Cold as Death

[Myrdraxxis]

Here is my very first fanfiction that I wrote for fanfic.net. Byfar the most popular as well it seems.......



Cold As Death
Chapter 1



Naruto groaned in pain as he woke up in the dank wet sewer that was his mind. He stood up blinking a few times to clear his head.

‘What the hell?’ he thought. He looked around surveying where he was.
A large cage rose up in front of him, with a piece of paper that said ‘seal’ on it. Naruto shuddered as an ominous feeling tingled up his spine.

“Well, well, well. The jailor finally comes to greet his prisoner.” Naruto tensed, eyes glancing quickly around the room before resting on the cage.

“In here, little mortal.” The dark voice echoed from the cage. Naruto gulped and cautiously stepped closer to the cage.

“Wh- who are you. Where am I? Tell me!” he shouted.

“Heheh, you mean you still haven’t figured it out? You really are stupid” Naruto was about to retort when something moved inside the cage. The large figure stepped out of the shadows. Naruto gasped in horror.

“Y-your Kyuubi!” Kyuubi chuckled again at the boys fear.

“It’s about time, idiot.” Naruto scowled, recovering from his fright.

“Hey! I’m no idiot! I’m Uzumaki Naruto, future Hokage, believe it! (an: shudders)

“Heh sure whatever kid. You’ve got spirit I’ll give you that much.” Kyuubi yawned lazily. Naruto grimaced and glared up at the giant fox.

“You didn’t answer my question. Where am I?” Kyuubi just sighed.

“I would have thought that to be obvious. We’re in your mind, brat.”
Naruto blinked. “Eh wait, how did I get here exactly?”

“It happened like this brat…..”
Flashback

A Kyuubi-influenced Naruto roared and swung his clawed hand at Orochimaru’s face. The Sannin blocked easily, only to barely miss a round-house kick to the face. Sasuke and Sakura watched the battle in horror and awe.

“Is this really Naruto?” Sakura thought at seeing her teammate in action. Sasuke just clenched his fists in rage.

‘Why does the stupid dobe get that power. I should have it, I’m an Uchiha!’ (an: rolls eyes)
Deciding that he was no longer amused at toying with the Gennin, Orochimaru did his weird long tongue technique thing and grabbed Naruto. Hoisting him up, he blinked in surprise at seeing that Naruto’s once shocking blue eyes were now blood red with slitted pupils. The snake man’s shock quickly turned to amusement.

“Kukuku, so the fox demon brat still lives it seems. At some point perhaps I could have used you, but for now you’re in the way.” Orochimaru’s hand glowed with chakra as he shot it forward, slamming it into Naruto’s stomach. ‘Five Pronged Seal’! Naruto screamed in pain and lost consciousness.


Flashback End

Upon learning what had happened Naruto was, needless to say, freaking out.
“I gotta get out of here and help! Gah, how do I get out of here! Damn, stupid snake freak –“
“Will you shut up and listen!” Naruto obediently fell silent.
“That fight is probably done considering you have been unconscious for a couple of hours. Besides, you are in no condition to even move much less fight. It is taking me a while to heal all the damage to your body.”
“Wait, why is it taking you so long? Usually most of my injuries heal within minuets.” Naruto asked.

“I used up a lot of chakra overloading that ‘Five Pronged Seal’ while you rested. If I hadn’t we wouldn’t even be talking right now.”
“Ok well that answers that, but what am I supposed to do? My team is probably in danger!” Naruto yelled. Kyuubi winced at the volume of his voice.

“There isn’t much you can do except wait. It could take time to heal you fully.”“WHAT! I CAN’T JUST WAIT AROUND! I HAVE TO MAKE IT TO THE TOWER AND MAKE CHUNNIN SO I CAN BE HOKAGE! WHY ARE YOU JUST SITTING THERE YOU DAMN DEMON!” At this Kyuubi exploded.
“DAEMON! YOU DARE COMPARE ME WITH THOSE PITIFUL WEAKLINGS?! I AM THE KYUUBI NO KITSUNE! I SHOULD DEVOURE YOUR SOUL RIGHT NOW!” Naruto had a confused look on his face.

“Wait, you’re not a demon?” Kyuubi calmed down and glared at him.

“Of course not. As if those pathetic warp-spawn could ever stand up to my might.” Kyuubi puffed out his chest proudly. Now Naruto was more confused than ever.

“Warp? What the hell is that?” Kyuubi sighed.

“Alright kit you might as well sit down, this will take a while to explain.” Naruto did just that.

“There are two planes of existence. The material realm which is everything physically existing such as trees, rocks and even planets, and the Immateriam or The Warp. The Warp is a plane of chaos, and raw emotion given form. It is said to be the result of sentience and a dark reflection of the material realm.” Seeing that Naruto was paying rapt attention, Kyuubi pressed on.
“Many eons ago, my race was semi-sentient beings who fed off of the energy of stars, where we were discovered by a race of beings called necrontyr. We were worshiped by them, earning the name of C’tan or Star Gods. The Necrontyr were in a war against another race known as the ‘Old Ones’. They hated the Old Ones for their extremely long lives and thus wanted to wipe the Old Ones out. While only living short lives, the Necrontyr had extraordinary technology. Using a type of living metal known as necrodermis, the built bodies for us to help them in their war against the Old Ones.” Kyuubi started to chuckle. “The C’tan known as The Deceiver tricked the Necrontyr into building bodies of necrodermis for themselves, to be buit for war and live forever. The Necrontyr readily agreed and they transferred their consciousnesses into the bodies. Slowly their minds and senses dulled, making them warrior slaves for us to use. We used them to win victory after victory over the Old Ones and eventually drove them almost extinct. With nobody to feed on, we turned on each other and began to devour our fellow C’tan.” Kyuubi paused, seeing Naruto’s wide-eyed look, before continuing. “Nine of us fled the carnage, looking for other means of food. We found this planet, and a colony of Old Ones who were desperately trying to find means to defeat us. We devoured them, which in turn kept us from eating each other. By the time the planet was devoid of life, only four other C’tan besides ourselves remained. The Nightbringer, The Deceiver, The Void Dragon and The Outsider. The Old Ones, in their desperation, had invented new races to the galaxy in order to drive us back. One race however turned out to be the Old Ones’ undoing. They were the Enslavers. Having a strong psychic link with the Old Ones, they were able to push their way into the material realm and began killing millions upon millions of life forms and driving the Old Ones to extinction. With no life to feed upon, we Ctan fell dormant until the universe had properly repopulated for us to feed upon again. The Nine of us who fled to this planet lay dormant for millions of years. Upon awaking, we discovered a race of humans who had strange psychic abilities which they called ‘jutsu’. We began to feed again only to be pushed back. We greatly underestimated their powers, and they sealed us away one by one until only I was left. In hunger I turned to a nearby village and set upon it, only to be sealed away by that blasted Yondaim of yours.”

Naruto’s eyes widened.

“So the reason you attacked Konoha was because……” Kyuubi nodded.

“I was feeding.” Naruto felt dizzy as he let all the information sink in.

“damn.” He muttered. He slowly turned to look back up at the massive fox.
“So what happens now?” Kyuubi thought for a minuet.

“Well, some time passed during my speech so your body should be fully healed by now. I’d recommend trying to see what’s going on.” Naruto nodded for getting kicked from his mind.


XxXxXxXxXxX

Naruto sat up and surveyed the dense forest. “ Hey, where are Sakura-chan and Sasuke-teme?” he asked in confusion.
“I think you got abandoned kit.” Kyuubi’s voice rang in his mind. Naruto’s eyes
widened.


‘Wha? No way! They would never abandon me, we are a team!’ Naruto shouted in his mind.

“Since when have they ever cared for you? That boy is just an emotionless bastard and the banshee has never shown any appreciation for you, and cares only for the Uchiha.” Kyuubi growled. Naruto scowled.

‘Sakura-chan does care for me! She just doesn’t show it.” Kyuubi growled in annoyance.

“Oh please. All she ever does is hit you and push you down. Do you know how many concussions I’ve had to heal from her beatings?” Naruto frowned and looked at the ground suddenly feeling very depressed.

“They……..really don’t care about me?” he asked weakly. Kyuubi sensed his despair and sighed.

“Forget about it kit. There are more important matters at the moment.” Naruto blinked.

“Like what?” he asked Kyuubi dejectedly.

“The fact is kid, you’re weak. And don’t argue with me you know it is true! You always rely on me when it comes to major fights!” Kyuubi barked when Naruto opened his mouth to retort. Naruto sighed.

‘Well why can’t you just help me like you did with Haku and the Wave mission?’

“You can’t handle that much raw energy. I was pushing it then and you could have died on that mission. I only used it because it was a life or death situation.”
Naruto sighed in defeat. ‘Why do you care?’

“For two reasons. One, I won’t have a weak container, it’s embarrassing. Two, if you die I die and I don’t feel like dieing any time soon.” Naruto sighed in defeat.

“Well I don’t have much to offer you except guiding your training. Maybe you could ask some of those Jounin to help you.” Naruto frowned.

‘So you point out that I am weak and need to step it up…..and don’t have any idea how to help at all?!’ He practically screamed in his mind.

“Yep.” Naruto sweatdropped.
“Well might as well get going.” He said to no one and started running. He got about fifteen feet when he ran right into……….a rock. Yep a ninja ran head-on into a rock.
“Ita! What the Hell?!?” Naruto muttered rubbing his bruised head. He could hear Kyuubi snickering quietly in the background. Naruto turned and glared at the rock. It was at least as tall as he was, and was a dark black that seemed to absorb light. In the middle of it was a strange hieroglyphic symbol that seemed to glow acid green. All in all it was a very odd piece of work. And it was lost on Naruto.

“Stupid rock! Who the hell would put a rock right where I’m running! Honestly!” He shouted in indignation. He then took notice of its strange appearance.
‘Whoah, what’s with this thing? What do you think furball?’ Kyuubi had gone strangely silent
‘Uhhh Kyuubi?” Kyuubi started to chuckle which turned into a full blown maniacal laugh.

“hehehehhahahaWUAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHHA!” to say that Naruto was a little freaked out would be an understatement.

‘Ummm Kyuubi? Are you ok?’ he asked cautiously, wondering if the bump to the head had somehow affected the sealed C’tan. Kyuubi’s laughter slowly died down.

“Eheh oh man kit, I never thought I would see one of these again. I think I just found a way to make you stronger.” Naruto’s eyes widened with glee.
‘Really? How?!?’ Kyuubi smiled evilly from within the seal.

“Well kit, if this obelisk means what I think it does, then you could become the most powerful person on this planet.” Naruto’s eyes widened to comical proportions.

‘TELL ME TELL ME! I MUST GET STRONGER! I MUST PROTECT MY PRECIOUS PEOPLE!” he vowed/shouted to Kyuubi.

“Well now judging from the way this obelisk is faced, I’d say that you need to head into that cave over to your right.” Naruto blinked.

‘There is a cave here?’ Kyuubi sweatdropped.

“Some shinobi you are. Anyways yes there is a cave. I want you to head into it as far as you can go.” Naruto nodded and entered to cave. It was dark and dry as was to be expected, but there was something off about the cave. It seemed as though no life existed in it and it seemed to suck the life right out of you. Naruto shivered as he walked further in. He could barely see and almost lost his footing when the ground started to slant downward.

“Head down there kit, what we seek lies deep within. Very deep.” Kyuubi instructed. Naruto continued to follow the path until it was almost impossible to see. The only light came from the rapidly shrinking entrance that Naruto had came from. He entered a giant cavern that to be at least the size of half of Konoha.

‘What am I supposed to be looking for, fox? I don’t….” and then he saw it. A large structure loomed up in front of him. It was made from the same material as the obelisk and radiated an aura of fear and death. The building was shaped like vaguely like a giant pyramid with elaborate walkways running all up its sides and spires jutting up to the cavern ceiling above. The whole thing put Naruto on edge.

“Yes! We have found it! So it still remains after all these years.” Naruto started at Kyuubi’s voice.

‘Found what, furball?’ he asked, glancing around nervously.

“All will be revealed soon kit. I want you to climb to the top. There will be a central platform there. Get to it!” Naruto eyed the structure.

‘you want me to climb ALL the way up there?!? How?’ he asked incredulously

“Use your chakra moron. Like the tree-climbing exercise you did with that poor excuse for a teacher of yours.”

‘Oh, right’ was Naruto’s smart response. Kyuubi resisted the urge to smack himself.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX


Naruto panted as he finally pulled himself over the edge to the top of the pyramid-like structure.
‘Damn (cough) fox! (pant) Why does (pant) it have to be so high up?!” Naruto rasped as he slumped to the floor exhausted.

“Quite your bitching. Now get up and go over to the center. You want power don’t you? To protect your ‘precious people’? Kyuubi growled at him impatiently. Naruto stood up with new determination and strode over to the center of the platform. There was a raised section that was square in shape. Naruto noticed that it had strange hieroglyphics stretched around its border, as did most of the structure. Stepping onto the platform, Naruto got a sudden sense of foreboding.

‘What exactly is gonna happen fur face?’ as if to answer his question, Naruto felt his chakra flare up, lighting up the cavern slightly and then shoot out of him along with something he couldn’t identify. A dead silence hung over the entire cavern.

