Reaching the tower while so late in the game proved to be an inconvenience, ninja getting desperate for the scrolls, anything to win this game. 'This horrible sick game.' Aliya growled to herself. 'They were really determined on killing us for these scrolls just like we did earlier. What kind of sick person makes us play this game.'

But as a shinobi she musn't show her grief, she will abide by these rules if she must.

The tower of victory was well in sight, in the last 100 meters Shaydene was able to locate every enemy surrounding it, allowing them to travel through their defences safely. The sun was long gone, the only light sources they had were the moon and stars, although they made this forest even gloomier than it already was, making this tower seem like a haunted mansion, the one you'd avoid when trick-or-treating.

They knocked on the door, not sure what to expect, when no one answered they entered themselves. It was just a long dark hall, at the end was a faint ray of light. Shaydene glared intently at the stretched walls, they were completely blank.. Straight, flat and seemingly endless if it wasn't for the assuring light that guaranteed they wouldn't be walking for their lifetime.

Shaydene slowly took a step forward, nothing happened, she took another one. Still nothing. 'But anything could happen.. This could be a test.'
Before she could take another step and hand reached out and stopped her from moving.

Ghost held her there while he walked past her and calmly carrying on walking in front of her.

Shaydene and Aliya gazed at each other, watching Ghost just calmly stroll down the hall as if it was nothing.
Shaydene furrowed her brows and frowned, "if I needed a babysitter I would've called for one! Now STOP insulting me!" She stormed up, pushing him hard into the wall and passed him like he was some garbage bag left in the way, though who would take the time to turn around to glare cold icy daggers at a lifeless form before regaining their posture and continuing on their way.

"Get up and move. Aliya stop standing there, and walk." Shaydene ordered the both of them, not even turning around to show her attention, 'as if she'd care..' Aliya couldn't help but snicker. She rushed to Ghost who was fallen on the ground, sitting against the wall holding his head in pain. She tried to ease the pain on the back of his head with her medical ninjutsu, after all it wasn't some playful shove Shaydene gave him.

"Are you alright, Ghost?" Aliya whispered so Shaydene wouldn't hear while helping him stand. Ghost nodded directly. He quickly and heartlessly brushed off her embrace around him and continued to walk after Shaydene forsaking her behind in the dark, leaving her feeling a little betrayed..
'It probably wasn't as bad as it looked, I was a little too concerned.' She smiled and caught up with them.

They entered quite a average sized plain room on the second floor. There were 3 others sitting there, waiting for something Shaydene presumed since their group was a well.
Aliya took a little more time looking at them as they walked passed, she noticed the red-haired boy sitting in the middle, he had dark rings around his eyes. He looked a bit strange. He was interestingly handsome, questionable but surely.. He was there just glaring at her, looking as angry as ever, the look in his eyes reminded her of killing. They all shared the same look before they kill. The glare of anger, spite, resentment and strangely.. There was always a hint of grief. It was scary, truly, imagine if these eyes were for her. It even saddened her that she could never bear those eyes. They gave the expression of strength, control and fear. He was stronger than her, he can manipulate her and she should fear him. Eyes like that... How does one achieve these eyes... To her.. They were beautiful. They were everything she wished she had, and then the mixed feeling of hating them.

But truth be told, this cold stare wasn't doing his features any justice. Shaydene and Ghost didn't even seem to realise they were there, either that or they didn't care enough to even have a peek at them. It was probably the latter.

She gave him a light hearted smile as they were getting closer, "you'd look better if you didn't glare like that.. Really."

He lowered his gaze even more, "...What.."

As they started walking past she still kept her gaze on him, "smiling is a nice featu-"
Shaydene tucked on her arm forcefully, "shut up, Aliya." She whispered.

They continued to walk to the other side of the room.

"What, I didn't do anything." Aliya said, furrowing her brows at Shaydene's sudden strain.

Her mean comrade's orbs pierced right through to her soul, these eyes were definitely the same, in one way. But suddenly the harshness left, a calming sigh came from Shaydene's lips, "Aliya.. You are too blind.. This guy, you don't want to talk to someone like him. Don't be fooled by his appearance like that." She coaxed, turning her head to take a second glance at the red-head. How can Aliya be so stupid as to talk to this... This monstrous glaring looking human.

Ghost went ahead and headed up the second set of stairs, there was a room for each team in case they made it back early, not wanting to stay with these other people. Shaydene and Aliya reluctantly followed. 'The mean comrade' only just allowing Aliya to have a third glance before tugging her again.

It was way late at night, there were two more days, they still had some time to recover. Shaydene could feel her eyelids drop as she struggled to stay conscious until she finally lost it. Shaydene and Ghost were the only ones sitting up against the wall, Aliya was already sleeping, curled up on the ground. Ghost saw Shaydene's head drop as she fell asleep, thinking it must be very uncomfortable once she wakes up, he takes off his long robes, only wearing his T-shirt and pants, he lays her down on the ground gently, positioning her head on his lap. He covers her body with his clothing like a blanket, giving her extra warmth since it was quite chilly in this empty space. He could already feel the cold seeping into his skin, it wasn't too bad but he could clearly feel the difference. '...I'll get used to it...' He thought silently before drifting off to sleep.

It was day 5, the last day of the test. Still early in the morning, just when the birds begin chirping and the sun rising just about those ridiculously tall trees. There was still condense on the windows, slowly evaporating. It was chillier than ever, the only one who was warm was Shaydene hiding under Ghost's coat and hugging onto his leg. Aliya had goosebumps down her arms while Ghost literally felt like his skin was a layer of ice stealing his warmth.

"YEAHH! WE MADE IT!"

