Naruto's Mission

15

Sasuke fumed. He spent the entire day spying on Naruto and Hinata, wondering what Naruto possessed that he didn't. Sure Naruto was popular, was good looking, but not as good as him, powerful, but still, Sasuke had all that. The Uchiha had pondered these facts as he watched the two have their picnic/date, go shopping, walking, and just generally doing everything together. Ok so what if his attitude is different to mine, I'm pretty sure that wouldn't change a thing! Sasuke thought, unaware that that was the exact reason why everything was different for him. And now, he was listening to the second proctor ramble on about the second portion of the Chunin exams, while watching his friend being extremely close to Hinata. He didn't mind terribly, but he was also jealous of his friend. It made no sense that he got none while Naruto got everything. Well that was what he thought anyway.
"Ok? Have fun! Don't die! I'm not responsible, now get to your gates!" Anko said a tad bit too cheerfully for someone who told them not to die. The Genin cautiously walked to their assigned gates in their teams, with Naruto walking Hinata and whispering stuff to her the entire time. Sasuke tried not to look, but he couldn't help but feel his eyes gravitate towards the couple.

"I'm scared Naruto..." Hinata whispered. Naruto gave her a grin and wrapped his arm around her.
"You'll be fine, Hinata." He whispered. All of a sudden, Team 8's gate loomed up in front of them, and Kiba and Shino stopped.
"Alright. See you at the tower." Naruto said as he leaned in and gave her a kiss. It wasn't a quick one. It was one full of passion, and love. Sasuke gritted his teeth and turned to look elsewhere. He didn't want to be jealous of his friend. Until his gaze landed onto Sakura who was blushing heavily and looking at Sasuke in that way. His eyes widened and he quickly looked away.
"Hn."

-----

Venturing into the forest of death was easy for Naruto, although for Sasuke and Sakura, every slight bush rustle or movement or sound would put them more and more on edge. Of course, Naruto was accustomed to all the noises and he could sense no chakra presence near them so he knew they were safe. Although he could sense residual chakra from Orochimaru which slightly concerned him because he had supervised the sealing of Orochimaru's curse mark personally and he knew Kakashi had done it perfectly. Naruto frowned but didn't comment on it. Perhaps the residual chakra was simply because Orochimaru's curse mark was on Sasuke. He ducked on instinct when a kunai flew out of the bush straight at his head. He heard Sakura's yelp of surprise and the Uchiha grunted. Striding forward, Naruto quickly drew out a kunai and parried as a Genin from the rain village lunged at him. He grabbed the hand holding the kunai and locked it under his own arm, quickly twisting his whole body around and breaking the poor Genin'a arm. A sickening crack could be heard followed by a scream of pain as the ninja fell down and cradled his now broken arm. Naruto ducked before launching himself into the air, twisting around to block two shuriken before flipping over to land on the shoulders on the other two ninja, swiftly hitting them in the backs of the heads with a solid blow, causing them to faint immediately. Sasuke stared, surprised and also a little jealous. Naruto had just taken out a Genin squad in a manner of seconds without taking a single hit. Sakura stared as well, perhaps a little wistfully as she realised that Naruto might have fallen for her, had she not been an annoying Sasuke fan girl in the beginning. She sighed. Suddenly, a wave of killing intent spread out through the forest, causing Sasuke and Sakura to flinch and freeze in horror. Naruto stood up and looked in the direction it came from. It was definitely horrifying. It was worse than anything he'd ever felt from anyone he'd ever faced, and it was on par with some of the S ranked missing ninja he'd been assigned to assassinate from Danzo or the Hokage. Naruto turned to his two paralysed team mates. He raised his hand and formed a half tiger seal. Immediately, a counteracting wave of chakra spread out from Naruto and immediately dispelled the effect of the Killing Intent.
"Let's go." Naruto said as he pocketed the scroll he'd obtained from the rain ninja. Sakura and Sasuke could only gulp and nod, hesitating slightly before following Naruto closely. This forest was already creeping them out.