//------------------------------// // Complications and Setbacks // Story: Friendship Contract // by Demeristraz //------------------------------// Naruto sat in silent contemplation as Ibiki, Konoha's head of the Torture and Interrogation department, explained the rules to the test. Ten questions, one hour to complete them, start with 1 point, lose one for each question wrong, lose two for each time caught cheating. Naruto groaned and put his head down, Twilight Sparkle would kill him, but in the past few months he hadn't been keeping up with the book work. The test before him was nothing like the genin exam, he doubted even Sakura could answer some of them with ease, still he only needed one answer to pass right? As long as he didn't get a zero, his team could continue. He glanced over each question, searching for one he may know the answer to, but no luck. Everything here was beyond him. Calculating the flight path of a kunai thrown with x force from y height with a wind strength of z in a 64 degree south by southwest direction. Who the heck could do that? That sort of thing comes with instinct on the battlefield. He mentally grumbled before considering his other options. He could cheat. He needed a solid answer to one question, and he was damn sure there were people in the class already doing it, in fact... 'Thump' a kunai imbedded itself in the paper of a boy down his row. "Numbers 33, 65, and 87. You are disqualified." Ibiki shouted, and the team was 'escorted' out of the exam room. Naruto started to sweat at this, he didn't want to get his team disqualified, but it was that or wait for the final question, and that was likely the same as all the others. Still, if he was going to cheat... An idea formed in his head, which he quickly planned out and began to concentrate. This would need to be done quickly. The examiners shot to attention as the exam hall filled with smoke, with narrowed eyes they noted the room had gotten a lot more crowded, specifically with many copies of Neji Hyuuga. One stood behind the seat of every genin in the room, aside from Neji himself, and gazed over their shoulders at their tests. Many genin covered their work, others, like Naruto, quickly dispelled their peeping clone. Within seconds the pressure cooker of a room became a riot. The room filled with even more smoke as the clones struggled with the actual genin, when every clone had disappeared, sakura and sasuke's being last with a knowing smirk, the genin began to complain. "How is that guy not disqualified!" "That was the most blatant thievery I've ever seen!" "You can't tell me that only count's as one offense! I could just punch out the guy next to me and take his test if that's the case." "Shut up!" Came Ibiki's booming response, silencing the room. "I have reason to believe those clones did not belong to that genin. Likely they were used by someone who wanted to both gain answers and have him disqualified. For that I commend the one responsible. However, since I have no proof either way, you should all continue working, there is only 30 minutes left in the test." His glare booked no room for argument, and the genin returned to work. Naruto was busy sorting through the memories he'd gained from his stunt, a little sad that Neji was not disqualified, but relieved that bushy brows would continue on as well. Most of what he got as far as information goes was bits and pieces, his teammates helped fill in the gaps, immediately knowing only one person who'd spam clones as an answer to everything. With their help he put together four of the simpler questions, and decided to wait for the final question. The final question was a disaster. Choose to take it and risk being a genin forever, or go home and try again next year. Already hands were being raised around the room, faster and faster as the hysteria mounted. Finally Naruto put his foot down. "I don't care. Give me that question if you think it's so scary. I might fail, I might be a genin forever, but that just means I'll be the first genin to ever make Hokage." He yelled, stunning the room into silence. "You've got guts kid, but-" CRASH! Ibiki's response was cut off as a black shape came flying through the window, unfurling itself into a banner proclaiming 'The Second Exam's Super Sexy Instructor Anko Miterashi!'