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Naruto continued to watch on as the crimson-orange flames illuminated the darkness that the forest naturally produced. He would not extinguish these flames, he would let them burn, it would serve as a proper cremation for the traitorous Konoha-nin. Naruto could sense the presence of Satsuki and Hana several miles away from the clearing. They would obviously not want to get caught up in all of the ensuing chaos and destruction.
Naruto sighed and made his way to the rest of his team, knowing they would be upset that he overdid it. He just wanted to get the tower as quick as he could, he felt the chakra of two particular seals within the scroll that Hana was carrying. They would probably summon up someone when they were opened and help their team out at the tower.
Naruto was actually happy that his team had managed to obtain the two scrolls, with Kabuto now dead there was nobody in the forest that interested him. Naruto had an idea on what Orochimaru was after, but if he sent his spies to take care of them then he obviously wasn't coming after anyone on Team 11. That only gave the sannin three other options.
Orochimaru would probably leave the forest as soon as he accomplished his goal, and Naruto couldn't feel his presence any longer, which meant he had already marked them. It would be best to get out of the forest as soon as possible, Hana and Satsuki could probably use some rest too.
Tower Floor - Four Days Later
It had been four days since Team 11 had made it to the tower. Four long days. The only team that had made it there before them was the team from Suna, apparently they set some kind of new record with how quickly they finished the second stage. However, after that no other team made it to the tower until day three.
There really wasn't much to do at the tower, all it was really used for were events like this so there wasn't even a library to pick up something new to learn. Satsuki and Hana rested for the first day to get their strength back, and used the other three days to perfect some techniques that they had started learning just before the chunin exams.
Naruto had long since mastered most of his usual jutsu, so he started practicing the jutsu he would be using during the preliminary rounds. He knew there would be preliminaries, he would hate to admit it but the rookie 13 were pretty strong for genin. Inexperienced? Sure, but they were made up of mostly clan heads and other talented shinobi. He had also decided that he wouldn't use any of his Katon jutsus. He didn't want too many people to learn about that until the third stage. Giving people an entire month to prepare knowing his strengths wasn't a good idea. He didn't want to be connected to the forest fire either.
Word had gotten around pretty quick about that particular fire. Apparently it took most of the ANBU's Suiton users to put it all out, and even then it took several days. The genin that made it to the tower were spreading it around like wildfire. Apparently the entire earth was metled and only a sea of lava remained. Pretty good work if he did say so himself.
What piqued Naruto's interest though was what occurred yesterday. Team 7 had finally arrived at the tower looking like they'd been thrown around like rag dolls, which was odd because so many people had favored them all to pass the exams.
After taking a closer look, Naruto saw all he needed to. Nawaki, Narumi, and Natsuki all had a strange looking mark on their necks. It was shaped in a three tomoe design not too different than the sharingan's, how ironic. However, they were more curved than the sharingan's tomoe and were filled with a dark chakra. It was obvious that they were whom Orochimaru had been after. And he had marked them with a cursed seal. Though Minato had sealed them off not long after they had arrived, many were still concerned.
Orochimaru had always been after immortality, everyone knew that. Hence why he was so interested in the Uzumaki blood. Every Uzumaki had an incredibly strong life force, which makes them able to survive the most grave injuries and incredible longevity. They also possess high recuperative powers making them able to quickly recover from exhaustion and mend their injuries quickly. Because of these traits Orochimaru would certainly be after their blood for his ambitions.
Naruto had to stifle a laugh when he remembered just who the Uzumaki were. The Uzumaki clan were descendants of Otsutsuki Ashura since the Uzumaki originated from the Senju clan. That fact alone made Naruto connected to two of the people who are responsible for the birth of chakra.