‘What the hell did you do Kyuubi?’ Naruto asked in an alarmed voice.

“I woke them up.” Was Kyuubi’s cryptic reply. Naruto narrowed his eyes.

‘Woke who up?’ he asked. Kyuubi didn’t respond. Suddenly he heard a strange shuffling sound and whipped around, glancing into the darkness around him.

“The soulless machines.”

Naruto could make out figures slowly walking towards him from the shadows. He whipped out a kunie.

“Destroyers of worlds”

Naruto glanced around to see that they came from all around him. Their humanoid shapes glided against the shadows and their eyes glowed an acid green color that seemed to pierce into his very soul.

“Slayers of life”

Slowly the figures stepped out of the shadows one by one. Naruto gasped and stared in horrified awe.

“Slaves of the C’tan”

The figures stood as tall as humans with green metal plates covering their bodies, making them look like machines. Emotionless glowing, green eyes stared back at him through metallic masks of death, bathing their faces in an eerie green glow.

“The Necron.”

[Myrdraxxis]

Chapter Two


Naruto spun around, taking in the skeletal forms that surrounded him. He cautiously lowered his kunai upon noticing that they were not acting hostile.

“The Necron?” he asked out loud.

“Correct, kit. The warrior slaves of the C’tan, the Necrontyr or Necron for short.” Naruto glanced at the motionless undead cautiously. They looked at him with an almost predator-like gaze, waiting for him to make a move.

‘Why are they here? We have never found any signs of them before.’ Naruto thought.

“When the nine of us Bijju came to this world, we brought our armies as well. So when we became dormant, they did as well. As for not finding them, there was a powerful genjutsu over the cave entrance.” Naruto eyed the still motionless Necron. It was hard to see how many there were in the utter darkness of the catacomb, but Kyuubi had said army.

‘I don’t think I could make it out alive if I had to fight.’ Naruto thought sourly.

“They will not harm you, kit. They can sense my presence inside you and wouldn’t even think of harming their masters.” Naruto nodded.

‘Ok well what am I supposed to do?’ The answer didn’t come from Kyuubi, but voice from the surrounding horde.

“My lord, how may we be of assistance?” Naruto nearly jumped out of his skin when he heard one of the Necron speak.

‘Holy crap! What the hell, I thought these things were lifeless!’ Naruto all but shouted.

“Interesting. I had forgotten that there were still any pariahs left.” Kyuubi commented in Naruto’s mind. Naruto cocked his head questioningly.

“pariahs?” The mechanical voice echoed from the darkness again.

“That is correct my lord.” Naruto finally identified the voice as a lone Necron stepped forward. He appeared different from the rest of the assembled Necron. His face resembled close to a human’s, except it was, of course, made of metal. It carried a long metal staff with a green cylinder at each end that seemed to buzz with energy.

It spoke again. “I am a soul who has been shown the light and embraced the ways of the unliving. The voice of the Necron.” Naruto nodded in understanding.

“Okay then. What exactly am I supposed to do with you guys? I’ve never exactly done this sort of thing before.” Naruto said, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly.
The pariah seemed a little confused, if that was even possible for an emotionless undead.

“My lord, are we not to purge this planet of its disgusting infestation of life? Surely you still hold this goal.” Naruto looked apprehensive. He had to find some way to explain that he wasn’t Kyuubi.

“Err well the thing is, I’m not exactly your master. He was sealed inside me. I don’t exactly know what you’re talking about.” The Necron stared at him, as if searching his soul for answers.

“I…..see. Well nevertheless, you are our master now, as our previous one is still present. As for our goal, we are here to destroy all life. Purge this planet of all, and have it cleansed.” The necron’s dead voice echoed around the cavern in emotionlessly. Naruto panicked slightly.

‘Destroy all life? Could I really do that to all those people? Well it’s not like I’m well liked.’ He frowned as he thought of the way he was treated in Konoha. ‘But there are so many innocents out there. So many people who haven’t done anything wrong.’ Kyuubi finally decided to speak up.

“Kit, use them. The Necron are pretty much an unstoppable army. You could become very strong with them in your service.”

‘But I don’t want to kill everyone, I want to protect them.” Kyuubi sighed exasperatedly.

“You are to damn loyal for your own good, you know that? Fine then. Use the Necron to protect your ‘precious people’.”
“But kill people? I can’t take someone’s life.”
“Kit, you are a shinobi. Killing is something you are gonna have to get used to.” Naruto just sighed.
“I guess so. I’ll do it as long as it is to protect those that I care about.”

“If it is to protect or not I don’t really care as long as you end up strong because-“ ‘You won’t have a weak container, blah blah I know.’ Naruto cut in. He sighed and turned back to the waiting Necron.

“Alright then. Here is the deal. You will kill only those that I say to. We are going to protect from here on out.” The pariah seemed to consider this.

“That is….acceptable. We shall serve you master. What are your orders?” Naruto paused to consider this.

‘I have to find Sasuke and Sakura to finish the exams. I can’t do much until then.’ Finally he spoke, addressing the awaiting Necron.

“I guess, gather your forces and await until I need them.” The pariah nodded and as one, all the assembled Necron turned and began to walk off into the various parts of the black tomb structure. Naruto could almost here the catacombs come alive as the tomb awoke. Strange pyramids seemed to grow out of the grown and ant large scarab-like robots scurried around, repairing many of the ruined buildings. Only Naruto and the pariah were left standing on the central platform. The pariah turned to Naruto then.

“My lord if I may, I wish to attend to something that shall provide you with some more means of protection.” Naruto nodded at him curiously.

“Of course er…what is your name?” the pariah gazed at him emotionlessly.

“Whatever you wish it to be, my lord. I have no previous one.” Naruto thought for a minuet then turned his attention back to the necron.

“You will be called Jarda.” Naruto said proudly. The newly named Jarda nodded and walked off to join the other undead in their endeavors.

“Kit, there is something else I want you to do.” Kyuubi spoke suddenly. “Follow that path to your right.” Naruto turned and made out the path that Kyuubi was talking about. Doing as instructed, Naruto came to a room with what seemed to be a sarcophagus with a large spire shooting upward from each corner. Like all other Necron structures, it was pure black, with the only light coming from the strange Necron hieroglyphics that bordered it. It had a large symbol on the top slab. Naruto noted that the sides were bordered with small ornate skulls.

‘What is this for, fox?” Naruto asked curiously.

“It is an archive. This is another thing that will help you become strong, kit. Inside this box are Necron relics. The Necron lords would use them to lay waste to countless armies, slaughtering millions with them.” Naruto’s eyes widened and he cautiously stepped up to the archive.

“I am going to use these?” he asked hopefully. He could almost see Kyuubi smirk inside his cage.

“Correct, kit. I am going to show you how to wield the power of the Necron to its fullest. Open it up and let’s see what there is to work with.” Naruto complied and began to lift the top slap.

‘Damn this is heavy!’ he though as he pushed the slab onto the floor with a large heave. Naruto stood and looked into the archive.

“Well, well, well. We hit the jackpot on this one kit. Listen up, cause I won’t repeat myself. While I cannot give you power like I did during the mission to Wave, I can slightly push my power into you which will allow you to use these relics.” Kyuubi spoke. Naruto looked at the many alien relics that lay in the archive curiously. Then out of the corner of his eye, he noticed that there was a long metal rod sticking out of the assembled relics. Shrugging, he reached in and pulled the object out. Kyuubi chuckled.

“Ironic that you would go for that first.” Naruto looked over the odd device. It was a staff, almost like the one that Jarda carried, with a few differences. It had the glowing gauss flayers on each end like Jarda’s but it also had a wicked looking blade attached to each end. Each blade hooked slightly, making them look like scythe blades.

‘What is it, Kyuubi?’ Naruto asked in slight awe. He twirled it lightly. It somehow just felt right in his hands, like he had used it all his life.

“It is the staff of a Necron lord. Their primary weapon. The glowing tubes on each end shoot out blasts of energy that can completely rip someone apart, atom by atom.” Kyuubi explained. Now Naruto looked at the weapon with amazement.

‘I can use this? For real?’ he asked excitedly. Kyuubi chuckled.

“Of course. It belongs to you now. Actually pretty much everything in this cave belongs to you now.” Naruto’s eyes widened. “But you can learn how to wield it another time. As you said, you have an exam to finish. I will show you how to use one of these relics for now.” Naruto nodded in acceptance and set the staff aside. “Now then, some of these, you are not ready for and will be taught to you at a later time. For now we will settle on a defensive relic. Pick up that small device in the corner over there.” Naruto reached into the crypt and pulled out a small cube.

‘Now what’

“I will focus some of my energy to get it started, but you are going to have to learn how to draw on it yourself. This relic is called Phylactery. It surrounds the user’s body with a shield of tiny, unseen mechanical scarabs. These scarabs can block incoming attacks and shred any punch thrown at you. Keep in mind that more powerful attacks will break through, so it’s not an absolute defense.” Naruto felt Kyuubi’s power rush through him for a brief second and then watched as millions of tiny scarabs poured from the small cube. They formed a sort of shield around his body and then completely disappeared.
‘This is awesome! I’m sure to impress Sakura-chan with this! I’ll kick Sasuke’s ass and then she will see that I’m so much better than his emo ass will ever be! She’ll love me!’ Naruto thought dreamily. Kyuubi sighed. This boy was hopeless.

“Kit, you should give up on that pink haired bitch. If she never acknowledged you before, what makes you think she will now?”

‘That’s not true! She-“

“Beats you and calls you names. Name one time that she does anything but insult you!” Naruto paused trying to recall some point in which the object of his affection had been anything but a bitch to him. Nothing came to mind. Just beatings and reprimands and swooning over Sasuke-teme.

‘Maybe you are right Kyuubi.’ Naruto said. ‘Maybe I should just give up on her.’ Kyuubi winced slightly. For a second he could have sworn that Naruto sounded as dead as the Necron he now commanded.

“Cheer up kid. There are plenty of girls out there. You are young and there will be plenty of opportunities.” Kyuubi said trying to cheer his host up.

‘What girl would like me Kyuubi? All the adults hate me and their children have been taught to hate me too. Name one girl that would like me.’ Naruto said in a depressed voice. Kyuubi thought.

“You know a few who know about me kit. What about that girl at the ramen stand?”

“I see Ayame-chan as more of a sister.”

“Ino?”

“Fangirl.”

“Hinata?”

“Just plain weird.”

“That Jounin Kurenei?”

“Are you kidding? She’s like way older than me. And I’m pretty sure she is with that smoking guy.”

“That exam proctor Anko?”

“……………”

“Ok you’re right, bad choice. But still!” Kyuubi thought hard. “What about that one ANBU, y’know the one who watched over you and pops in every now and then.”

Naruto paused to think. “Neko-chan? You must be joking. Sure she was nice, but it was just her job to watch over me. And once again she is older than me.”

“Age is just a number kit. Remember that, besides she had a great body.” Kyuubi giggled lightly. Naruto’s eyebrow twitched.

“Pervert.” He muttered. He was about to say more when he heard someone enter the room.

“My lord, I see you have found the Archives.” Jarda said as he moved into the room in an almost lazy fashion that Naruto noticed most Necrons seemed to have.

‘Must have something to do with being dead.’ He assumed. It was then that Naruto noticed that Jarda wasn’t alone. Flanking him was eight Necron. Naruto bit his tongue to keep from gasping in horror at them. They looked like normal Necron, except for the fact that they were draped in skin. SKIN! Wherever they walked they left a faint trail of blood. In place of hands they had three large serrated blades on each arm, almost like fingers.

“My lord, might I introduce to you the Flayed Ones. Your new body guards. They are extremely capable in melee combat and can tunnel underground to remain unseen. Naruto stared at the assembled horrors with wide eyes. Slowly his mouth formed into a smirk.

“Time to kick some ass.”

[Myrdraxxis]

Cold as Death
Chapter 3



Somewhere in the Forest of Death:

Sakura Haruno sighed for what seemed the hundredth time that day. For the past two days had been hell as she had been tending to Sasuke, who still had yet to recover from his encounter with Orochimaru. Sakura fought to keep her eyes open after two long days of keeping watch over “her” Sasuke-kun. She frowned.

“Damn that baka Naruto. It’s his fault that we are in this situation in the first place. If he didn’t always have to show off, Sasuke-kun could have kicked that creepy guy’s ass. (AN:poor, deluded fan-girl.) “Now that baka has left me to do all the work!”

Flashback

Orochimaru slung Naruto’s unconscious form over his shoulder, sending him tumbling to the forest below, and turned to Sasuke.

“Now Sasuke-kun” the words rolled off the Sannin’s tongue slickly. “Let us see how you fare against me.” Sasuke stood frozen in shock and fright at seeing his teammate dispatched. Sakura quickly launched a kunai at Naruto’s rapidly falling form. The knife caught the back of his jumpsuit, holding him into place against a giant tree. The sudden movement from the pinkette caused Sasuke to jump into action.
(AN: I’m gonna skip the part where Sasuke fights cause frankly…I just want to get on the parts with the main character. Its about Naruto not Sasuke…..unlike the manga.)