. The woman responsible struck a pose that had many males in the room drooling. "You're way too early." Ibiki growled, "I haven't even given the final question yet." he turned to look around the stunned room. "Anyone else quitting? No? Fine, you all pass, get the hell out of here." He turned to walk away. "Hey what about the last question?" someone yelled. "That was the last question, sometimes you have to risk your life on a mission where there's not enough info. This whole test was on information gathering, seeing if you could gather knowledge without the enemy knowing it. But sometimes that just isn't enough." He grumbled. "Now get a move on, the second exam starts soon." O~O~O~O~O Team 7 stood outside their gate to the massive forest, training ground 44, 'the forest of death'. Naruto had summoned some of his friends to let them know he passed the first test, as expected Twilight was furious with him for cheating, even though it was part of what they were being tested on. Upon seeing the upcoming testing area, they all quickly agreed it was 'the everfree forest x100', aside from Dash, who insisted it would be just like a Daring Doo novel. Despite this, Twilight and Applejack insisted they come along for this leg of the exam, and Dash did too, only after leaving to get her Daring Do costume. Naruto had to admit it went well with her flak jacket, Rarity had probably made it for her as well. Fluttershy had fainted upon seeing the warning signs on the gate, Rarity had grimaced at the thought of all the filth contained within, and Naruto insisted upon keeping Pinkie as a trump card. "Alright, we have three days to find another team, take a heaven scroll from them, and get to the tower. I memorized the map, we should be near a river, which will likely draw a lot of teams in, but also be heavily trapped. The alternative is making our way towards the tower directly, as we get closer the odds on finding a team get higher." Sasuke said, as they waited for the gates to open. They had decided on the 'buddy system' with Dash supporting Sasuke, AJ supporting Sakura, and Twilight supporting Naruto. "Let's get close to the tower and set up a base of operations." Sakura agreed, getting nods from those present. With that, the buzzer went off, and the team shot into the forest. Years of competing in the 'running of the leaves' and various 'iron pony' marathons helped the ponies keep decent pace with the genin, and within an hour they had gotten far enough in to slow down. "Oh man this place is so cool, this is just like the jungles in Daring Doo. Do you think there's giant tigers? Or Pony-eating plants? Oh, or quicksand, do you think there's quicksand?" Rainbow Dash rambled on as they hiked farther into the underbrush. Working with the ponies meant they couldn't use tree walking to go quicker, so the trio agreed to find a clearing and set up their base at the edge. It was four hours in to the first day that they finally spotted a usable area, a wide clearing giving room for AJ and Dash to maneuver, either on the ground or in the air. Naruto called up dozens of clones to saturate the area in traps, while the others worked on building a shelter. There was some argument among the team as to what a 'shelter' entailed, Twilight could call up many amenities with her magic, but they would no doubt draw in predators, human or otherwise. Instead they stuck with the basics of digging out a hovel under the roots of a massive tree, and lining it with sleeping mats and hay for resting. Naruto was soon finished with the traps, and came to sit with the others around a small cooking fire. "Alright, I think we should keep the scroll in Equestria, for safe keeping." The others gave him an odd look. "There's nothing in the rules that we have to keep the scrolls on us the whole time. We just need to have them when we reach the tower right? I doubt anyone here can take our scroll from Twilight's library." With some discussion they agreed to it, and Twilight left and returned without the scroll. "I think we should break up into teams and scout the area, don't fight any teams you find, but see what you can see. Keep anything useful in mind, same teams as when travelling sound good?" Sakura suggested, already getting up with Applejack in tow. "Not that I dislike apples, if that's all we have for the next three days, I wouldn't mind catching some fish." "Right, me and Twilight will head north then, meet back here in two hours?" Naruto said, already standing to leave. He paused a moment, remembering he should explain the safe routes through his traps. That being done, the six broke off and went their separate ways. O~O~O~O~O Sakura was the first to find anything useful, reaching a shallow river and setting up a fishing pole. She could have used kunai, like a proper ninja, but she felt like taking a small break after working so hard all day. With a smile to the pony next to her, she let the line out into the water, hooking up a bell to let her know when she caught something. Within minutes she got a bite, in more ways than one. Two attackers leaped from the underbrush, darting in towards the seemingly unaware pair of females. As the first closed in on the pony, he was caught off guard by a pair of hooves suddenly connected to both a pair of strong legs, and his chest. He was flung back towards the tree line as the orange pony pulled out a rope. The second attacker closed in on Sakura, leading the two into a rather intense close combat