Shino: I think he has some inkling, but not explicitly, no.
Sakura: She seems like such a nice girl. I hope he doesn't hurt her.
Shino: Uzumaki Naruto is constitutionally incapable of acting with malice aforethought.
Sakura: No, I suppose not. Not intentionally, anyway.
Short version
Team 8 and Team 7 are attacked by Orochimaru, who brands Sasuke and Naruto with Cursed Seals, knocking them out. Naruto subconsciously encounters the Nine-Tails, who helps him break his Cursed Seal. Team Dosu arrives and tries to kill Sasuke, starting a fight. Sasuke and Naruto awaken and respectively use the powers of the Cursed Seal and the Nine-Tails to drive off Team Dosu, who leave their scroll behind.
Longer version
Team 8 eventually encounters Kiba and Akamaru, being chased by one of Orochimaru's snakes. Naruto and Hinata rescue them while Shino, having trained with his mother, kills the snake with retractable kamas. The group seeks out Sakura and Sasuke, and find them facing Orochimaru.
Orochimaru threatens to kill all but Sasuke, who quickly attacks him. Naruto does the same, and Orochimaru knocks both back. Naruto notices Sasuke's Sharingan. All the genin attack, unsuccessfully. Sasuke offers to give up his scroll, and gets into an argument with Kiba. Naruto pretends to do the same, but instead throws Orochimaru a blank scroll with exploding tags. The genin continue to attack, Sasuke with wires, Fire Style jutsu and his Sharingan, Kiba and Akamaru with collaboration jutsu, Sakura with kunai, Shino with carnivorous kikai, and Naruto with clones and shuriken. When Hinata finally lands a Jyuuken strike, Orochimaru throws her into a tree, knocking her out, and Naruto is eaten by one of the snakes. Shino plants kikai to drain Orochimaru's chakra, but the latter is unfazed. He then attacks with kama techniques taught by his mother, without success. Sasuke then uses wires and shuriken to perform the Dragon Fire Technique, again futilely, and Orochimaru vanishes with an advanced substitution.
The genin regroup, to find Hinata, Kiba, and Akamaru unconscious. Shino destroys one of the worried clones, to use its memories to motivate the real Naruto to escape the snake. Orochimaru reappears to blindside Shino and clash with Sasuke. Naruto breaks out of the snake, and Orochimaru snares Sasuke with a smaller snake. Flaring with the Nine-Tails' chakra, Naruto unleashes a furious assault on Orochimaru, who realizes he hosts the tailed beast. Sakura wonders at this, and impales the snake restraining Sasuke with a kunai. The Sannin counters Naruto and repels him with a Wind Release jutsu. Naruto releases his weights and leaps at Orochimaru from a tree. As Orochimaru tries to plant the Cursed Seal on Sasuke, Naruto's attack grazes Orochimaru, breaking his nose. Orochimaru then puts a seal on Naruto, before placing the Cursed Seal on Sasuke, knocking them both out. The Sannin departs.
Shino regroups with Sakura, and they notice the seals left by Orochimaru. Shino uses smelling salts to reawaken Hinata and Kiba. The group carries Naruto and Sasuke to a cave to recuperate. The two teams form an alliance for the time being.
As night falls, Shino and Sakura set up kunai traps and take first watch. Kiba and Akamaru sleep, while Hinata struggles to. Fustrated with her inability to help Naruto, Hinata recalls the day she learned her mother died, and realizes she's in love with Naruto. Shino is impressed by Sakura's skill in setting traps, and more so when she shows concern for Hinata and Naruto. Both recognize Hinata's love for Naruto, and Sakura admits she's trying to be kinder. At second watch, Kiba thanks Hinata for the help from her team.
Naruto awakens in the mindscape of the Nine-Tails. After a heated confrontation, the tailed beast reveals that Naruto is branded with a Cursed Seal, which threatens to override Naruto's will and rupture his chakra coils. He suggests flooding Naruto's chakra network to overload and break Orochimaru's seal. Naruto agrees to the plan.