Sasuke screamed in pain as Orochimaru proceeded to bite him in the neck with his super snake fangs. Where the fangs touched, a strange mark appeared on his neck. Sasuke had two thoughts before he blacked out.

‘Oh kami the pain!’ and ‘Did he just give me a hickey?!’ Sakura watched in horror as her remaining teammate dropped.

“What the hell did you do to Sasuke-kun!” she screeched. Orochimaru smirked sickly.

“I just gave him a little gift.” He hissed. Slowly his form melted into the tree behind him. “Soon he shall come to me for power. Kukukuku.” Sakura stood frozen as the dark laughter echoed through the forest around her. As the sound faded she slumped to her knees in a daze. A soft moan emitted from Sasuke. Sakura snapped out of it and ran over to Sasuke’s body.

“Oh no! What do I do!” she muttered frantically as she worried over the dark haired boy. “Oh man! Naruto, help! Sasuke-kun is…” She looked up to see Naruto’s uncouncios form still hanging from the kunai that she had caught him with. Sakura looked at him worried for a second, the frowned.

“Naruto-baka! Never any help when we need you, now you can’t even help Sasuke-kun.” With that, she turned and grabbed Sasuke and jumped off into the forest, hoping to find somewhere to give proper aid. Naruto’s body simply hung against the giant tree, alone in the silent forest. Slowly gravity did its job and the knife slipped out of its hold in the tree. Silently Naruto plunged to the forest floor, some many feet down.

Flashback end

Sakura turned to change the bandage on Sasuke’s head, when a sudden sound from outside caused her to whirl around in alarm. Standing in the clearing just beyond her tree root shelter were the three sound-nins. The one with bandages covering his face, obviously the leader, stepped forward.

“Alright girl, let’s make this as easy as possible. Hand over Sasuke and we might let you live.” He growled. Sakura gulped, then steeled herself and grabbed a kunai.

“Never! You will never have Sasuke-kun!” she shrieked. All three sound-nins chuckled.

“Very well.” The leader chuckled. “ Zaku, Kin! Get rid of her.” He barked. The remaining two nodded and moved to apprehend the pinkette. Sakura’s eyes widened and she readied herself to fight. Right as the sound duo moved to her, a flash of green sped in between them and their quarry.

Konoha Senpuu!

Zaku and Kin lurched back as Lee’s powerful kick met his mark. Sakura’s eyes widened.

“Lee!” The big-browed ninja turned to face Sakura.

“Don’t worry my beautiful blossom! I shall protect you!” he exclaimed, flashing a ‘nice-guy’ pose. By that time, the sound-nins had recovered from Lee’s unexpected interference. Zaku growled.

“What the hell? Why can’t it ever be easy?” A smirk played onto his face. “No matter. I’ll just blow you away then kill that pink haired slut.” Lee whipped around and glared at Zaku.

“I SHALL DEFEAT YOU WITH MY FLAMES OF YOUTH AND PROVE ONCE AND FOR ALL MY LOVE TO SAKURA-CHAN!” All the sound-nins tensed as Lee began to move. Lee sprung forward with amazing speed. Right as he was about to reach his targets…….he tripped on a rock and blacked out. The sound-nins, Sakura and Team 10,who were hiding nearby, all sweatdropped.

“Ummm ok then anyways…..” Dosu deadpanned. Kin suddenly appeared behind Sakura and latched her hand onto the girl’s hair.

“Wow your hair is so much softer and nicer than mine. You really should focus more on being a kunoichi than your looks.” Kin spoke in a disgusted voice. Sakura lay slumped on her knees for a few seconds then glared defiantly at Kin.

After a long and tedious fight involving hair cuts and Kawamari no jutsu(sp?), Team 10 decided to step in. Sakura, now beaten up and bloody, gasped in surprise.

“Ino-pig? What the hell are you doing here?” Ino turned to smirk at her rival.

“Saving your ass that’s what. You can go ahead and rest for now, we’ll take care of them.” Dosu sighed in annoyance. These leaf-nins were starting to become major pests.

“Alright fine, let’s play.” The bandaged sound-nin chuckled darkly. The other two nodded and attacked. Kin made a move to the left, only to be blocked by Ino.

“I don’t think so!” she exclaimed.

Shintenshin no jutsu!

Ino used her clan technique to quickly take over the offending sound-nin’s body. Kin jerked back for a moment before a smirk slowly played onto her lips. Zaku growled.

“Kin, what the hell are you doing? Take out that blond bitch!” Kin looked over at him.

“I’m sorry, Kin isn’t here right now.” Dosu and Zaku’s eyes widened. Shikamaru smirked.

“Nice one Ino!” he called out. ‘Kin’ turned to him.

“Why thank you.” she said with a self-satisfied. Smile. Her expression turned serious. “Alright listen up! I’v got your teammate here now surrender if you don’t want her to die!” She held a kunai against her throat for good measure. Zaku and Dosu exchanged glances and then began to laugh. All the leaf-nins frowned.
“What the hell is so funny!” Chouji demanded. In response, Zaku simply lowered his arm cannons at Ino/Kin’s direction. Shikamaru gasped.

“INO! GET OUT OF THERE HE”S GONNA-“ the warning came to late and Zaku fired. Ino/Kin cried out in pain as she was blasted back by the force. She collided with a tree trunk and slumped forward unmoving.

“INO!” Chouji and Shikamaru both cried out in unison. Shikamaru turned back to the two sound shinobi.

“You bastards! You would go so far as to kill your own teammate for the sake of an exam.” Dosu regarded for a minute.

“Heh, we could care less about your petty little exam.” Everyone’s eyes widened. “We’re here for Sasuke. Now get out of our way.” Shikamaru swore silently. A glanced over in the direction Ino and fallen and saw her stumble to her feet.

‘Good, at least she is all right. Damn troublesome woman.’ He turned and surveyed the two remaining ninjas. ‘This isn’t good, Ino is injured and these guys have no qualms with hurting their teammates. Dammit!’ Shika tried to run through different scenarios in his head to find some way to beat the enemy shinobi. All those thoughts evaporated with a new arrival.

“Well well, what do we have here?” All the Gennin turned to see Neji and Tenten standing on one of the large tree branches above Sakura. “Picking on rookies is a little low don’t you think?” Neji spoke in an even tone. Zaku growled in annoyance.

“Jeez, what is with all these leaf-nins popping up everywhere? Are you guys spawning in this forest or something?” Everyone sweatdropped at this. Dosu twitched slightly at his teammate’s stupidity.
Everyone froze as a wave of chakra washed over them. It felt dark, unnatural. Evil.

“Sakura, who did this to you?” a new voice spoke. Everyone turned to see Sasuke standing at the entrance to the make-shift root shelter. His entire body was covered in black tattoo-like markings. Sakura lay frozen on the ground.

“S-sasuke-kun….” Sasuke looked over at her.

“Well? Who was it?” he spoke in a dark voice. Dosu looked on in slight confusion.

‘The curse mark? Why would Orochimaru-sama give him the mark and then order us to kill him? There is no way we can beat him when he is in this form. Gotta get away somehow.’ Zaku stepped forward.

“It was us!” he proclaimed boldly. Dosu resisted the urge to slap himself.

‘Baka’ He thought. Sasuke slowly turned to look at the two sound-nins.

“So….” He spoke slowly. “It was you.” Shikamaru’s eyes widened.

“Ino! Get back to your body quick! Sasuke is going to attack any sound-nin he sees!” Ino nodded and released her jutsu, causing Kin to fall forward, unconscious.
Not a moment too soon.

Sasuke sprang forward, launching a Katon jutsu at Zaku. The nin just smirked.

“Oh please.” he held his arms out and fired off a blast at the dark Uchiha. When the smoke cleared there was no trace of Sasuke. Zaku smiled.

“Heh blew that loser away. Pathetic.” The arrogant smile vanished at the nvoice next to him.

“Who’s pathetic?” Zaku whipped around to find Sasuke standing right next to him, barely a scratch on him. Sasuke vanished the next instant, reappearing behind Zaku. Sasuke grabbed Zaku by the arms and pulled them behind him.

“You seem pretty fond of these arms, lets see how it would be to lose them.” Sasuke said with a sick smile. Zaku’s eyes widened in horror.
Two loud snaps echoed throughout the forest followed by a bloodcurdling scream. Everyone watched in horror as Zaku fell to the ground, his arms now hanging uselessly.
Sasuke closed his eyes and smiled.

‘This power! It feels incredible!’ he thought before turning to face the last sound nin. “Your turn.” He spoke softly. Dosu backed up slightly.

‘Shit, this isn’t good.’ The bandaged nin thought. Sasuke smirked and was about to attack when a voice rang out through the area, causing all to turn their attention to it.

“That is enough Sasuke.” The voice snapped coldly. Everyone turned to the mysterious newcomer.

It was Naruto!

Sasuke turned and leveled glares with the orange ninja.

“Well there you are dobe. About time you joined the party.” The raven haired ninja spoke arrogantly. His only response was a glare.

“It’s over Sasuke, just let them go.” Naruto said, indicating Dosu and his two unconscious teammates. Sasuke was about to retort when he began to look into Naruto’s eyes truly. There was something about them. Was Sasuke gay? Most likely, but there was something else that Sasuke couldn’t identify. It seemed almost as though Naruto was slightly dead. It frightened him. Slowly the curse marks began to recede back into the seal.
“Hn, fine. Whatever dobe.” Sasuke said, averting his gaze from Naruto. Sasuke slumped forward in exhaustion when Sakura ran over and caught him. She looked up at Naruto and scowled.

“Naruto-baka! Where the hell were you when we needed you! Slacking off again no doubt!” Naruto gave her a cold glare that shut her up quickly. Everyone was stunned. Naruto never did anything remotely unkind to Sakura.
What had happened? Naruto jumped down into the small clearing and walked up to Dosu.

“Where is your scroll?” he asked coldly, in a very uncharacteristic manner. Dosu reached into his back pocket.

“Here, take it.” He withdrew his team’s scroll and tossed it to Naruto. “We are in no condition to fight any longer. We will withdraw for now but make no mistake, the next time we meet it shall be to the death.” With that said, Dosu gathered his two teammates and leapt off into the dense forest.
The fight was over.

Neji walked up to the assembled Gennin.

“We will gather our teammate and be on our way as well.” He turned to indicate Lee….who was still unconscious. Everyone sweatdropped.
They had forgotten that he was even there.
Team Ten also took their leave, leaving Naruto and his teammate alone. The blond ninja turned to Sasuke and Sakura.

“Alrighty! We have a scroll so now we just need a heaven scroll!” he exclaimed, falling back into his normal personality. The two other members of Team Seven nodded wearily and began to head off into the forest in search of another scroll.

XxXxXxXxXxX

Another day passed in the forest and Team Seven had decided to head to the tower and pick off teams from there. Well actually Sasuke decided to head to the tower, Sakura followed him like a little lost puppy and Naruto just sighed and went along for the ride.

The team was currently making their way through the forest. Naruto sighed.

“Jeez, can’t we stop for a minute? I’m getting hungry.” Sasuke turned his head slightly as he leapt from branch to branch.

“We need to make it to the tower before dark, dobe. The exam ends tomarrow morning.” Naturally Sakura had add her comments as well.
“Ya you baka! Why can’t you just follow orders without complaining. Sasuke is better than you so just shut up and listen to him!” Naruto sighed again.

“Gomen Sakura-chan.” He said with a sheepish smile while on the inside he was seething. ‘Lousy bitch! I can’t believe I actually liked her. Now I just wanna…” His eyes wandered to his kunai poutch.

“Kid you can’t kill your teammates. At least not yet, you need them to complete the exam. Though I’ll admit that the pink haired slut is beginning to get on my nerves.” Kyuubi spoke up from inside Naruto. Naruto just nodded mentally to the sealed C’tan.

‘I know Kyuubi, but damn! I wish-“ he stopped suddenly when he caught sight of a spot of dull green metal in the underbrush. “Just on time.” He thought triumphantly.

“Hey baka! Why did you stop, we have to keep going!” Sakura screamed, making Naruto wince slightly. Now Sasuke had stopped too.

“What is it dobe?” Naruto looked back at his teammates.

“Gomen, I gotta go take a piss.” With that he headed off into the bushes, Sakura screeching behind him about manners and being in a lady’s presence. Naruto ignored her and made his way fairly deep into the brush. Once he was sure his teammates couldn’t here him, he turned to a bush to his left. “Do you have it?” in response one of the eight Flayed Ones who stealthily followed Naruto appeared from the bush with a bloodied scroll in its hand…..claw thing. Naruto smirked and took the scroll from the Necron bodyguard. After inspecting it for a minute he was able to determine that it was an earth scroll.

‘Bingo!’ he thought happily. He turned back to the waiting Necron. “Good work.” He said approval. The soulless fighter simply disappeared back into the underbrush.

“Nice job kit….but how are you going to explain this to your team?” Kyuubi asked skeptically. Naruto shrugged.

‘I’ll just wing it. Can’t go too bad.’

“Whatever kit.” Naruto shoved his way back through the brust to where his team was waiting. They looked up in acknowledgment to his presence. Sasuke frowned in annoyance.

“What took so long, dobe?” Naruto smiled.

“Guess what I got?” he asked excitedly and help up the earth scroll. His teammates eyes widened with disbelief.

