Sasuke pulls a kunai and tells himself that he has been a fool for thinking that he only needs to survive to face his brother. Sasuke charges the grass ninja and the two begin fighting. Sasuke notices that he can now see the grass ninja’s movements with his sharingan activated. The grass ninja thinks to herself that Sasuke is pretty good and realizes that he must be able to see her movements.

Anko notices the sun is going down and that she must her if she wishes to stop “him”. She also wonders what “he” could be after.

Sasuke grabs hold of the grass ninja and slams her head first into a branch. The grass ninja turns out to be a substitute made out of mud. The grass ninja throws some kunais at Sasuke and Sasuke dodges by using some wiring to swing around a tree. The grass ninja appears before him as he lands and knocks him to the ground. The grass ninja tells Sasuke he is a disappointment and the Uchiha clan should thank her for finishing him off. Three small paper bombs explode on the back of the grass ninja that Sasuke had placed on her. With the grass ninja distracted, Sasuke uses a sharingan windmill triple attack which wraps wiring around the grass ninja, tying her to a tree. Sasuke then uses a Dragon Flame Jutsu to finish her off. Sakura runs to Sasuke and tells him he did it. Suddenly the grass ninja breaks free of her restraints and we see the skin around one of her eyes is burned away, revealing white flesh. The grass ninja uses some kind of jutsu that causes Sakura to fall to the ground. The grass ninja tells Sasuke he is a true Uchiha because of his mastery of the sharingan at such a young age. Her voice changes into a man’s voice and we see her forehead protector change to that of the sound village. The grass ninja tells Sasuke he will do nicely and that he is definitely Itachi’s brother. Sasuke asks the grass ninja who he is and what does he want. The grass ninja introduces himself as Orochimaru. Orochimaru tells Sasuke he will have to wait to see what he wants until Sasuke finishes the exam with the best score of all. Orochimaru then burns the heaven scroll he stole from them and tells Sasuke he will have to defeat his sound village ninja. Sakura tells Orochimaru she doesn’t know what he wants but he should leave them alone. Orochimaru says he and Sasuke will meet again. Orochimaru then stretches his neck out and bites Sasuke, leaving a curse upon him. Sasuke feels pain in his neck and Sakura asks Orochimaru what he did. Orochimaru says he just gave Sasuke a little parting gift and soon he will seek him out for his power. Orochimaru then disappears saying he enjoyed the demonstration of Sasuke’s power. Sasuke cries out in pain and Sakura holds him. Sakura calls for Naruto to help her but Naruto is still passed out from Orochimaru putting a seal on him. Sakura says she doesn’t know what she is supposed to do.

Elsewhere Orochimaru emerges out of a tree branch. Anko feels his presence nearby (yes, “He” is Orochimaru). Anko finds Orochimaru and Orochimaru tells her it has been a while. Anko says she must take him down because he is an s-class criminal and that it would only be fitting for her to do it since Orochimaru taught her everything. Anko attacks with some needles and Orochimaru shoots his tongue at her. Anko dodges at first but then his tongue grabs hold of her. Anko uses striking shadow snake jutsu to shoot snakes at Orochimaru. The snakes grab hold of him and she pulls him towards her. Anko then holds him against a tree and stabs his hand with a kunai so he can’t escape. Anko grabs his other hand and she tells him they will both die here. Anko uses the twin shadow snake jutsu and Orochimaru laughs saying Anko will die alone. Orochimaru appears behind Anko and peels off the rest of his flesh, revealing his pale face. The Orochimaru in front of Anko turns to mud. Orochimaru calls Anko naughty for using a forbidden jutsu that he taught her. Anko throws a kunai but Orochimaru catches it. Anko asks why Orochimaru is here and Orochimaru says he expected a friendlier reception after all this time. Anko asks if he came here to assassinate the third hokage and Orochimaru says not yet because he doesn’t have enough followers yet. Anko falls to the ground in pain because of her curse mark. Orochimaru tells Anko he put the same curse mark on a boy just moments ago. Anko tells Orochimaru the boy will die before he serves him and Orochimaru says the odds are 10 to 1 against him. Orochimaru says the kid may survive like Anko did. Anko says he must want the boy badly. Orochimaru asks Anko if she can’t forgive him for using her and tossing her aside. He then says the boy has more potential than Anko had and that he is of the Uchiha clan. Orochimaru says the boy may be the heir he is looking for. Orochimaru leaves Anko telling her to make sure they don’t stop the exam and that he looks forward to see how three of his followers fair in the exam.

At Team Gai, Neji tells Tenten and Lee that the other teams will be calling it quits soon so they should go scouting. They agree to meet back at their spot no matter what once time is up. The three then disperse.

Sakura has laid Sasuke and Naruto under a tree to rest and is nursing them.

Anko has gotten out of the forest and she thinks to herself that she has wasted enough time and someone needs to tell the hokage what has happened. Anko notices something in the bushes as she begins to walk away. A tiger emerges and starts walking towards her. Two more tigers appear and the three corner Anko against a rock. Anko’s curse mark begins to hurt and then one of the tigers fall to the ground. Anko notices all three tigers have had a paralysis jutsu performed on them. Two ANBU’s appear and then Anko falls to the ground. One of the ANBU’s notice her curse mark has appeared and he realizes Orochimaru has appeared. The ANBU’s say they’ll carry Anko to the hokage but she says take her to the tower in the forest. Anko tells the two ANBU to summon the hokage to the tower and she’ll explain everything there.

Three sound ninja hide in the bushes, watching Sakura. The leader tells his teammates to remember that Orochimaru told them to strike at day break and target Sasuke.