Namikaze Naruto- The Unpredictable Shinobi

Chapter 24: Some discoveries...

Naruto rolled her eyes at the teen on the couch. "Oh please, I'm trying my best to avoid trouble and also put up my façade." The boy snorted. "And what's with that get-up?" she deadpanned. He rubbed the back of his head, chuckling sheepishly. Naruto slapped the hand away, "Stop that! This habit will be a dead give away if you are not careful." He snorted again, "You mean 'if we are not careful'?" She glared before sighing, "Tell me what happened quickly."

"I was keeping watch as you asked, when I saw Anko being attacked and she ended up in a bad shape. By the time I reached her, the opponent simply... slithered away. Anko was clutching the base of her neck. I convinced her that I could help her- smooth talk- being around Kakashi sensei is helpful. She told that her opponent was Orochimaru, her former sensei and she wasn't too fond of him. It seems, that in the battle, he had reactivated her curse seal or something at her neck. It is an experiment of Orochimaru, that gives power and also helps him control the bearer of the seal. Before leaving, he told her that he would be 'giving a gift to the youngest Uchiha, the exams shouldn't be stopped at any cost'. He also threatened that 'if anything happens to deprive me of my fun, it means the end of Konoha'. She deduced that he wanted to give Sasuke the curse seal. I made a copy of the seal on Anko's neck in great detail in here." He passed a scroll to Naruto. 

He continued, "It seems that Anko was the first to get the seal, but he must have upgraded the seal by now. So, Sasuke's seal must be different from hers. I'm sure we can find a way to remove both of them. Anyway, after handing her over to some ANBU who took her to the Hokage, I went back to team 7, dispelling the clone I had tailing after them. The clone had not enough chakra to interfere with the snake. By the time I came, you were down. Sasuke and Sakura seemed to have grown muscle only then. Sasuke attacked him ruthless and pinned him to a tree with Ninja wire before thowing a Great fireball at him. Surprisingly, he didn't suffer much due to the fire, except the skin that seemed peeling off. It was like a fake skin over real one. It revealed snake like eyes and he revealed himself to be Orochimaru. He took advantage of their surprise to elongate his neck like a snake and bite into Sasuke's neck. That was where you saw the tattoo. He slithered away telling that Sauke would come to him on his own for power, but first, he had to defeat his Oto team. Sasuke fainted after that."

"His Oto team?" Naruto frowned.

"Anyway, Sakura was guarding the two of you booby trapping the area around you three. Soon, the Oto team attacked her with the intent of killing Sasuke. Lee came to her rescue, but was no match to their sound attacks, since he didn't know what they were. The girl in the enemy team caught Sakura's hair and had her as prisoner, until Sakura cut her own hair. She tried to attack the enemy, but was down after some time. Team 10 interfered then. Soon came Neji and Tenten looking for Lee. Before those two could make a move, Sasuke's chakra spiked up and it seemed more different and vile. His body had tattoos on the left side, that's because his seal was on the left side of his neck. The junction between neck and shoulder to be precise. He went on a virtual rampage and knocked out the girl- Tsuchi Kin, before breaking the arms of the other ninja- Abumi Zaku. 

He was spiralling out of control, so I had to intervene and knock him out before he approached the third member, Kinuta Dosu. The tattoos receded back into the seal when he became unconscious. I think you know the rest."

A minute of silence passed before the boy spoke up, "You know, you could've known all this without me telling you. Yet you waited, why?" "So that I could think and make plans while you are telling me, and also, the other method causes me headache." Naruto replied. He shook his head, grinning, "The headache is inevitable-" She cut him off, "Yes, but getting it when my mind is more peaceful is less painful than the same with a busy mind." "So, how long do I have to wait?" He asked. "About half an hour." was the reply.

Naruto sat thinking. She got more pieces of the puzzle and it seem to fit perfectly. However, some pieces are still missing, but she would get them later. She revised the information she received and the plans she made. She was about to go into meditation when the boy stopped her, "Before you do that," he pointed to her stomach. "Right" she replied and showed her tampered seal to him. He covered his fingers with Chakra, Kanji of each of the five elements on each finger. He slammed his hand on her seal, "Gogyo Fuin- Kai! (Five Element Seal- Release!)"

Naruto slipped into meditation to be familiarised with her chakra and to clear her mind. Then she nodded to him, and he went through rapid hand-seals before disappearing. As predicted, she had a headache as memories flooded her. 'Damn, I've worked out the smoke, but I need to find a way how blood clones can be dispelled without causing headache... And that disguise is crazy...' she chuckled and shook her head in amusement. She left for the tower and retired for the day.

Next day, she sneaked out to receive the private audience of Sarutobi. After a long search and a couple of minutes of delay on his part (much to his amusement), she finally got the required meeting with him. "So, Naruto, I heard you've done well in the exams till now." Sarutobi started. "Yes, so and so. The 2nd round seemed eventful. It seems someone named Orochimaru attacked our team and preyed on Sasuke. It is coincidental that one of our rogue shinobi is also named Orochimaru. He even used giant snakes." she replied innocently. The Hokage stiffened momentarily before relaxing. "Yes, Anko warned me about it." "I don't think he is one to pass up an opportunity to attack Konohagakure." Naruto said. "We have considered that possibility." He replied aloud. "That is expected from you and the officials, Jiji. That also explains why I had to go through a lot of trouble to meet with you." She reminisced something that had happened during her search for the Sandaime. "On my way here, I've learnt some interesting things, Jiji"

Flashback

Naruto sneaked out to search for the Hokage before momentarily going to her home (the cottage in the forest) for some supplies. She was about to leave when she was alerted by the presence of her summon fox, Kai. "Naruto-san!" he greeted. "Kai! What's up?" Naruto responded. "I've followed Kabuto as you've asked. There have been some... interesting discoveries. During the round 2 of Chunin Exams, Kabuto met up with a pale, black-haired sensei from Otogakure. He called him 'Orochimaru-sama'. It seems Kabuto was this Orochimaru's underling, perhaps one of the most trusted. He gave him information on Sasuke mainly, but also some on you." "Not Gaara?" "No." 

'The villagers' whispers doesn't exactly keep my Jinchuriki status a secret, especially from ones who can deduce easily, but Orochimaru is a missing nin Sannin and Kabuto is a spy. SO he should also know about Gaara's status and ask of him too, or at least of the huge chakra within him that is not hidden or suppressed at all, unless,' "There was also talk involving Sunagakure, but not much was mentioned. The master told his apprentice Kabuto to go over the plans once again with one named Baki, and something like the one-tailed will be useful while Suna is oblivious. At this he was chuckling..." he trailed off.

After a brief moment of silence, Naruto started, "Kai, can you keep following Kabuto, and report to me after his meeting with the Baki? Isn't he the sensei of Gaara's team from Sunagakure? I will ask Gaara about his sensei, but can you do what I said?" Kai smiled, his mistress was always considerate of her summons, refusing to be called with the suffix '-sama' (lord/lady), implying that her summons are her equals, except perhaps the bigger foxes, the elder foxes and the Chief. Never an order, only requests and permissions. "Of course I will, Naruto-san."

Naruto left and got on the streets, trying to sense Sarutobi's chakra. 'Yep... found it. Let's meet Jiji.' She had been frantically searching for him before smacking herself for not sensing him. But then she had to get supplies from her house. She proceeded to go meet the Hokage... 'But that can wait for a couple of minutes, can't it?' she mused as she turned towards a corner. 

"Hello again, Gaara."