“Where the hell did you get that baka?” Sakua asked/demanded. Naruto shrugged.

“I was just taking care of business, and BAM there it was on the ground next to me. Awsome huh?” The orange ninja smiled, hoping they would buy it.

“Ya they are sure to fall for that one brat.” Kyuubi piped up.

‘Can it Furball!’ Naruto snapped mentally.
Sasuke recovered from his shock that the ‘dobe’ had found the scroll that they needed.

“Hn, whatever. Let’s head to the tower then.” Sasuke began walking without waiting for a reply.

“Sure thing your emo-ness!” Naruto quipped.

“DON”T CALL SASUKE-KUN EMO, BAKA!” Naruto dodged Sakura’s fist and sighed for the millionth time that day.

‘Troublesome.’

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

THE TOWER:

Team Seven made to the tower with barely hours left in the exam.

‘Damn, that’s cutting it close.’ Naruto thought as they busted the seal on the door, entering the tower. All three looked around

Nothing.

Had the next exam already started? Naruto looked down at the scrolles in his and Sasuke’s hands.

“Maybe we are supposed to open the scrolls now.” He suggested. Sasuke looked down at his own scroll.

“Maybe…” he muttered. “Worth a shot.” With that said, He and Naruto both ripped open the heaven and earth scrolls. Smoke began to poor from the scrolls.

“Summoning jutsu! Throw them down!” Sasuke shouted. Naruto complied and both scrolled landed on the ground in an X shape. Finally a form began to form in the smoke. Naruto squinted his eyes to see and then widened them.

“Iruka-sensei?!” He exclaimed. Sure enough when the smoke cleared there Iruka stood, smirking at the three Gennin.

“Hey there guys. You barely made it, but congratulations on passing the second exam!” he said proudly. Naruto grinned. After a long speech about being a shinobi and shit, Team Seven was finally allowed to head to where the rest of the Gennin were gathered. They entered a large room with balconies wrapping around three of the walls, and a giant statue in front of the fourth. There were eight Gennin teams all together. Naruto noticed that the Gennins were not the only ones there. The Hokage and an entire assembly of Jounins stood watching the Chunin hopefuls.

Seeing the last team arrive, The Third launched into a big speech about how the Gennin were representing their villages and stuff. Naruto wasn’t really paying attention. He was currently in a conversation with our favorite Star God.

‘So what are you going to teach me after this is over Kyu-sensie?’ Naruto inquired.

“I’ll probably teach you how to use a couple more relics. You should also learn how to use that staff you found. After all, what’s a Necron lord without his staff?” Kyuubi said. Naruto nodded mentally.

‘Ya it looked really interesting. I would also like to know more the Necron themselves. So far all I know are the Flayed Ones and Jarda. Aren’t there mare types?’

Kyuubi nodded within the seal. “Correct kit. There are plenty more. But that will have to wait. It looks like they are saying something important.” Naruto returned his attention to the group to see that a sickly looking Jounin had begun to speak.

“Thus *cough* we will be holding preliminary rounds to *cough*cut down the numbers.*cough*” The Jounin finished. Murmurs of dissent reverberated throughout the Gennin.

“Now then is there anyone who wants to forfeit?” Hayate questioned. A lone hand shot into the air.

It was Kabuto.

“I’ll forfeit. I’m to beaten up to continue any longer.” Hayate nodded, checking the silver haired ninja’s name off the list. “Any one else? No, the let us begin.” Two slots on the wall above the Jounin slid up to reveal a screen that began to flash names rapidly. It stopped finally landing on two names.

‘Uchiha Sasuke vs Yoroi’ (AN: don’t remember his last name.)

“Sasuke and Yoroi stay down here while everyone else please stay on the balconies.” Hayate ordered. All the Gennin not competing presently filed onto the adjacent balconies with their Jounin senseis. As Kakashi passed by Sasuke he paused to mutter something.

“Sasuke…don’t use any jutsu. The curse mark will react violently.” Sasuke’s eyes widened a fraction that Kakashi knew about the mark, but nodded. Kakashi made his way up to the rest of Team Seven to watch the match.

(Match is the same as Cannon so I’m just gonna skip.)

The screen cycled through more names until it landed on two more names.

‘Akamichi Chouji vs Inuzuka Kiba’

In Naruto’s opinion, the match was kinda cheap. Kiba had taunted Chouji after the match started. For his part, Chouji took it rather well… that is until Kiba said the forbidden word.

Fat.

Chouji went into a rage, catching Kiba off guard with his Meat cannon jutsu. Kiba quickly recovered and launched into clan jutsu of his own. Kiba’s Peircing technique met Chouji’s wall of destruction. Somehow it ended up being a double knockout. Chouji squashed Kiba, which Naruto thought was hilarious, and Kiba managed to hit Chouji in the head with his technique. Neither made it to the next exam.

(The rest are same as cannon so once again…its time to skip forward….c’mon don’t hate me its 1:00 I wanna sleep!)

It was the last round of the preliminaries and the machine came up wit the last two names.

‘Uzumaki Naruto vs Kinuta Dosu’

Naruto grinned. “About damn time!” he exclaimed, jumping over the rails. Dosu made his way down silently. The two made their way to the middle of the floor and waited.
Hayate nodded.

“Right, let the final round of the preliminaries begin! Hajjime!”

Both competitors stood silently for a few moments.

“Whadda ya think fox? Should I use the body guards?’ Naruto thought to Kyuubi.

‘I wouldn’t kit. At least not yet. Wait until you have more mastery over the Necron before you reveal them.’ Naruto nodded.

‘Right then. Gonna have to do it the old fashioned way.’ Dosu finally broke the silence.

“I said the next time we met it would be to the death. Let’s see if you can take me on.” He proclaimed calmly. Naruto eyed him for a second and then in a flash threw a fist full of kunai at Dosu. Dosu lifter his right arm and blocked all of the kunai, with his melody arm. “Pathetic.” He taunted. “Is that all you have?”

Naruto growled and made a familiar hand seal.

Kage Bushin no jutsu! Five shadow clones popped into existence.

“Get him boys!” Naruto shouted. All the clones screamed a battle cry and charged at the sound-nin. Dosu blocked the flurry of punches and kicks from the clones and counterattacked. With a basic taijutsu move he destroyed two of the clones and then backed up slightly. Dosu brought his melody arm into play and crushed the remaining three clones with the merciless sound waves.

Up in the stands the Gennin watched the match in mild interest. Kurenei turned to look at Kakashi.

“Your student really isn’t that good, Kakashi. How did he even make it out of the forest?” The red-eyed Jounin asked. Kakashi turned away from the match.

“Well to be honest, I never expected him to make it this far. The only reason I signed my team up for the exam is that Sasuke would have a chance to make Chunin.” Kurenei glared slightly at the open favoritism that the copy-nin displayed. Sakura decided to pipe in.

“Ya that baka can never come even close to Sasuke-kun. He should just stay out of Sasuke-kuns way.” By now most of the remaining rookie nine were listening in and giving disgusted glares at the two ‘Sasuke worshipers,’

Back in the match, Dosu decided to taunt Naruto a little.

“Wow you really are pathetic. It’s a miracle that you even survived the Forest of Death.” Naruto growled. Dosu just continued. “Your skills as a shinobi suck, why do you even bother. You. Are. A .Failure!” The room was filled with silence as everyone waited to see Naruto’s reaction. The Third frowned slightly.

‘What will you do Naruto-kun?’ he thought worriedly. Naruto stood frozen, his bangs covering his eyes. He began to quiver with rage. Finally he looked up and fixed Dosu with an icy glare that made more than one person in the audience flinch. Naruto got into a basic taijutsu stance.

“Bring it.” He growled dangerously. Dosu chuckled.

“Fine, since you want to die so bad.” Dos charged and then suddenly disappeared. Reappearing behind Naruto, he brought his fist down aiming to snap his neck. Everyone tensed and waited for the blow.

It never happened.

Dosu screamed out in pain as he jerked his arm back. Everyone blinked in surprise and tried to see what happened. There was an audible gasp in the room. Dosu’s hand was completely shredded with blood pouring quickly out of the wound.

“What the hell!?” Dosu managed to scream out. Naruto slowly turned around to face the injured ninja, a cold look still in his eyes. Now everyone could see what had peviously been hidden. Tiny black dots floated around Naruto, forming a sort of shield. A soft humming began to fill the room.

Up In the stands, one thought was running through people’s minds.

‘What the hell?’

Kurenei turned back to Kakashi.

“I’m guessing you didn’t teach him that Kakashi?” Kakashi shook his head, his eyes never leaving the battle below.

“I’v never seen anything like that before. How the heck does he….” Kakashi left the question hanging. Everyone turned their attention back to the battle as Naruto began to make a move.


Naruto glared at Dosu with icy blue eyes. Dosu’s eyes widened as he saw his own death in those cold, dead eyes. The humming sound began to get louder.

“So I’m pathetic am I?” he growled out. He slowly raised his right arm and pointed it at Dosu. The sound-nin tensed, trying to ignore the horrible pain emanating from the remains of his right hand. The tiny scarabs began to move from the protective formation around Naruto and moved towards Dosu. The humming got even louder. People now could hear it easily.

In the stands Shino frowned in confusion. ‘Are those bugs?’ he thought. ‘I didn’t know that anyone outside the Aburame clan used bugs in fights. Interesting.’

The Hokage was having similar thoughts. ‘Where did you learn this Naruto? What is this new power?’


Dosu backed up in fear as the tiny black scarabs began to form a bubble around him.

Everyone waited with baited breath to see what would happen next. Naruto began to speak.

“You said this would be a fight to the death.” Everyone’s eyes widened in shock and Dosu’s in fear.

“Well……..” The humming sound was loud now, filling up the room with the sound of thousands of tiny insects. “This is the end.” Naruto held his hand in a similar manner to Gaara with his Sand Coffin.

“No!” Dosu screamed in fear. “Please I’ll do anything! Just don’t-“ Naruto cut him off.

“Goodbye.” And with that the scarabs descended on Dosu. He screamed in pain as the tiny mechanical insects literally ripped him apart. He seemed to explode in a shower of blood as the scarabs ripped his flesh from his body. Everyone watched, appalled at the gory site. Some hurled right then and there. Gaara ws the only one unaffected. In fact he had a gleeful grin on his face at the site of all the blood.

Naruto looked on emotionlessly as he was splattered in Dosu’s blood. The Third was shocked beyond belief.

‘Naruto, what happened to you?’

Orochimaru looked on in interest. ‘Kukuku, how marvelous. It seems that Naruto-kun has more to hide than I thought.

Slowly the scarabs completely got rid of ant trace that Dosu was ever there. Only a blood spot on the floor was what remained of the sound-nin. The scarabs formed up and reformed the shield around Naruto and casually faded until they were completely invisible.

A stunned silence hung over the room until Hayate finally snapped out of his shocked stupor.

”Uhh winner, Uzumaki Naruto.” Everyone applauded, though on the inside they were all filled with questions. Naruto smiled and made his way back up the balconies. When he reached the top, he was intercepted by Sakura and Kakashi.

“Just what the hell was that!” Sakura yelled.

“Yes I would like to know where you learned that as well Naruto.” Kakashi said with a great deal of interest. ‘Maybe I can get that for Sasuke.’

Naruto grimaced.

“I’m not telling you where I learned it Sakura.” The pinkette paused at the lack of suffix at the end of her name but dismissed. It. Naruto continued.

“It is my technique, and you have no right to know.” He snapped. Sakura was about to scream her head off when Kakashi cut her off.

“Naruto as you teacher I’m ordering you to tell me where you learned that technique!” Naruto turned to glare at Kakashi.

“And just what the hell have you taught me Kakashi-‘sensei’” he spoke sensei sarcastically. “I don’t have to tell you shit!” Kakashi was about to retort angrily, when Hayate interrupted.

“Ok *cough* will all remaining participants come down to receive further instructions.” Naruto turned his back on Sakura and Kakashi and headed back down to the arena floor with the remaining Gennin. Hayate explained how the final exam was organized into a tournament and had the Gennin draw numbers.

“Alright, please read off your numbers so we can record them.”

Naruto “I got one”

Shino “Six.”

Temari “I have seven.”

Neji “ Two.”

Shikamaru “ Eight, troublesome.”

Kankuro “Five.”

Gaara “ Three…”

Hayate nodded.

“Sasuke shall have four then. Alright the preliminary rounds are over. You all have a month to get ready for the final exam. Good luck to all of you.




Omake.


IN THE FOREST OF DEATH:
The sound-nins had been defeated and the leaf Gennin were preparing to go their separate ways.

Tenten walked over to an unconscious Lee and began to shake the hell out of him.

“Lee wake the hell up!” Tenten shouted. The other assembled Gennin sweatdropped. Ee groaned and opened his eyes.

“Ey! Sto Shakin meh ya lousy git!” Everyone froze.

What the hell?

“Where’s them humies! I gotz ta chop em up! Cuz Datz wat I do iz chop up ‘humies! Neji walked over to Lee.

“Lee what the hell is wrong with you.” Lee turned to him and puffed out his chest.

“I is green and green is da biggest and da strogestest!” Naruto walked up and examined him.