At late morning, Team Dosu arrives at the cave to kill Sasuke, and clashes with the conscious genin. Dosu disables Shino's kikai with sound, and Hinata's charge is countered by Zaku's Decapitating Airwaves. Kin fights Sakura with senbon, and Shino attacks Dosu with his kamas. As Hinata closes in on Zaku, Kiba tackles him. Zaku launches him away with a Decapitating Airwaves blast, interrupting Shino's battle. Dosu then damages both Kiba and Shino with sound. Hinata attacks Zaku and ruptures his palm with the Gentle Fist; Zaku's other palm blasts her away. Sakura strikes down Kin and is hit with kunai thrown by Dosu.
Hinata senses the chakra of the Cursed Seals flaring from both Sasuke and Naruto. Sasuke activates his Cursed Seal, while Naruto breaks his with the Nine-Tails chakra (and also by stabbing the seal with a kunai). After the two exit the cave, they respectively see Sakura and Hinata injured. Sasuke snaps Dosu's neck, and Naruto breaks Zaku's remaining arm. Horrified, Sakura pleads for Sasuke to stop, and he does. Kin and Zaku flee, leaving their scroll behind.
Tropes:
- Batman Gambit: When Hinata is unconscious, Shino notes in the presence of one of Naruto's clones that she's in lethal danger. He then destroys the clone to give its memories to the real Naruto, to motivate him to break out of Orochimaru's snake. Naturally, the plan works.
- Battle Aura: At the end of the chapter, Sasuke activates his Cursed Seal, wreathed in purple chakra. Naruto uses the red chakra of the Nine-Tails here and earlier against Orochimaru.
- Blow You Away: Orochimaru uses a Wind Release technique to repel Naruto. Zaku later uses his Airwaves technique in battle.
- Broke Your Arm Punching Out Cthulhu: Hinata manages to land a critical strike on Orochimaru in the back, and Naruto later breaks his nose. Both are knocked out and badly hurt for their efforts, the latter being branded with a seal.
- Double Meaning: Shino declares that Naruto is "constitutionally incapable of acting with malice aforethought," which Sakura admits is true, or at least, Naruto won't "intentionally" do that. Technically, it's a linguistical error for Sakura given her current knowledge, but it's actually true to the letter; Naruto could "unintentionally" "act with malice aforethought"... if he accidentally lets himself be influenced by the Nine-Tails.
- Flash Step: When they awaken, Sasuke and Naruto dodge Zaku's attack so fast they do this.
- Insult Backfire: Orochimaru ends up doing this to Shino, the Aburame:Orochimaru: Yet another insect interferes with my test.
Shino: Your statement implies that is supposed to be an insult. - Love Epiphany: The pain of being unable to help Naruto makes Hinata realize she's in love with him.
- Magical Eye: Sasuke's Sharingan, as usual.
- Mental World: Naruto finds himself face-to-face with the Nine-Tails to deal with Orochimaru's seal.
- Neck Snap: Sasuke kills Dosu very quickly this way.
- No-Sell: Despite an impressive assault from all the genin, Orochimaru's ridiculous resilience lets him tank everything thrown at him. Any injury doesn't visibly slow him down.
- Playing with Fire: Sasuke, as usual. Orochimaru also uses one to attack Shino, who is able to dispell it with his mother's training.
- Razor Floss: Sasuke uses wires to simultaneously slice into Orochimaru's snake and swing around.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: Sasuke reveals his Sharingan for the first time in the story. Naruto also has red eyes when he uses the chakra of the Nine-Tails. And of course, there's the Nine-Tails itself.
- Shipper on Deck: Sakura finds Naruto and Hinata to be cute together.
- Sickening "Crunch!": When Naruto breaks Orochimaru's nose, and again when Orochimaru snaps it back.
- Sinister Scythe: Shino wields a pair of folding, retractable kamas that he trained with his mother to use.
- Sleep Cute: Hinata falls asleep while tending to the unconscious Naruto.
- Snakes Are Sinister: Orochimaru, as usual.
- Spin Attack: Kiba and Akamaru use a spiralling collaboration jutsu to penetrate the hide of one of Orochimaru's snakes.
- Took a Level in Kindness: Sakura shows genuine care and concern for both Hinata and Naruto, and admits to Shino she's trying to be nicer.