fight, with the assaulter swinging out with a pair of kunai. Sakura back peddled as she dodged, closer and closer to the river, counter her steps she began water walking once the river was underfoot. Her assailant made a misstep, his right foot falling into the water and causing him to lose his balance, Sakura capitalized with an uppercut, and the second boy was out cold. With both stripped of supplies and left tied to a nearby tree, the bell rang signaling a bite on the line. Disappointingly neither Kusa boy was carrying a scroll, but Sakura and Applejack returned to the shelter with their spoils anyways. O~O~O~O~O Sasuke and Dash stuck to the treetops, the latter flying along keeping pace as they looked down for any unsuspecting prey. Well... Sasuke looked for prey, Rainbow was recounting the play by play of the latest Daring Doo novel, which sounded similar to the stories his brother used to tell him before bed. His musings were cut off by a scream from below, and he made to creep closer to investigate. The prismatic pony had no such hesitation, and dove down through the foliage before he could urge her to wait. At her cry of "What the Hay is an Ursa Minor doing here?" Sasuke leapt down to join her. Surely enough it was not an Ursa Minor, he'd heard the stories of how massive bears made out of stars actually existed in Equestria, and this was merely a common brown bear. A common brown bear the size of a two story house, but a brown bear none the less. Rainbow dash dove in at it, delivering hard hoof kicks across its face and sides, as it turned and tried to swat her away. Sasuke drew his sword and charged it with lightning chakra with a hiss, rushing in to support his winged friend. With a flip and a bounce off of the bear's right arm, as it came around to swipe at the cyan pegasus, Sasuke launched himself to head level, and brought his sword down on the creature's neck. The blade failed to cut deep past the toughened hide, but the shock of the lightning chakra passing into the beast sent it into a daze, in a heartbeat Dash was there grabbing Sasuke's arm, and tossing him skyward. The genin reached the peak of the toss, and let the downward momentum flow into a heel drop, slamming down with concussive force upon the bear's skull, sending it down for an early hibernation. Rainbow Dash's cheers of celebration were lost on the boy, as he spotted the object of the bear's wrath. A red headed girl from kusa was half hidden under the roots of a tree. "Are you alright?" Sasuke said, berating himself for spending too much time around Naruto. He should have asked about the scroll first. "I have an earth scroll." The girl practically whispered in response, shocking Sasuke. "I got separated from my teammates. I don't... I don't want to die for this stupid exam, just take my scroll." She was practically in tears as Sasuke drew closer. He had no idea how to deal with a crying girl, and sparing a glance at his pegasus companion, neither did she. "Take it easy, I don't need an earth scroll anyways. I'm Sasuke by the way." He said, trying to force a smile onto his face. He really really hated when girls started crying. If anything this made her eyes widen with fear and caused her to look around, as if they'd suddenly be attacked for him saying his name. She seemed to calm down after a moment. "You're on the team with the Uzumaki aren't you? Please, can you take me to him? You can take my scroll, as a backup or something, I just need to speak with him." The sudden request caught him off guard, and he found himself nodding dumbly along with it, whatever the odd girl wanted, she seemed to be harmless. He quickly took her scroll and bound her hands, the standard action for taking prisoners, and she held no objections. Within moments the trio were headed back to the base camp. The others were back when they got there, Dash was already bragging to Applejack about taking down an Ursa Minor, much to Twilight's dismay. "Oi, Sasuke, when I said 'bring back anything useful', this isn't what I meant." Naruto joked, seeing the prisoner. "I can be useful Uzumaki, I promise!" The girl said, suddenly looking terrified. "Okay... What exactly is going on?" Naruto asked, motioning for them all to come sit by the fire. "Are you really an Uzumaki?" The girl asked quietly, when they were all seated. "As far as I know. I never knew my parents, every time I ask who they were I just get vague answers, but I've had this last name all my life, why?" Naruto asked. "When Uzu was destroyed, the Uzumaki clan was largely wiped out. Those that remained were scattered across the countries like nomads, eventually the name sort of... died out. But I remember my mother telling me I'd inherited special chakra from the Uzumaki. That makes us distant relatives. It makes me Karin Uzumaki." She said softly. "Family? You're my family?" Naruto asked, stunned by the revelation. He