“Maybe he hit his head a little too hard.” Naruto suggested. The others nodded in agreement as they watched Lee run in a wild circle.

“Chop, Smash KILL!” he exclaimed. Teneten walked over to him.

“Ok Lee that’s enough.”

“Its time foh choppin!”

“Lee…”

“I is da biggest badest here so I is in charge!”

“LEE SHUT THE HELL UP!!!” Lee froze.

“……………” Tenten looked uncertain.

“ummm Lee?”

“WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” Lee shouted at the top of his lungs and then collapsed on the ground unconscious.

Everyone sweatdropped. Naruto finally spoke up.

“What……the……..hell?!?!?”

[Myrdraxxis]

Cold as Death

Chapter 4



Naruto had left the arena as soon as they had been dismissed. He didn’t really feel like explaining how he had gotten a legion of soulless technologically advanced undead that were made to destroy all life.

Somehow he didn’t think that would go over well with the village.

Naruto strolled down the sidewalk towards his apartment, ignoring the glares and hateful whispers he got from the villagers. After having a long debate with himself Naruto had come to a conclusion.

‘I need new clothes.’

“Finally! I was wondering when you would ditch that orange eye-sore.” Kyuubi spoke in his head. Naruto frowned, making some of the passing villagers blink in confusion.

‘I happen to like orange a lot!’ Naruto retorted. ‘But, it really doesn’t do good in mission. I’m going to end up getting killed.’ He said in defeat. He could feel Kyuubi nod his his head.

“Alright then. Go get some new clothes and then head to the caves. We have a month for you to learn how to control your new powers better.” Kyuubi advised. Naruto nodded mentally as he arrived at his apartment. “Also, you might want to ask for some help with some ninjutsu as well. Having the Necron as your weapon is very good, but you don’t want to use it as a crutch. There could be a time when you are separated from your troops. You will need to fend for yourself.” Naruto paused as he entered his small kitchen.

‘Isn’t that what the relics are for? I handled Dosu rather well.’ He said while grabbing his wallet. He turned and headed back out to try and find a store that would sell to him.

“The relic’s powers are limited. Like I said before, the scarab shield can’t stand up to a powerful blast or a high level ninjutsu. There are a couple of relics for offense, but ninjutsu would give you an advantage.” Kyuubi explained.

‘What about taijutsu and genjutsu?’

“I wouldn’t bother with those for a while. For now let’s focus on your ninjutsu, and training you with that staff you found in the archive.” Naruto’s eyes lit up with excitement.

“HELL YEAH!!” he yelled out loud, pumping his fist into the air. He got a lot of strange looks from the other people walking around.

“I suppose we will have to work on that too.” Kyuubi said, sweatdropping.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

Shinto swore as his team trudged through the Forest of Death.

‘Damn it! We have been out here for six days and I don’t think there is even anybody left in the forest. Hell, the exam is probably already done!’ Shinto thought despairingly.

“Hey Shinto, maybe we should take a break.” One of the unfortunate Gennin’s teammates said. Shinto nodded.

“Good idea Kenshi. Let’ head over to that cave.” Shinto indicated a cave over to the left. “We can rest here for I while and then head to the tower.” Both of his teammates nodded and they all headed for the cave, completely missing the large black obelisk to their right.

“Wow its pretty dark in here.” Kenshi muttered. Shinto snorted.

“What did you expect, it’s a freakin cave.” Kenshi was about to retort when another voice called out.

“Hey guys! Look how far back this place goes.” Both Gennin turned to see their teammate further in the cave.

“What’s that, Kisuke?” Shinto called out as he and Kenshi strode over to their teammate. Kisuke was staring into the darkness that permeated from the tunnel.

“How far back do you think it goes?” Kenshi asked. Shinto shook his head.

“No clue. But we shouldn’t venture too far in, there’s no telling how dangerous it is.”

“How right you are.”

All three Gennins tensed as a new voice broke through the darkness. They pulled out kunai and glanced all around them.

“Who are you? Answer me!” Shinto shouted, looking around wildly. To his left, he heard Kenshi gasp. Shinto turned and looked back into the tunnel and bit back a startled yelp. Two glowing green eyes stared back at him from in the darkness.

“How foolish, to enter the realm of the dead willingly.” The strangely metallic voice echoed throughout the cave. Slowly Jarda stepped out of the shadows, revealing himself to the three horror- stricken Gennin.

“W-what the hell are you?” Shinto choked out. In a flash of motion Jarda brought his gausse staff up and rammed it into Shinto’s chest. Shinto’s eyes widened and he began to cough up blood. Jarda ripped the staff from Shinto’s chest, letting more blood flow from the wound. Shinto blinked and stared into the pariah’s cold green eyes. He vaguely heard Kisuke scream his name, but it sounded like everything was under water. He looked down to see his own blood pooling around his feet.

‘It should hurt, shouldn’t it? Why doesn’t it…” Black dots flickered across his vision. He began to feel dizzy. One minute he was standing, the next he was the ground, lying in his blood. A wave of utter exhaustion hit the doomed Gennin. ‘So….tired.’ Darkness crept across his vision until he was consumed by it. The last things he ever heard were his teammates tortured screams as they met similar fates.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx


Naruto walked into the main hospital lobby.

‘Why am I here again, Kyuubi?’ Naruto asked. Kyuubi sighed.

“This is probably where your sensei is since the Uchiha is in here.” Naruto frowned.

‘I know Kakashi is an ass, but why would he be here just for Sasuke?’ Naruto could practically feel Kyuubi roll his eyes.

“Oh please, that guy practically worships the ground that the Uchiha walks on. You know it’s true.” Naruto was about to retort when Kakashi stepped out of the hallway and into the lobby.

“Oh, Naruto. Why are you here?” Kakashi asked in a lazy manner. Naruto ran up to him.

“Hey sensei, do you think you can help me out with my training for the finals?” Naruto asked excitedly. Kakashi thought about it for a minute. Truth be told, he did want to know more about the strange technique Naruto used in the preliminaries.

But….

“Sorry, I need to train Sasuke for his fight with Gaara. He is a tough opponent and I must help Sasuke with his sharingan…” Naruto scowled at the scarecrow ninja and began to tune him out.

‘Bastard.’

“Told you.”

‘Can it, fuzzball!....Hey wait why did you ask me to come here if you knew Kakashi wouldn’t teach me?’ Kyuubi smiled triumphantly.

“Because even if he won’t teach you he will hand you off to someone who should be competent enough to be able to.”

“…..He is an elite Jounin named Ebisu.” Naruto stared at Kakashi, hoping it was a joke.

“But I have been wrong before…..” Kakashi didn’t seem to notice the look Naruto gave him.

“Anyway, you are to meet him at the hot springs in an hour. Ja ne.” Kakashi disappeared in a puff of smoke. Naruto seethed inwardly, accidentally releasing some killer intent.

‘That lousy bastard! Passing me on to some weakling who dares call himself a Jounin!’ I’m gonna fucking kill him!’ the orange shinobi raged. Kyuubi just sighed.

“Kid your starting to scare people. Just see what the man can teach you. Besides, you can always just ditch him later.” Naruto stopped ranting and smirked a little.

‘That’s true.’

“Well, you have an hour until you need to meet him. Time to find you some new clothes.” Kyuubi continued. Naruto nodded and headed back outside and made his way to the market district.


XxXxXxXxXxXx

It had taken a while to find a store that would actually sell to Naruto. The store owner was new to Konoha so he didn’t know a thing about the Kyuubi or Naruto.

That was fine with Naruto.

Many villagers gave Naruto confused looks and a few actually stopped and stared. The blond ninja had definitely changed.

‘Jeez, does it really make me look that different?’ Naruto wondered as he noticed the looks he was getting.

“Hell yes, kit. You actually look like a ninja. Aw hell you look like you are ready to lead an evil army across all the Elemental Countries in a swath of death. (AN: hmm foreshadowing or not…I’ll leave that up to you, hehehe.). It makes me so proud.” Naruto sweatdrop as he listened to the ‘almighty’ C’tan weep fake tears of joy.

‘I suppose it really is a big change.’ He mused.

A big change indeed.

Instead of the evil orange jumpsuit, Naruto now had on black shinobi pants with various pockets for extra weapons and such. He had foregone a shirt, and instead wrapped his entire upper torso in white bandages.(AN: Kinda like Dosu, only on his body.) Over this he wore standard ANBU armor chest armor and wrist guards. What stood out the most, however, was the facemask he now wore. It was made of metal and depicted a snarling mouth filled with razor teeth. He had tied his headband to his left bicep, letting his bangs hang over into his face. All in all, he looked badass. (I’ll post a picture of the mask in my profile.)

Naruto arrived at the hot springs a few minutes early.

‘Maybe he isn’t here yet.’ Naruto thought hopefully.

“Ahh there you are Naruto.” The familiar voice of Ebisu reached him.

‘Damn.’ Naruto turned to face the elite Jounin. He put on the biggest fakest smile he could.

“Hey there Ebisu-sensei! What you gonna tech me, huh?” He asked, falling back into his old character. Ebisu sighed at the childish display.

“We are going to be working on chakra control first.” He said evenly. Naruto deflated a little.

“Awww not more of that crap.” He whined. Ebisu pushed his glasses onto the ridge of his nose and launched into some big speech about having large amounts of chakra and needing to control it so he could be a better ninja. Naruto figured he might as well play along.

If only to get the annoying Jounin to shut up.

Naruto spent the next hour trying to stand on top of the water in the hot springs. No matter how much he tried, he couldn’t stay up for more that thirty seconds and plunged right back down into the hot water.

‘This is harder than I thought.’ He muttered.

“See, this man CAN teach you something useful.” Kyuubi said. Naruto sighed inwardly.

‘Okay, fine. You were right. Happy?’

“Very good. Now concentrate, focus more chakra into your feet.” Kyuubi instructed. Naruto did as told and to his surprise, he managed to stay above the water.

“Hey, I’m getting it!” the blond cried. Ebisu watched him from the side of the spring.

‘Remarkable that he could get the exercise down in such a short matter of time.’ Naruto stood proudly on top of the water with a large grin on his face. He paused when he heard….giggling? Naruto turned to the far end of the hot spring to find an old white haired man peeping into the girl’s side of the springs.

“HEY!” Naruto shouted at the man, losing his concentration and falling in the water once again. Ebisu looked up in curiosity. When he saw the man, he smirked and charged at him.

“I don’t know who you are old man, but I will not tolerate and inappropriate behavior!” The man in question finally turned and noticed the charging Jounin.

“Quiet down will you? Do you want them to hear us?”he said and suddenly began forming hand seals. There was a puff of smoke and a large toad appeared by the man. Ebisu’s face changed to one of shock.

“Y-your…” Before he could get any further, the toad opened his mouth whacked Ebisu with his tongue. Hard. The special Jounin was thrown back and collided with the opposite wall. He went out like a light. Naruto, who had dragged himself out of the water by then, looked on in awe. This old man had virtually bitch slapped his sensei across the hot springs. Then the implications of this set in.

“Hey old man! You just knocked out my sensei! Now how am I supposed to train? I demand you train me since you got rid of my other teacher!” Naruto shouted loudly. The man looked over at Naruto.

“Who the hell are you gaki?” Naruto glared at him.

“My name is Uzumaki Naruto, not gaki you old man!” the man’s eyes widened slightly with recognition.

‘Is that Minato’s kid?’ he thought. “Sorry kid I don’t teach.” Naruto frowned.

“Aww come on! Now how am I supposed to beat that damned Hyuuga?” He, once again, yelled. The old man cocked his head curiously.

“A Hyuuga? Tell you what kid, I don’t normally do this, but I’ll give it a shot. Meet me here tomorrow afternoon. I’ll see if you’re worth my time.” He agreed. Naruto gave a large smile.

“Really? Thanks old man!” The man smirked.

“Whatever. Now get outta here, I’ve got some ‘research’ to do.” He said giggling. Naruto was curious about what this ‘research’ entailed, but decided it was time to visit the tombs. Naruto gave one last nod to his new sensei and headed off. The man watched as he ran out of sight.

“Uzumaki Naruto eh?” he chuckled slightly to himself. A groan rose from behind him, signifying that Ebisu had woken up. The Jounin pulled himself up from the water and looked across the water.

“Jiraiya-sama! what are you doing back in Konoha?” he asked. Jiraiya glanced over at him.

“Oh you know, just have to gather more research for my books. Konoha truly does have the best women.” He said giggling perversely. Ebisu frowned but inwardly agreed. “Hey, Ebisu.” Jiraiya said, suddenly serious. The Jounin stood a little straighter at the tone of the Sannin.

“Yes sir?”

“I’ll be taking over Naruto’s training from now on. I’ll talk to sensei about it to get things all cleared up.” Jiraiya’s voice left no room for argument. Ebisu hesitated for a moment and then nodded. Jiraiya smiled. “Good, now I think you show go report to Sarutobi-sensei for your next job.” Ebisu nodded silently once more and then leapt off towards the Hokage Tower. Jiraiya turned back to the hole in the women’s fence.

“Now then, where was I?” he giggled.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXx

Naruto made his way through the cave until was able to make out the shape of the Necron structures. Unlike the last time, they were bathed in a eerie green glow.

