The Forest of Death did not forgive mistakes.
Team 7 had been moving for an hour. They weren't running along the branches using the upper paths as they had in the Academy. They glided in the shadows, avoiding open spaces.
Naruto walked point. His Qi Sensory worked like radar, pulsing waves hundreds of meters around. He led them around nests of giant insects and clearings filled with poisonous flowers.
Suddenly, he raised a fist. The signal for "Stop."
Sasuke and Sakura froze instantly, pressing themselves against tree trunks.
"What is it?" Sakura asked in a whisper, gripping a kunai.
"A fight," Naruto answered quietly without opening his eyes. "Three hundred meters northeast. Three weak chakras. And one... bestial. Big."
He turned his head.
"We're going there."
Sasuke frowned, jumping onto the branch next to Naruto.
"Why?" Cold irritation sounded in the Uchiha's voice. "Our goal is the tower. Getting involved in other people's fights is a risk of losing strength or falling into a trap. This isn't our problem, Naruto."
"There might be a scroll," the blonde countered calmly. "We have 'Heaven'. We need 'Earth'. If they lose to the beast, we just take the scroll. If they win—we assess their strength."
It was a language Sasuke understood. The language of profit.
"Tch. Fine. But if it's a dud, we leave immediately."
"Let's go."
***
They emerged at the edge of a small clearing, hidden in the thick foliage.
The scene below was pitiful.
Three Genin from Kusagakure (Hidden Grass) were cornered. Or rather, pinned against a cliff face.
Two guys lay on the ground, beaten and seemingly unconscious. Only one girl remained.
She stood with her back pressed against the rock. Her glasses were knocked askew, her clothes torn. She was trembling.
And towering over her was a nightmare.
It was a bear, but not the kind shown in picture books. It was a Forest of Death mutant. Four meters at the shoulder, mounds of muscle covered in fur as stiff as wire, and a maw full of crooked yellow fangs dripping thick saliva. Bone spurs grew from the beast's back.
The bear roared, rearing up on its hind legs. Its shadow engulfed the girl.
"They're corpses," Sasuke stated indifferently, watching from the branch. "Weaklings. Let's go, Naruto. We'll wait until the bear leaves and search the bodies. No point in interfering."
Sasuke was logical. From the perspective of the exam rules, it was the perfect decision. Save strength, eliminate competitors by proxy.
Naruto looked at the girl.
Her chakra was strange. It was warm, dense, with enormous potential for healing, but right now it was shrunk in terror.
And also... her hair.
It was red. Bright red, like fresh blood or the setting sun.
A shutter clicked in Naruto's mind. Archives. History books.
Red hair... The trademark of the Uzumaki clan. The clan that was destroyed. The clan to which I belong.
He didn't know for sure. It could just be a coincidence. But he couldn't let this coincidence die in the jaws of a beast.
"No," said Naruto.
Before Sasuke could object, Naruto vanished from the branch.
***
Karin thought this was the end.
Her teammates had abandoned her. Or rather, they proved useless and got knocked out by a single blow, leaving her, a sensor and a "medkit," alone with the monster.
She smelled the bear's rotten breath. Saw it raising a massive paw with claws the length of daggers.
She squeezed her eyes shut, expecting the blow that would turn her into a bloody smear.
Her sensory abilities, sharpened by the fear of death, "screamed."
She felt cold above. Icy, dark chakra, full of arrogance and indifference. He won't help. He'll watch me die.
And then...
A flash.
As if someone opened the door to a blast furnace.
She felt heat. Not burning, but powerful, alive, pulsating. It was chakra, yet it felt different. It was like the sun breaking through storm clouds.
WHOOSH!
A figure appeared between her and the bear.
Naruto didn't use hand seals. He didn't need clones or anything else.
He used Qi Reinforcement.
He directed a flow of White Energy into his legs, rooting himself into the earth, making himself heavy and immovable as a rock. And directed a flow into his right arm, turning muscles and bones into a hydraulic press.
The bear brought its paw down. A strike capable of crumbling a boulder.
Naruto met it with an upward palm strike.
CRUNCH.
The sound was nauseating. It was the sound of breaking bones, but not human ones.