never expected to find actual relatives, especially not in here in this forest. "When I was a child my village was wiped out. I managed to survive because I could sense them coming, but I was left an orphan. I was taken in and trained as a ninja of Kusa after that." Karin said. "She's lying." Applejack deadpanned. "Not about bein' family, she's as much your family as Braeburn is mine. If I had to venture, I'd say she's never been to Kusa." The girl seemed to hesitate a moment, "Fine. I was taken in by a monster, he trained me to be a ninja and he sent me here on a mission. I never thought I'd find another family member." "What mission?" Sasuke pressed. "I can't tell you. I don't know for certain what he wants, but we need to keep moving, and split up. I'll go with Sasuke, you two go another way, and we can meet at the tower. I'll turn myself in, I'll tell everything I know to Konoha, we just need to get to the tower." She pleaded. "I'll take Karin with me." Naruto said, and Karin exhaled in relief. "She isn't lying. This is important. If whoever this 'monster' is has plans for Konoha we need to report it. If that means we fail the exams we can try again next year." His teammates shared a look and nodded, the camp was quickly disassembled and the ponies unsummoned, they would need to travel quicker than they could keep up with. In minutes the team scattered, darting into the forest towards the tower. Twenty minutes in, Karin slowed to a stop with Naruto. "We should be safe now." She said, catching her breath. "Just a few minutes ago we were all in danger. What's going on?" Naruto asked. "You were in danger as long as you were with him." Karin answered cryptically. "What's going on? Why is Sasuke in danger?" Naruto demanded. "He has plans for him, he won't kill your friend, but he'd kill you if you were there when he showed up!" She said, quickly getting hysterical. "I have to go help them, they're my teammates, they're my family!" Naruto said, trying to push past the girl. "And you're mine! I can't stand to think of losing you when I finally found family again. Please, don't do this." She pleaded. Naruto ignored her and leapt off into the encroaching darkness of dusk, she shook her head and followed after. O~O~O~O~O Sasuke was on his last legs, whoever this grass ninja was, he was no genin, everything he had pulled on him had been dodged with casual ease, as if he was simply being tested. His red eyes spun franticly attempting to keep him just a single step ahead of certain death as his sword clashed in sloppy parries against his opponent's blade. A blade that had been regurgitated from the man, as if he were a circus performer. Sasuke had never liked the circus, too many creepy people like this guy, and clowns, clowns were evil. It's amazing the thought processes that can occur when fighting for one's life, probably caused by too many blows to the head. Another such blow followed and Sasuke found himself dazed against a tree. The grass ninja grinned and lunged forward, exposing two elongated fangs. Panic overwhelmed Sasuke, he didn't want to be a vampire. He still had nightmares after the time Naruto stole his shirt and covered him in glitter. That stuff was nearly impossible to get off, and acted like catnip for fan girls. He had sparkled in direct sunlight for almost a week. Regrettably he lacked the ability to fight any longer, and pain engulfed him as the teeth punctured his neck. A loud whirring noise interrupted his final train of thought as one of Naruto's wind expanded shuriken tore through the canopy and the grass ninja like a metaphorical sharp thing through a metaphorical soft thing. Too many hits to the head indeed. The opponent, however, turned out to be a replaced mud clone, as had been the case for the entire fight so far. "You alright Sasuke?" Came the boisterous voice of Naruto, hopefully a shadow clone since he was giving away his position. "Wooden stake to the heart!" Came Sasuke's less than coherent response, as he finally passed out from the pain. The clone who shouted burst immediately, and the grass ninja was assaulted by three more very deadly wind shuriken, he dodged nimbly to the side, not noticing the faint purple glow upon the metal. As the ninja continued on his course through the trees, attempting to find his elusive prey, the shuriken changed direction, curving, turning, even stopping and reversing as they homed in and harried their target. From a nearby branch Twilight Sparkle sweated with concentration, her horn glowing in a soft light as she directed the assault on the enemy ninja. Naruto, seeing the target bat away his most deadly technique, and having no desire to go toe to toe with the grass ninja using his wind blade, decided to bring out the big guns. With a massive flare of chakra he performed the summoning technique, just as the sun dipped below the horizon. "What Manner of