‘Must be getting things together.’ Naruto figured. Instead of walking up the side like last time, there was enough light so that Naruto could find a walkway to the top. Along the way, he passed many different Necron, each doing their jobs wordlessly. Warriors were gathering into small groups to patrol the cave perimeter, and scarabs were busy building up the fortifications, processing plants and other things.

‘I never really noticed how extensive this place was.’ Naruto observed as he headed up a ramp tp yet another raised platform. (AN: for those that can’t get a picture in their head, think the Necron fortress in DoW dark crusade.) Finally Naruto reached the raised dais where he had first arrived. Standing in the middle was Jarda.

“Ah, my lord. It is good you have come, there are things that I must show you.” The pariah spoke in his cold voice. Naruto nodded.

“Such as?” he questioned. Jarda indicated that Naruto should follow him. The two traveled down a few walkways until they reached an opened courtyard. Standing in the middle were a type of Necron that Naruto had not yet seen.

“My lord, the are the wraiths. They are used as spies and scouts and can be very beneficial to you.” Jarda explained. Naruto looked the wraiths over skeptically.

“How do they stay hidden? I don’t think it is time for me to reveal the Necron to Konoha just yet.” He questioned. Jarda silently signaled to the snake-like Necrons and in the blink of an eye they vanished. Naruto looked around quickly.

“Wha? Where did they go?”

“The wraiths come equipped with the ability to faze out of the material realm. This makes them the perfect spies.” the necron explained. Suddenly the wraiths snapped back into existence, making Naruto jump slightly. Jarda then led Naruto through different parts of the ancient structure. Naruto learned about the various forms of necron and the abilities they possessed. They passed by one small room to the side where a bright green glow emanated from.

“What is in there?” Naruto indicated the previous room.

“A small project that will be an excellent addition to your army.” Jarda answered as he kept walking. Naruto just shrugged and followed. Jarda lead him back to the archive room.

“Here we are, my lord. I shall be attending to other matters.” Jarda said and then turned and walked back. Naruto stood alone in the room.

‘Ok, Kyuubi. What am I going to learn next?’ Naruto asked his resident ‘demon’.

“Ok, firstly, I will teach you how to use a few new relics. For the rest of the month I will be showing you how to use that staff.” Kyuubi said, indicating the Necron staff that Naruto had found on his last trip to the room.

‘Ok then, what’s first?’

“I want you to bring me two things one is that cube over there, and that small orb.” Naruto reached in and pulled out the two objects.

“Now then, first things first. I want you to try calling out a small amount of my power. Not too much or it will kill you, but just enough to operate the relic.” Naruto closed his eyes in concentration and focused. He could feel his normal chakra pulsing around in his body, along with something else. Something more hidden. Naruto eagerly began to draw from the hidden reserves. He felt a small flash through his system as Kyuubi’s power began to channel through him.

“Good job kit. Don’t take too much though. Now focus it on the relic.” Naruto complied and focused the incredible power through his hands and into the ancient relic. The small Necron relic reacted immediately and began to glow the bright, sickly green of Necrons. Naruto looked around.

‘What happened?’

“Just look at yourself.” Naruto looked down and gasped in surprise. He was entirely invisible.

‘What the hell?’ He screamed in his mind. Kyuubi winced at the volume.

“This relic utilizes the same technology as the Wraiths do, making you completely invisible to enemies.” Naruto’s eyes widened and he began too think of the possibilities.

“Alright kit, don’t get too distracted. The next relic you can’t really use at the moment because there is nothing to cast it on. The relic is called a Resurrection Orb. Use it to revive fallen Necron.” Naruto gaped slightly at the tiny orb.

‘With this, I can raise fallen troops? That would make battles nearly impossible to lose!’ He exclaimed.

“Exactly. This is one of the things that make he Necron such an unstoppable army. No matter how many fall, they can always be brought back. You can simply send waves of troops in and raise them over and over again.” Naruto stood stunned. After a moment he put the orb back into the archive.

‘So about the staff.’ He said, having collected his thoughts.

“We can begin now if you wish. That is what I will be mostly teaching you for the rest of the month.” Naruto looked back into the archive.

‘There are a few other relics in here. Why not learn those?’ he questioned.

“You will learn to use those relics when I feel you are ready.” Was Kyuubi’s simple reply. Naruto looked around the small room and then noticed a smaller, more square-shaped archive in the corner. He walked over and looked inside.

There was only one thing inside.

It was a small sphere, simple in design, yet Naruto could feel the power rolling off of it.

‘Hey Kyuubi. What about this one? What does it do?’

“Kit, of all the relics in this room, that is one you are least ready for. You should not use that relic until you have completely mastered these other relics and gained more power. Not a moment before.” Kyuubi said in a dead serious voice. Naruto nodded and quickly put the relic down. If Kyuubi sounded that serious, it was definitely for a good reason. He turned back to the staff that was leaning against the regular archive.

‘Alright, let’s get started.’

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

Naruto made his way through Konoha towards his apartment. It was evening by the time he had left the caves and he was tired as hell. Kyuubi had drilled some basic moves into the young blonde’s head, who had practiced them extensively.

‘Must sleep. Gotta meet old man for training tomorrow.’ Naruto thought sluggishly. Suddenly an ANBU jumped down in front of him.

“Uzumaki Naruto, the Hokage wishes to see you. Please come with me.” He said in a monotone voice. Naruto sighed.

‘Damn, I knew this was coming.’ Naruto nodded and the ANBU grabbed his arm and shushined away. They reappered inside the Hokage’s office, where the Sandaime sat behind his desk.

“Thank you ANBU-san. That will be all.” The old kage dismissed the ninja. The ANBU nodded curtly and shushined away. The Sandaime turned to Naruto who was standing alone in the middle of the room. He blinked in slight surprise at Naruto’s wardrobe change, but shrugged it off.

“Naruto-kun, you probably know what I wish to talk with you about.” He said. Naruto smiled uneasily.

“Errr I don’t know what you mean, old man.” He said. Sarutobi sighed and closed his eyes. When he opened them again Naruto took a step backwards. The kage’s eyes were sharp and serious, full of danger. This was not the kind old man that Naruto saw as a grandfather, this was the Sandaime Hokage of Konoha.

“Do not play games with me, Uzumaki.” He growled. Naruto was shocked at the ferocity in the words.

“I can tell that you pretend to be dumb and I will not be lied to by one of my subordinates.” The Hokage continued in a dark voice.

“I can’t tell you.” Naruto said in a serious voice. The Hokage frowned even more.

“I am ordering you to tell me. This isn’t up for debate.” Naruto grimaced.

“I’m sorry old man, but this is a deep secret. I know I can tell you almost anything, but this isn’t one of them. This is my business. The old Sandaime got a terrifying glint in his eye.

“NOW YOU LISTEN HERE, BOY! I HAVE KEPT YOU SAFE THUSFAR, BUT THAT CAN CHANGE IN A HEARTBEAT. DO YOU FORGET WHO IT IS WHO HAS PROVIDED FOR YOU ALL THESE YEARS? I WILL NOT HAVE MY NINJA KEEPING ANYTHING FROM ME, REGARDLESS OF WHAT IT IS. IF I WANT TO KNOW ANYTHING, I EXPECT TO BE FUCKING TOLD! DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR,GENNIN?” Naruto, as well as the ANBU hidden in the walls, were taken back by the new attitude of their leader. Naruto gulped.

‘Should I tell him?’ Naruto asked Kyuubi frantically.

“I don’t see much of an option kit. Damn, who knew that your Sandaime had balls like that.” Kyuubi answered. Naruto sighed and looked over at the dangerous kage.

“Okay, I’ll tell you.” He said. Sarutobi’s eyes softened.

“Try to understand Naruto. I need to know anything that goes on because I care for you. What I saw has me worried and I want to know that everything is okay.” He said softly. Naruto smiled weakly.

“Don’t worry about me old man. I can take care of myself. Now you wanted to know about everything?” he asked. The Hokage nodded. “Well, it sorta started like this…..”

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx



A stunned silence filled the room. Neither the Sandaime or Naruto spoke for a few moments. Finally the old Hokage broke the silence.

“That….is extraordinary.” He said, sounding very tired. “To think that all this time…..” He turned to the waiting blond. “Do you have any other proof that this is real?” Naruto nodded slowly.

“Yeah…I do.” He slowly lifted his hand snapped his fingers sharply. There was a brief silence, and then the Sandaime gave a start. The floorboards moaned as jagged metal spikes shoved through them from below. Sarutobi watched in morbid fascination as eight metal, bloodied bodies pulled themselves up into the office. The hidden ANBU all jumped down and got into defensive stances.

Just in case.

The Hokage could barely believe what he was seeing. These strange beings were made entirely of metal. He felt slightly sick when he realized that the strange clothing they wore was actually skin. Human skin. Naruto just stood impassively.

“Old man, these are the Flayed Ones. My personal body guard.” He said calmly. The Hokage was slightly worried. Since finding these ‘Necron’ Naruto was becoming colder. More willing to kill.

“Naruto…..what do plan to use these Necron for, exactly?” the Sandaime asked worriedly. Naruto shrugged.

“To be honest, I’m nit really sure right now. I just want to protect Konoha from danger and these Necron will make me strong. Besides, it brings me one step closer to taking your job, old man.” Naruto finished with a smirk. Sarutobi smiled.

‘At least he hasn’t changed that much.’ He thought. “Well then, I guess that I had better plan on retiring soon.” He chuckled. Naruto gave a big smile and started to laugh. The ANBU dropped their combat stances as the tension deflated. The Necron……just stood there. The Sandaime gave them another look over. A sudden thought came to mind.

“Hey...my office is on the sixth story. How did they get up….” Everyone bent over and looked through the hole that the Flayed Ones had burst from. A hole went all the way down to the ground floor, passing through every level. On each floor there were shinobi and office workers looking up at them curiously. Everyone sweatdropped.

“I can fix that.” Naruto said sheepishly.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx


The next day, Naruto made his way through the bustling streets of Konoha towards the hot springs. When he got there, Jiraiya was standing there waiting.

“About time you showed up.” He said rather bluntly. Naruto just glared at him. That meeting with the Hokage had lasted a lot longer than anticipated, giving him little time to sleep.

“Whatever, can we just get started, old man?” Naruto asked irritably. Jiraiya frowned.

“I am not ‘old man’ as you say.” He began to break out his creepy little dance. “I AM THE GREAT AND POWERFUL JIRAIYA!” he finished after a rather boring self introduction. Naruto just stared at him.

‘Is it too late to change my mind?’ He thought.

“Maybe you can run while he is distracted.” Kyuubi inputted. Naruto thought about it but decided to see what the creepy old man could teach him.

“Whatever, are we gonna start or what?” Jiraiya facefaulted. He began grumbling about ‘damn kids’ and ‘no respect for their betters’.

“Fine follow me.”


Jiraiya led Naruto out into the forests of Konoha, nearby a waterfall.

“Alright brat, first things first. What exactly do you know how to do?” Jiraiya asked. Naruto got into a thinking pose.

“Well, lets see. I know the academy jutsu and Kage Bushin no jutsu.” ‘And I control an army of metal undead that are hellbent on destroying all life.’ Naruto thought the last part. Jiraiya sighed.

‘That’s it? I’ve got my work cut out for me.’ He then reached behind his back and pulled off the giant scroll from his back. “Hey brat, what do you know about summoning?”


XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

Naruto growled in frustration. He had signed the toad summoning contract and had been practicing all afternoon. This wasn’t getting him anywhere!

‘Why the hell do I even need to summon? I have a fucking army!’ the boy raged silently.

“For once, I think you are right. Ask him to teach you something else, this will get you nowhere this week. You can learn how to summon when you aren’t on a deadline.” Kyuubi piped in. Naruto nodded and walked over to the perverted Sannin, who was currently spying on a couple of girls who were having a splash fight in the river.

“Hey Ero-sannin, teach me something else! This summoning thing isn’t working out for me at the moment.” Naruto demanded. Jiraiya turned around with an annoyed look.

“Picky aren’t we? Why do you want to learn something else?” he said irritably. This brat was cutting into his research time. Naruto frowned at him.

“I need more time to learn about summoning before I use it. I only have a few weeks until the finals.” He explained. Jiraiya rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

“Okay, let me see. Are you able to harness Kyuubi’s chakra yet?” the sannin asked. Naruto tensed slightly when he heard Kyuubi’s name.

“How do you know about Kyuubi?” he asked nervously. Jiraiya snorted.

“Kid, I’m a Sannin. There isn’t anything that goes on in this village that I don’t know about.” He bragged. Naruto smirked slightly.

‘I can think of something.’ He thought, glancing down at the ground below him. He glanced back up at the Sannin. “Yes I can control his power.” Jiraiya nodded.

“Good. That makes things easier. Wait here, I’ll be back.” And with that, the white haired Sannin jumped away. Naruto stood alone in the forest.

‘Sooooo, what the hell am I going to do now?’ he pondered, glancing around.

“I have an idea.” Kyuubi spoke up.

‘Oh?’ Naruto asked curiously.

