The Turning Point

Preliminaries Part 1

In a private and guarded room within the central tower in the Forest of Death, Anko clutched her shoulder in pain. One hand covered her curse mark from view; Hiruzen Sarutobi the Third Hokage of the Leaf Village watched the elite female ninja carefully.

"The curse mark, does it trouble you still?" he asked calmly.

"No, I can manage. Thanks to you it's much better" Anko replied firmly and pulled her jacket up to cover the mark.

"Okay then, this Orochimaru guy. He's one of the Sanin right? The legendary three ninja? I thought he was dead but apparently that's all a rumour now. He's supposed to be very powerful" a Jounin asked.

"Why is he here anyway?" another Jounin added.

"That kid" Anko began, remembering Orochimaru's conversation with her in the forest.

"You mean Sasuke, right?" Sarutobi asked, reading Anko's thoughts. Before anything more could be said, the radio in the room crackled to life.

"Anko! 21 ninja have finished the second exam, the rules state for this many we need to hold a round of preliminaries. The first time in five years. Over!" A voice said before the line disconnected.

"I have decided, for now we will continue with the exams as planned but I wish to keep an eye on his movements as well" the Third Hokage instructed.

Team 7 were lead into a huge arena where the third part of the exams was to be held. Two huge hand statues in the position to perform a jutsu were located at the far end of the building.

Iruka quickly instructed Team 7 to line up one behind the other and join the other remaining candidates in the centre of the room. He quickly jogged up to a platform where Lord Hokage stood.

Surrounding him were all the different Jounin of each of the different squads, Sakura spotted Kakashi standing next to Lee's sensei Gai. From a quick glance around the room, it seemed all of the Rookie 9 had passed the second exam.

The third exam had not yet started and everyone was chatting quietly amongst themselves, whispering about what the next task could possibly be.

Sarutobi had his eyes trained carefully on Sasuke, Orochimaru had not yet left the Leaf Village he was certain of it.

Therefore it was highly likely there were spies for him within the exams to track the progress of the Uchiha boy. Or perhaps the snake man was here himself, hidden from view. Upon entering the arena, Lord Hokage had been informed of the whispers circulating around Sasuke's curse mark. Apparently some of the Rookie 9 had witnessed the power it had possessed.

We need information on exactly what has happened to Sasuke, he thought and motioned for Kakashi and Anko to speak with him.

"Lord Hokage, it is my request that Sasuke Uchiha be refused entry into the third exams. I feel the curse mark may be activated during battle" Anko said immediately.

"It's at this point that I should remind you he is an Uchiha. You think he'll go quietly if you order him to do so?" Kakashi piped up happily.

"So? I'll stop him by force if I have to! If he manipulates his chakra in anyway it will provoke a reaction from that cursed mark!" Anko snapped angrily.

"You make your point Anko, but before I make a decision on this I wish to speak with Sakura Haruno" Sarutobi said.

"The girl, what does she have to do with this?" Anko demanded.

"From the whispers I have heard, it seems some of the Rookie 9 were around to witness Sasuke's response to the curse mark activation. I would like to know more of this, it seems reasonable to assume that either Sakura or Naruto was a witness to this" Sarutobi explained.