop one of the pills into his mouth, but a sudden scythe swing made him dodge out of the way. He managed to avoid a direct hit, but one of the scythe's many blades scraped a deep gash across his back. Choji grimaced in pain and went to take the pill from the case, but he realized that it was no longer in his hand. He turned to see he had dropped to the ground a few feet away. Instinctively, he went to dive for it, but he then felt a foot go right into his stomach, sending him back first into a tree. As Choji groaned to get up, he felt Hidan launch another kick into his stomach.

"I think the last thing you should be worried about right now is eating tubby," Hidan said

As Hidan continued to launch kick after kick right into Choji's stomach

Unable to stand by, Shikamaru did his best to lay Ino as gently as possible on the ground and then put his hand into the rat seal.

Shadow Possession Technique

Shikamaru's shadow sped toward Hidan in an attempt to stop his brutal onslaught against Choji; Hidan then put his scythe up against Choji's neck and turned toward Shikamaru,

"Go ahead and stop whatever you're doing, unless you want your little, or should I say big friend here, to kick the bucket."

Shikamaru clicked his tongue. He had begun to sweat profusely, his mind going into overdrive, trying to find a way out of this situation. He let go of his technique.

Hidan then swung his scythe and extended it toward Shikamaru. As it came toward him, he went to dodge the blade, but he felt the torque of wire as he felt himself being pulled backward; he gave a painful gasp as his back hit a tree and found himself wrapped up in Hidan's weapon.

Shikamaru struggled against the wire.

Hidan began whistling. He reached into his jacket and pulled out two pristine white cloths, then began to walk over to Shikamaru. He took each fabric and began to wipe the blood from the scythe, each cloth on the blades where Ino and Choji were sliced. Shikamaru's mind made the observation that it seemed that Hidan purposely struck Choji with the side that didn't have Ino's blood.

He then stopped a few feet in front of Shikarmu. Shikamaru noticed that he could see both Ino and Choji on the ground from his position.

Hidan then began to draw an insignia on the ground with his feet,

It was a triangle in a circle. Hidan then stood in the middle and put one of the cloth to his mouth and licked the blood off of it.

His body began to change as his skin turned black, and bone-like markings appeared on his skin,

Hidan looked into the eye, his arms spread wide

"May lord Jashin bless this ritual."

Hidan looked Shikamaru directly in the eyes

"And may you bear witness to their pain."

Hidan pulled out a cylinder object Hidna then pushed a button, and it became a spear,

"Now let's see which one's first, Hidan scratched his cheek with the spear, making it bleed. Hidan then turned to Ino and smiled.

Shikamaru's eyes followed what Hidan was looking for, and to his horror, the same cut was on Ino's cheek.

"What are you"

"I'm a prophet of my wonderful lord Jashin, and as his loyal servant, he has blessed me with immortality so that I may be able to share the pain with others."

Shikamaru's mind stopped. This was the worst possible scenario. This guy was insane, a zealot. There was no reasoning with him, no way to precinct his next actions.

"I messed her leg up pretty well; let's ensure the other matches."

Hidan jammed the spear into his left leg above the knee and paced out the other side.

This woke Ino up, and she began to scream in pain.

"STOP"

Shikamaru yelled as he furiously began to struggle against his restraints

Hidan laughed in ecstasy as he began to rotate the pole in his wound, slowly widening it

Ino's screams began with sharp gasps as blood began to pool from underneath the bandages on her leg,

"Stop it right now, you Fucker" Shikamaru screamed, tears filling his eyes in hopelessness and rage.

"You know what? You're right."

Hidan pulled out the pole from his leg and reverted to his original form,

"Suffering and pain should be evenly distributed and enjoyed. Your friend over there has endured a lot. In my experience, too much pain can overshadow the pain already inflicted. We should let her sit and bask in it before her death."

He then reached into his other pocket for the other cloth of blood and licked the blood off of it before returning to his reaper form.

He then began to slowly stab the spear into his stomach

Choji screamed in pain as a wound appeared in his already bloody and bruised stomach.

"Stop it. Stop right now, please."

Hidan ignored Shikamaru's pleas and continued to slowly push the spear deeper and deeper into his stomach.

Choji's yells turned to cough as he began to hack up blood

"STOP" Shikamaur's voice echoed through the forest

Hidan smiled. "If you say so"

He yanked out the pole and held it up to his chest, aimed at his heart

"Now scream in agony, scream in loss." Hidan laughed as he watched the agony on Shikamaru's face

"NO, Stop, Stop it, Stop it,"

Shikamaru kept repeating the phrase, tears filling his eyes as he looked down in shame to avoid looking at the death of his friend.

Suddenly an elbow sent Hidan sprawling outside of his ritual circle, making him fall back onto his ass. He was caught off guard as he was so focused on the ritual.

Shikamaru looked up to see a girl with a bob of blonde hair and a tanto on her back standing in the circle,

Samui looked down at Hidan.

"So it looks like you need this circle to use your freaky little ability; how lame."