“I can teach you a little bit about strategy while you wait.” Naruto raised an eyebrow. “It’s all good and well that you have a powerful army, but if you don’t know how to use it well it all goes to waste. I will teach you a few simple strategies to start off with and we will go from there.” Kyuubi began to mentally teach Naruto how to use the Necron’s different abilities in different situations. After what seemed like an hour, Jiraiya finally popped back down into the clearing.

“Alright brat, here you go.” The man tossed a water balloon over to Naruto. Naruto caught it and then looked at the Sannin questioningly.

“What the hell is this for?” Jiraiya sighed.

“This is part of a three step process that will let you use the new jutsu I’m going to teach you. Now I want you to try and focus chakra into your hand. Make the balloon pop with your chakra.” Jiraiya explained. Naruto hesitated for a moment and then began to concentrate.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

Month had passed rather quickly in Naruto’s opinion. He had alternated between sneaking down into the tombs to practice with his staff or training with Jiraiya. He had mastered the first two steps of the Rasengan in a short time, yet the third part kept giving him trouble. He had been out of contact with almost everyone, and many started to wonder whether the boy was even alive. Naruto had made great use of the wraiths, sending them out through the village to spy. For the most part, he used them to gather information for later pranks. Old habits die hard.

Naruto trudged home from another day of training.

‘Man, today was intense.’ He thought.

“Yes, but are getting very proficient with the staff. If nothing else you can just fry that Hyuuga bastard.” Kyuubi chuckled the last part. Naruto smirked as he passed down a smaller road. Suddenly he caught a whiff of a very familiar scent.

‘mmmm Ichiraku’s ramen. I haven’t eaten there for almost a month!’ He thought. He glanced down at his now growling belly. ‘Well I guess I can eat out tonight.’ He thought happily as he redirected himself to the ramen stand.

Kurenai and her team were eating out at Ichiraku’s ramen. It was a celebration of sorts, to celebrate Shino’s passing of the preliminaries. Just then a figure entered the stand. All four of them stared. He had on some standard ANBU armor and a mask that sent shivers down all of their spines. Their thoughts on the mysterious person were interrupted when he spoke.

“HEY OLD MAN! YOUR NUMBER ONE CUSTOMER IS BACK I”LL TAKE TWENTY OF EVERYTHING!” he shouted. Teichu(sp?) walked over to the counter and blinked.

“Naruto is that you?” Everyone perked up at hearing the name. Naruto smiled.

“You better believe it old man! I’m back!” He said happily. Teichu laughed.

“Alright then. Twenty bowls coming right up.” With that he walked back to work on the large order. Kurenai’s team gaped at the blond haired boy.

This was Naruto?

The team’s thoughts went something like this.

‘What happened to him? That stunt in the preliminaries was out of character, but this...’

‘Hmm he’s changed.’

‘Why the hell is he acting all badass?’

‘N-naruto-kun, what happened to you?’

It was Kiba who decided to speak up first.

“Hey Naruto! What’s with the new clothes?” he called over to the blond. Naruto looked over and saw the team.

“Oh, hey guys.” He said. “As for the clothes, I just felt like a change.” He said shrugging. Kurenai looked at the fanged mask he was wearing.

‘A big change.’ She thought. “So Naruto, I’m curious about that attack you used in the preliminaries. What was that exactly?” Everyone stopped eating to listen, as they were also extremely curious. Naruto just sighed and nodded to Teichu who handed him his first bowl.

“I can’t tell you. It’s my secret and I don’t really want to tell you.” The others deflated. Kiba got an annoyed look on his face.

“Jeez, why all the secrecy.” Naruto sighed again.

“I just don’t want to talk about it.” Everyone fell into silence after that, calmly finishing up their meals. Naruto finished off his ramen and said his goodbyes to the Gennin team.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXx


Kabuto and Baki stood over the bloody corpse of Hayate. Kabuto gave the sand-nin an annoyed look.

“Did you have to kill him? Now Konoha will be on higher alert. This will make things more complicated.” Baki snorted.

“It doesn’t matter. There is no way they will see this invasion coming. Kazekage-sama and Orochimaru have thought all this through. One dead jounin won’t cause an invasion of two countries to fail.” Kabuto sighed. It was true that no matter what, the invasion would take place. Kabuto just wished it could have gone as smooth as possible.

“Whatever. I must go report to Orochimaru-sama and you must prepare your team for the finals.” Kabuto said.

“What about the mess?” Baki indicated the dead swordsman.

“Leave him.” Kabuto replied coldly. The two ninjas jumped off to report to their respective leaders, leave the slashed corpse of Hayate. The air next to the corpse shimmered slightly. A wraith faded into view. In deathly silence the serpent-like spy floated off to deliver the information it had just received.

XxXxXxXxXxXx

“An invasion?” The Sandaimes eyes were wide with shock at what he had just heard. Naruto was standing in the middle of the kage’s office.

“Correct. If what my wraiths gathered is true, then we will have Suna and Oto invading us during the final exams.” Naruto stated. Sarutobi leaned back in his chair, rubbing his temples.

“I’m getting too old for this shit.” He muttered. Finally he opened his eyes. “Thank you for telling me this, Naruto. I will have all availably ninja prepare for battle.” Naruto hesitated.

“Sir, what about the exams?” Sarutobi thought for a minute.

“The exams will continue. If we keep up our appearances, we can catch them by surprise when they attack.” Naruto nodded in agreement. He then thought of something.

“Hey old man.” He said slowly. “What if I had a way to better help our defenses. The Sandaime’s eyebrows shot up.

“Surely you aren’t going to reveal the Necron are you.” All he got was a small nod. Sarutobi sighed. “Are you sure Naruto? A lot of people already don’t like you, I’m not sure what would happen if they saw the Necron. And as for the council…..” The aging Hokage trailed off. Naruto gave a sad smile.

“I know. But people already hate me. I’d rather have them hate me while I’m able to defend Konoha.” He locked eyes with the Hokage. The Sandaime searched his eyes, finding only determination in the blue orbs.

“Very well.” He said finally. Naruto gave him a big grin.

“Thanks old man. I’ll make Konoha proud!” He exclaimed as he turned and ran out the door. The Hokage chuckled as he watched him leave.

“I know you will, my boy.” He murmured. “I know you will.”


XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

Naruto strode through the Necron buildings as the metallic warriors began to mobilize.

Warriors, Immortals, Wraiths and Flayed Ones all gathered to prepare for the inevitable battle. Tomb Spiders hovered around with swarms of tiny scarabs following in their wake. Naruto strode to the central courtyard where Jarda was waiting. He wasn’t alone.

“My lord. We have gathered our forces and are mobilizing as ordered. We have dispatched wraiths into the village to gather any additional information on the ninja.” Jarda said. Naruto nodded, satisfied.

“Good job. I want the Necron to creep up on the enemy. They will be busy fighting the defenders, but I want to be able to catch them by surprise. Can you find a way?” Jarda was silent for a moment.

“There are extensive tunnel networks that run all below your village. This cave was connected to them. But the years have caused the tunnel to collaps. We could have the tunnel dug again in a few days.” Jarda explained. Naruto nodded again as he surveyed the mass of troops that marched around the caves.

“Do it. No less than a week.” Naruto said with authority. Jarda nodded and a few Necron moved off to begin the task. It was then that Naruto noticed the figures standing behind Jarda.

“Jarda, who are these?” he asked. Three figures stepped forward. They all looked exactly like Jarda, Naruto realized. They were Pariahs.

“My lord, this is the project I had told you about. These new pariahs will make an excellent addition to your army.” Jarda indicated the three Necron. Naruto scrutinized.

“Where did they come from?” He asked.

“They were a few pesky shinobi who wandered into the cave, my lord.” Naruto nodded and then turned to the three.

“You three have names?” he asked. The middle one stepped forward.

“My lord. When we were living, my name was Shinto. These are Kenshi and Kisuke. We will serve you until our ends.” He said in a raspy metallic voice, much like Jardas. Naruto turned back to Jarda.

“Was there anything else?” Jarda nodded and led him out to one of the remote courtyards. Naruto gasped at the large pyramid-like shapes that rose up to meet him. Jarda stepped up beside him.

“These, my lord, are some of the Necron’s greatest weapons. Throughout the past week I have analyzed your shinobi sealing arts and devised a way for you to summon these into battle. They serve as not only weapons but troop carriers as well.” Jarda finished. Naruto gaped at the monolithic building and a smirk crept onto his face.

“They won’t fucking know what hit ‘em.”

[Myrdraxxis]

Ok here you go folks! The next chapter for Cold as Death! WOOT! Ok well since I really don’t have much else to say….on with the story!


Disclaimer: I don’t own Naruto or Warhammer 40k.




Cold As Death

Chapter 5






The Chunnin Exam finals had finally arrived. All through Konoha the streets were flooded with people trying to enter the stadium. The stadium itself was a large outdoor arena, now packed with civilians, shinobi and nobles. They had all come to see one thing.

Young teens beating the crap out of each other to earn a promotion so that they can go beat the crap out of stronger people……It’s better than it sounds.

Currently the contestants were standing in a line in the middle of the arena. Naruto stood calmly, sweeping his gaze across the crown in the stands. He couldn’t help but feel a slight bit of disgust at the thought of the villagers up in the crowd. He turned his eyes to the other contestants around him.

‘Sasuke isn’t here yet.’ He noted. ‘Probably trying to show off again.’ Again Naruto felt disgust well up inside him. He averted his thoughts to the upcoming plan.

‘Jarda’s team broke through to the tunnels yesterday and the troops are currently waiting for the signal. Jarda has taken the other pariahs on a patrol around the forests and Old Man has the ANBU on alert. I can’t help thinking that there is something that I missed.’ He thought, focusing on the Sandaime, who was currently up in the Kage box with the Kazekage.

“Relax, kit. Everything is working fine. All is according to plan.” Kyuubi assured him. Naruto hummed silently in agreement.

‘Yes, but I have yet to see an operation that went exactly as planned.’ He thought, Wave Country coming to mind.

“True….”

Naruto was jolted out of his thoughts by the booming voice of the Sandaime, giving the Exam Finals speech.

‘Blah, blah, blah, let’s get on with it already!’ Naruto thought impatiently.

“And with that, let the Chunnin Finals commence!” Sarutobi bellowed, closely followed by the loud cheers of the audience.

‘Finally!’

The jounin standing next to Naruto stepped out.

“Contestants of the first match remain here. Everyone else head to the stands.” He said almost lazily. The gennin complied, leaving Neji and Naruto standing alone. The Hyuuga had an arrogant smirk that was really starting to piss Naruto off.

“First match, between Uzumaki Naruto and Hyuuga Neji start!” the jounin yelled, and stepped off to the side.

Silence swept over the stadium as the two Gennin eyed each other. Naruto stood silently waiting for Neji to make the first move. One of the first things that Kyuubi had taught the boy over the month was that charging in half-assed generally wasn’t a good plan.

Finally Neji spoke. “You should just give up now.” He said. Naruto narrowed his eyes in disgust. Naruto disliked Neji from the very beginning, but after the prelims, and what he did to Hinata…..it was all Naruto could do to not flay the Hyuuga on the spot.

“No thanks, I think I’ll pass.” He said. Neji sneered.

“You are going to lose. Fate has already determined that I am to win this match. Give up now and save yourself from getting hurt.” The Hyuuga said, arrogance dripping from his voice. Naruto growled.

“Just shut up and fight already.” He said, and quickly launched three kunai at his opponent. Neji dodged the knives with ease and charged at Naruto, activating his Byakugan. Naruto jumped back and made ten Kage bunshin. The clones circled around Neji and began to strike at the boy, with little success. Neji slipped in and around their aims with practiced grace, dispatching two clones with quick punches.

The remaining eight clones jumped in front of Naruto in a defensive gesture. Neji just smirked and charged throught the group, clones dispelling as he passed. Naruto narrowed his eyes as Neji got closer until he was upon Naruto.

“Tell me.” Naruto said, blocking Neji’s kunai with his own causing the scraping of metal to echo around the arena. “Why do think that you are ‘fated’ to win, asshole.” He growled out. Neji scowled and jumped back.

“I shouldn’t even waste my breath on a loser like you, but since you are going to lose I might as well tell you.” He said.

(enter Neji sob story here……oh come on do you REALLY want to hear it AGAIN?)

Neji finished his story quietly, anger flowing through him as memories resurfaced. Naruto just gazed at him coolly.

“So?” he asked simply. Neji’s eyes widened in shock and anger. He growled. Naruto paid it no mind. “I mean, come on. So you lost your father, plenty of people have to go through hard times. What makes you so special that you can look down on people and rely on fate?” Naruto asked scornfully. Neji was quivering with rage at this point. He reached up and ripped off his headband, revealing an intricate seal tattooed on his forehead.

“You see this? I have to serve the main house as a slave because of this seal!” Neji screamed, all his former aloofness abandoned. “I have to suffer this on a daily basis, while people like you just goof off and do nothing!” he spat. Naruto frowned, anger beginning to well up in him.

“Kit…watch it.” Kyuubi warned.

“What do you know of suffering?” Neji yelled out. There was complete silence in the stadium. Naruto just stared at his opponent blankly.

“Uhh…kit?” Kyuubi asked slightly worried.

‘He will die.’ Naruto thought plainly. On the outside he was shaking with anger.