Naruto caught the bear's paw at the wrist and, using the beast's inertia and his own explosive power, yanked. And then delivered a short, brutal shoulder check straight into the monster's chest.
Qi Control: Iron Ram.
The four-meter carcass weighing over half a ton left the ground.
The bear roared, but the roar was cut short as the air was knocked out of its lungs. It was flung backward like a rag doll. It flew five meters and crashed into a tree with a thunderous noise, snapping it in half.
The beast twitched once and went still. Its chest cavity was caved in. The heart had stopped from the impact.
Silence.
Karin opened her eyes.
The bear was dead. And in front of her, back turned to her, stood a guy in black clothes with a red spiral on his back.
She looked at his back.
Her sensory gift—the Mind's Eye of the Kagura—saw the world differently than others. She saw souls.
This guy's chakra was... incredible.
Outside was a chaotic layer of blue energy—turbulent, wild. But inside... inside shone a blinding white sun. Warm. Reliable. Powerful.
Unlike the cold darkness of the one in the tree, this energy beckoned. It promised protection. Promised life.
Karin's breath hitched. Something inside her, on an instinctive level, clicked.
Naruto straightened up, brushed fur off his shoulder, and turned to her.
He looked down at her. Calm blue eyes. Three whisker marks on his cheeks.
And a gaze that lingered on her hair.
"Are you hurt?" he asked. His voice even, expressionless.
Karin tried to answer but could only nod. She adjusted her glasses with trembling hands.
Naruto extended a hand.
"Get up."
She placed her palm in his. His hand was warm and hard. Calloused. A warrior's hand.
He lifted her to her feet easily, with one motion.
Naruto looked at her red hair. Up close, it was even brighter.
Uzumaki... he thought. She's from Grass? So the survivors scattered across the world. Does she know? Or is she just a descendant?
He wanted to ask. Wanted to know. But now was not the time or place. The Exam was all around, enemies and...
Rustling leaves.
Sasuke and Sakura landed nearby.
Sasuke cast a disgusted glance at the bear carcass, then looked at Naruto. Irritation was readable in his eyes.
"You just wasted time," the Uchiha threw out coldly. "And attracted attention."
"I removed an obstacle," Naruto replied, releasing Karin's hand.
Sakura walked over to Karin's teammates' bodies.
"They're alive, just unconscious," she stated.
Sasuke turned to Karin.
"Which scroll do you have?"
Karin flinched. She pressed a hand to her pouch.
"E-Earth..."
Sasuke's eyes flashed predatorily. They had "Heaven." It was their goal.
Naruto intercepted Sasuke's gaze.
"No," Uzumaki said firmly.
"What do you mean 'no', Naruto?" Sasuke stepped forward. "They have what we need. We saved their lives. This is payment."
"We won't be looters robbing those we just saved," Uzumaki cut him off. His voice brooked no argument. "We'll find another team."
He looked at Karin.
"Leave. Find a safe place. Your friends will wake up in a while."
Karin stared at him, mouth agape. He... was letting them go? He saved her, could have taken the scroll, but didn't?
In the shinobi world, full of betrayal and cruelty, especially in her Grass Village where she was used as a living medkit, this was unthinkable.
"Thank you..." she whispered.
Naruto nodded.
"Let's move," he commanded his team.
He turned and jumped into the thicket. Sasuke, grinding his teeth and shooting a withering look at Karin, followed him. Sakura, shrugging, ran after them.
Karin remained alone in the clearing, looking in the direction where the blonde had disappeared.
Her heart was beating like crazy. She still felt the warmth of his hand on her palm.
"Naruto..." she whispered, tasting the name she had heard from his comrades.
She knew she wouldn't forget that warm, white light.
***
Deep in the forest, a kilometer away.
A figure merged with a tree trunk watched the scene. A long tongue slid over pale lips.
"Hmm..." Orochimaru hissed. "The boy knocked down a bear with one blow. Without chakra. Pure physical strength? Interesting..."
His golden snake eyes narrowed.
"And the Uchiha... he is full of potential, but still in the shadow. Time to test what they are really made of."
The Sannin dissolved into the ground, heading to intercept.
The hunt was beginning.