Creature Doth Threaten Mine Adopted Foal! Speak Cretin! I Shall Suffer No Cowards Within Mine Presence!" Came the voice from the smoke. Naruto quickly filled her in on the situation, as he had been filled in by Karin on the way. "Loathsome Snake! Show Thyself At Once! There Shall Be No Occasion Tonight For Thou To Spread Thy Poison!" She turned, glancing calmly into the shadows of the forest. "Night Is Our Dominion, Shadows Shall Offer You No Harbor." A forked bolt of lightning shot from her horn, decimating several branches as it passed through towards the forest floor. Naruto leapt down to where Sasuke was laying, quickly checking his friend over. He appeared to be fairly hurt, and running a fever, the bite mark was already bruising. In the background he could hear the fight going well for Princess Luna, her booming voice ever present among the sounds of a violent storm. Karin leapt to the branch, supporting a tired looking Sakura. "I fixed her up as best I could." She said, still looking guilty. "Can you do the same for Sasuke?" Naruto asked, he'd be angry with her later, they needed to survive the night first. "Chakra based healing only lowers the chance of survival. That bite mark will turn into a seal, which will naturally store a portion of all the chakra he produces. It increases recovery time slightly, but gives him an extra fuel tank for emergencies." Karin explained having seen notes on the seal working as one of Orochimaru's personal medics. "Why is that a bad thing?" Sakura asked. "Aside from the low survival rate I mean." "It does things, to the subject's mind. It makes the user more aggressive and temperamental, it makes them fixate on something that bothers them and obsess over it. Eventually, those that use it too much, go insane." Karin said. "And then require a 1000 year vacation on the moon to calm down. The Nightmare works in similar ways, and I have felt the effects first hand. While it has been sealed away within me, not a day goes by that it does not tempt me with its release." Luna said, approaching the group. Orochimaru had fled into the night, his task having been accomplished. "Can the elements of harmony seal this away as well?" Twilight asked, having teleported from her hiding place nearby. "We shall have to wait until the foal wakes up, but it definitely merits an attempt." The Princess nodded, and together the group left to find shelter for the night. Luna again impressed them all, when in a display of earth pony magic twisted a large tree into a building similar to Twilight's library, with room inside for all of them. "While my sister and I are strong enough to move the heavens, we did not neglect to study the magic of our people." She replied, seeing their dumbstruck faces. "The moon is already high in Equestria's sky, I shall safeguard the night here, until dawn." Dawn came far too soon for those in the tree, and though Naruto was tempted to summon Celestia to watch over them, he instead decided on summoning several ponies, to prepare for the day ahead. Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Fluttershy, Rarity and Pinkie Pie were present, all wearing the elements of harmony ,that they had fetched the night before. Twilight had come up with a barrier spell, and confirmed with Pinkie Pie that it would work on ninja seals. As long as Sasuke didn't purposely break the seal from the outside, whatever mind altering properties existed within the seal would remain locked away. The seal itself was inspired by Luna, who gave Twilight pointers based on the flaws she found on her own self imposed prison. In her case the Elements of Harmony suppressed the Nightmare enough for her own will to hold it down. All those present agreed that the will of a 12 year old human, even one such as Sasuke, was not enough to have faith in. The design Twilight came up with was elegant and effective, and would require the full force of the elements of harmony to apply. Sasuke lay on a mat before them, making good progress in recovering. At Karin's warning that he'd be quite violent upon awaking, Naruto stood inside with the ponies, to subdue his teammate if needed. Karin stood on hand for medical treatment, in case something went wrong. Sakura was outside on guard duty, while she was worried about both her teammates, she had confidence in their abilities to sort it out. With her were the cutie mark crusaders, who tagged along to see the elements in action, but were forced to wait outside. At the moment they were bickering among themselves about Sweetie's continued lack of a cutie mark. Almost simultaneously two things happened. A team of sound ninja leapt from cover to attack Sakura, and a massive wave of malicious chakra poured out of the tree behind her. "We're here for Sasuke Uchiha." Came the gruff voice of the bandaged genin ahead of her. Sakura dropped into a taijutsu stance. "Come and take him."