“What do I…” he began, barely able to form the words. “What do I know of suffering?” Naruto repeated the question as if he didn’t believe it. Neji just watched uncaringly.


In the stands, Hyuuga Hiashi was watching Nejiwith something akin to sorrow in his eyes.


“I have been HATED since I was fucking born!” Naruto shouted. “How many assassination attempts were made on you?” he asked, spitting out the question. Neji blinked, unable to come up with an answer.


In the stands, a few of the gennin were conversing.

“What is he talking about?” Ino asked. Chouji shrugged, and continued eating.

“Dunno, but I do remember my parents telling me to stay away from Naruto when we were younger.” The plump boy said between mouthfuls. Ino nodded.

“Yeah, mine too. Is that what they were talking about?” she wondered, looking back down at Naruto. “What does he mean?”

Similar thoughts were going throught the other contestants minds.


“he is like us. I must kill him!”

“What a drag. What does Naruto mean? This is something to look into. Meh, so troublesome.’

‘Assassination? Could he be like Gaara?’

And so on.



Naruto growled. “Enough talk. I’m gonna smear you across this stadium.” He said. Neji smirked.

“I’d like to see you try.” He said arrogantly. Naruto cocked his head. Neji held out his hands. “This is why I am fated to win.” He yelled out.

“You are in my field of divination!” he yelled. In the audience, many of the Hyuugas gasped in surprise. “ Prepare to lose! Eight Trigrams! Sixty-Four palms!”
The next few seconds were a blur for both Neji and the crowd. Neji’s arms became like rapid fire pistons, barely visible as they rained down upon Naruto is quick succession. Naruto jerked back as the blows hit, his chakra pathways closing with each strike.

In the stands, Hiasha was staring at Neji in shock. “No way!” he said softly. Hanabi looked at her father curiously before turning her attention back to her cousin down below.


Naruto fell backwards and landed with a heavy sigh. He didn’t move. Neji adopted his smirk and turned to Genma.

“Procter, you might as well call it. He won’t get up for a while.” He said. A noise behind him made the prodigy turn around and gasp. Naruto was standing back up, shakily.

‘Kyuubi? Why didn’t the scarabs block that?’ Naruto asked silently as he brushed himself off. He couldn’t feel any of his chakra.

“As I said before, they can’t block against stronger hits. That is why you shouldn’t rely on them.”Kyuubi answered. Naruto glared at the still shocked Neji.

“How?” Neji asked. “You should be out cold! Your chakra is sealed.” He exclaimed. A frown formed on his face. “No matter, you can’t use your chakra now. Fate has already declared me the winner.”

‘I want to end this quickly. Kyuubi lend me some power.’ He commanded. Almost instantly the familiar surge of energy rushed through Naruto. He felt it flow through his veins and smiled darkly.

“Neji, you are gonna wish you never showed up.” He said. Naruto raised his hand out in front of him. The ground beneath his hand churned for a moment, and suddenly Naruto’s necron staff burst from the ground and into his hand. (AN: in typical Necron Lord fashion )

The audience reacted diversely to the appearance of the strange weapon. The gennin looked at it in amazement, wondering how Naruto of all people would come across such a thing. Shikamaru frowned deeply.

‘Naruto, there is so much we don’t know about you.’

Elswhere, Sakura just scoffed.

“Oh, please. Sasuke-kun could kick his ass any dy. He’s just showing off.” In the stands, Kiba and Hinata were equally stunned.

“Whoa. Since when did Naruto have that?” Kiba asked loudly. Hinata stared at Naruto meekly, questions bouncing around in her head.

‘N- naruto-kun.’

In the Hokage box, the disguised Orochimaru, narrowed his eyes.

‘The Kyuubi brat? How did he come upon such a strange weapon?’ The Hokage was frowning.

‘Is he going to reveal them NOW?’

Neji raised an eyebrow at the unique weapon, but paid it no mind. ‘Are you still planning on fighting? No matter what odd weapons you have, I will win. Fate has determined it.” He declared. Naruto smiled darkly and pointed the bladed end of the staff at Neji.

“Fool. Let’s see your Fate win you this!” he shouted. An arc of acid green lightning lept from the tip of the staff, causing many eyes to widen in awe. Neji tried to dodge the bolt, but to no avail. The gauss blast caught him in the arm.

The stadium was quiet for a brief moment before Neji’s screams began. He clutched his arm in pain. Or rather, he grabbed where his arm SHOULD have been. It was gone, no trace of it at all. People gasped in horror at the sight. The proctor took a step forward to interrupt. Neji collapsed to the ground, writhing in pain. The proctor stepped over to him. He bent down to check on the screaming boy and winced.

There was no trace of Neji’s left arm at all. It had simply vanished. Genma stood and turned to the stunned audience.

“Hyuuga Neji is unable to continue! I declare the winner, Uzumaki Naruto!” he shouted. The stadium was dead silent. If anyone was waiting for applause after that display, they would be sorely disappointed. Naruto just turned and began to climb the stairs to the waiting area as Neji was carried away by medic-nins. A dark smirk still on his face.

Many of the gennin were watching him with horror. Even the jounins were watching uneasily.

‘First that display in the preliminaries, and now this! Just what is this kid hiding?’ a certain, chain-smoking jounin thought. The arena stayed in silence for a few more moments before Genma turned to the crowd.

“Will the contestants of the next match please come down to the arena floor!” he yelled out. Gaara used his sand to teleport next to the proctor. They waited.

Naruto made his way up to the area where the gennin participants were. Shikamaru was waiting for him, with a worried look on his face.

“Naruto.” He said, as the oy stepped up to him. Naruto grinned in his usual manner.

“Hey Shikamaru. You need something?” he asked cheerfully. Shikamaru frowned slightly.

‘It’s like he didn’t even notice that he just vaporized that guy’s arm off.’ He thought.

“Uhh, are you okay?” he asked hesitantly. Naruto blinked in confusion before his face lit up with another grin.

“Yup. I’m fine. Did you see how I beat that bastard down?” he asked, his usual persona showing. Shikamaru’s frown deepened.

“About that. What the heck was that? In both the mathc and the preliminaries. I meant to ask you about that during the break.” The lazy genius said. The grin left Naruto’s face and was replaced with a serious look that caught Shikamaru off guard. He had never seen that look on Naruto’s face ever.

“I can’t tell you what it is yet. It isn’t time for anyone to know.” He said cryptically. Before Shikamaru could respond, Naruto turned and left, head off to who knows where. Shikamaru sighed and glanced back at the field. The gennin had never seen a side of Naruto like that before. All the boy was usually radiated happiness and hyperactivity. Never serious or dark.

“And the thing is, I think that he is showing the real side of himself. Just what are you hiding from everyone?” he muttered under his breath.


Outside of Konoha, hidden in the lush forests, a group of Sand-nin were preparing a rather large summoning. The leader stood in the center while the others circled around him channeling chakra into the seal.

“Okay, it’s almost ready.” The lead jounin said. “Just bit more-“ he stopped abruptly and turned to look off into the forest.

“What is it?” one of the shinobi, a chunnin, asked. The jounin frowned.

“I heard something. Kentou, Hizaki, go check it out.” He barked. The two shinobi nodded and slipped into the forest silently. The leader turned back to the seal and opened his mouth to say something else when a bloodcurdling scream froze him and all the other shinobi in place. They all stood and whipped out kunai, looking through the trees for an enemy.

“Hizaki? Kentou?” the leader yelled into the forest, hoping for a response form his subordinates.

Nothing.

The jounin swore as he looked around the woods. They were at a disadvantage, being trained in wide opened deserts. An enemy had the advantage with all this cover around. Suddenly a scream for the left made all the shinobi whip around.

One of the sand-nins was laying in a pool of blood, screaming. It looked as if he was disappearing. Then, to the jounin’s horror, he realized that the man WAS disappearing. He was being eaten away somehow. The sand-nins gasped in horror and the leader gritted his teeth.

“Be on guard.” The leader warned. One of the ninja gulped fearfully. Another scream went up, this time from the opposite direction. The small band of shinobi turned and for the first time, caught sight of their attackers.

The lead jounin’s eyes widened with inexplicable terror as he stared at the….thing in front of him. It looked human shaped, but was covered in dark green metal with glowing green eyes that shook the shinobi to the very core.
Suddenly three more of the metal horrorsburst out of the foliage on either side of the shinobi. As one the pariah’s raised their staffs and fired.
XXX
Jarda finished off the last of the sand-nin with little effort. Their terror had already weakened them. The lead pariah turned to the other three.

“This area is devoid of enemies. Move on to area C.” he commanded in a dead, grasvelly tone.



Genma shifted uneasily. Sasuke had yet to arrive, and the crowd was getting impatient. He looked up at the Kage box for confirmation. Sarutobi looked over at the Kazekage, who was staring at him in a curious way.

“Is there a problem?” the sand kage asked. Sarutobi frowned.

“It seems that Uchiha Sasuke is late. I’m afraid he will have to be disqualified.” He said. The Kazekage did not aappear pleased by that.

“Surely you could move the match?” he asked. “Many people are here to see the fight between my son and the Uchiha prodigy.” The Kazekage pressed. Sarutobi thought for a moment and then shook his head.

“No, I will not show any favoritism to anyone. Sasuke is a shinobi and need to learn to take responsibility for his actions.” The old kage declared. He waved down to Genma, who nodded.

“Right. As Uchiha Sasuke has not arrived, Sabaku no Gaara wins by default!” Genma shouted. His announcement was met with many cries of dismay, boos…and one sonic banshee scream. Genma shrugged. Gaara growked in annoyance and sand shushined back to the stands.

“Will Aburame Shino and Sabaku no Kankuro please come down!” he said. In the stands, Kankura shared a worried glance with Temari. Kankuro dreaded the thought of fighting his brother later on and raised his hand.

“Proctor! I forfeit, please go on with the matches!” he yelled down. The leaf gennin gave him surprised looks, while the audience was getting rather angry with the matches…or lack thereof. Shino showed no outward emotion, but frowned slightly behind his collar.

Genma sighed. “Ok, then, Nara Shikamaru and Sabaku no Temari, please report.”

Shikamaru sighed and leaned against the rail. “What a drag, I don’t even want to fight. I should probably just forfeit.” He said lazily. Suddenly Naruto was behind him and shoved him over the railing.

“Shikamaru get your ass out there and fight!” the blond yelled angrily. He to was getting annoyed by the lack of entertainment.

“Smooth kit.” Kyuubi muttered.

‘Aw shuttup. I want to see some fighting.’ Naruto thought as he watched Temari and Shikamaru begin. As the match progressed, Naruto was amazed at the tactical eloquence the two gennin displayed.

‘Wow, Shika really IS a genius isn’t he.’ Naruto thought in amazement.

“You should watch carefully. He is a perfect example of the strategy I was talking about.” Kyuubi said helpfully.

The end of the match was very…unique. Nobody, except Chouji, had expected Shikamaru to surrender after he had won!

‘Lazy bastard.’ Naruto thought, sweatdropping. Kyuubi sighed.

“Okay, he is a good tactician…but a damn lazy one. Don’t pick that habit up.” Kyuubi said, also sweatdropping at the display. Naruto watched as people began to throw things at the Nara, who was just sitting there and taking it.

‘Don’t worry about that.’ Naruto replied. Both he and Kyuubi sweatdropped again.


Genma’s eyebrow twitched a little. These damn rookies were getting on his nerves. He took a deep breath and look at the crowd.

“Ok then, I guess the next match is between..” he was cut off as leaves began to swirl in the center of the field. They spun faster until the forms of Kakashi and Sasuke appeared in a dramatic pose.

“Sorry we are late.” Kakashi said dismissively. “Is Sasuke’s match next?” he asked. Genma frowned in annoyance.

“Sasuke was late and therefore disqualified. Get the hell off the field so I can start the next match.” He said irately. Sasuke stared at him in disbelief.

“What?” he asked. “How dare you disqualify me!” he shouted, his eyes lighting up with rage. “I am an Uchiha! You can’t just-“

“I can and I did! Now get out!” Genma shouted at the boy. Damn arrogant Uchiha was really beginning to anger him. Kakashi just sighed and put a hand on Sasuke’s should to calm him down.

“Come on, Sasuke. There is nothing we can do. I’ll talk to Hokage-sama about it.” He said and led the seething Uchiha off the field.


In the kage box, the disguised Orochimaru scowled in anger. He had wanted to assess Sasuke’s skills after a month. Now it looked like there was no reason to wait anymore. He waved his hand discreetly to Kabuto, who was waiting for that signal.

The stadium suddenly filled with feathers causing everyone to blink in confusion. This was quickly replaced by drowsiness and soon everyone in the stadium was out cold.

That was it. Sound and Sand shinobi burst out of their hiding spots in the audience to attack leaf-nins that had already dispelled the genjutsu. Explosions rippled throughout Konoha as invading forces blasted through the walls of the village. Large snake summones crashed through the walls, letting even more waiting ninja into the village.

The invasion of Konoha had finally begun

[Major Xeno]

Like I said on FF.net man, just focus on your grades for now. When you get them back up, you'l have more time for writing.

[Myrdraxxis]

yeah, its cool for now Im on Thanksgiving break atm.