Shaydene shot awake from the sudden commotion, she noticed immediately the robes around her again. Straining her neck looking back just knowing Ghost was her pillow again as well, she saw him sitting in the same position as he did last time. She noticed he was clearly cold, silently shivering in his sleep. Although it was kind of him, she found it a little creepy how she would wake up on his lap with his cloak around her, for the second time since this was their second night here. Also it was a little unfair.. Aliya and Ghost would both be freezing..

Shaydene pulled him forward a bit to wrap the cloak back around him until a hand took it from her. Startled that he was actually awake she sat back down and watched him put on his robes, hiding his face again under that hood. It wasn't like this was the first time she's seen his face but it never failed to surprise her. He had short chocolate brown hair spiked to the side and falling over his forehead. He didn't wear his headband around his forehead, he wore it around his waist where it can be seen.

She remembered back when they just met each other it was a bright afternoon, she was 9, her mission was to retrieve a lost boy from the forest, he was seen wearing dirty rags and running around meaningless. It was the first time they saw each other and the first expression she saw on his face was fear mixed with shock but he couldn't take his eyes of her, she remembers vividly that he was just staring at her. She wasn't sure how to respond, or she couldn't. Entering the evening the sun was lowering, the rays beaming through the leaves of the forest they managed to perfectly cover Ghost side.

The rays weren't as bright as they were in day time, it felt like all she remembered from that time was golden light shining off this little boy. His eyes were brightened to a golden brown as his hair had the illusion of golden highlights as it shifted through the winds, lastly his dirty rags of cloth seems like it was woven with a golden thread on one side, while the other side was almost black giving it a perfect contrast.

He and everything around him seemed almost godly.

Shaydene smirked, how could a little runt like that even be considered 'godly'. She told herself it was just because she hasn't seen daylight for months being trapped in the stupid dark dungeon of a hideout.

Then she looked at Aliya.. She wasn't even sure when she met her, she asked Kabuto once who this girl was. He looked at her confused before saying she's been around for a couple of weeks already. Shaydene wasn't really sure what to believe then, she never noticed the little blonde girl around. They met about 3 years before Ghost. Maybe her 6 year old eyes weren't as keen then, they were more focused on playing rather than anything. Although when she thinks back... She can't really be calling that playing.

"YES, YES, YES! WE'RE TOTALLY AWESOME!" The voiced boomed again.

"WILL YOU SHUT IT, NARUTO?!" Another voice screamed, a girl voice this time. She didn't sound to nice, especially after she heard a loud yelp coming from the first guy again.

Their voices were so piercing they even reached the 3rd floor loud and clear. Shaydene cringed, it was probably that annoying blonde kid again who keeps screaming all the time like in the previous tests.

"What do you think is happening down there?"

Shaydene jumped, not expecting Aliya awake and up already, quickly taking her out of her thoughts. "They... Probably passed the test." She answered.

"Do you think we should go down to that main hall we passed on the way here? It's been 5 days already.." Aliya asked stretching her arms and yawning then rubbing her cold skin. "Man.. It's really cold.. I could hardly sleep last night.." She added, giving Ghost a bit of a glare who was arguably agreeing with her before a jealous glare at Shaydene. Why did Shaydene get to wear his cloak..

The dark-haired girl sat up against the wall with a tired look in her eyes, "no... We'll be called down sooner or later. We'll rest a little more, so we're at the peak of our strength."

Once all the people who passed the second test gathered, they explain the reason for an in between third test. As there were too many people who passed they needed to cut the numbers down by half, thus everyone will be assigned to have a one on one, whoever loses is disqualified from the chuunin exams. Also the fact that it's on the spot, it's not entirely fair to the people who just came in this morning.

Most of the kids looked completely beat up and exhausted... They'll be wasted in no time..

The blonde kid a few rows down was smirking, he looked the most beat up out of the whole team. And that guy... The guy with the black hair.. He didn't look like much, but he definitely had the confidence and that made him seem dangerous.

"So we done training for today?" Asked Aliya puffing with a few scratches here and there.

Shaydene nodded, "yeah.. the leaf village isn't much different from the sound, is it.."

"Not really, there's only lots of trees here, there aren't that many around home."

"True..." Shaydene said looking up at the sky, it was bright and hot. The tree she was under with her squad wasn't doing anything to cool them down. "Come, let's get a drink." Shaydene said standing up. She was about to walk off before she felt a tap on her shoulder,

She raised an eyebrow to Ghost, as in to say "what is it?" He pointed to his stomach, poking it a few times.

"Ah yes of course, since you're a guy you're always hungry, aren't you? We'll have something to eat as well." Shaydene said, giving him one of those rare smiles.

Aliya smiled and agreed. They started walking out of the training grounds as another group came in, they were from the leaf village telling by their headgear.

Shaydene and Ghost paid no attention to them, though Shaydene did notice the confident guy with the clingy girl staring at him and a blonde boy staring at the girl.
She kept her eyes straight as she approached them closer, feeling their eyes on her and her team members behind her. Trying her best not to engage them she kept walking like no one was there.

Aliya gave the cute boy at front a smile, she could tell the pink haired girl really liked him by the way she looked at him. He was really cute.. She could tell why she liked him, he had nice black hair, and dark eyes. Aliya saw him take a glimpse of Shaydene, as did the blonde guy. Although the girl focused more on Ghost.. Again Aliya felt invisible, until the blonde laid eyes on her. She saw him blush a little and giving her a stupid grin while scratching the back of his head. She thought it was pretty funny, the blonde guy and the dark haired guy were completely different.

"Hey there!" That blonde guy called out casually, greeting their group. As Aliya suspected Shaydene didn't even bat an eye while Ghost only turned to acknowledge them. She gave the guy a little wave, still being a little shy. She noticed the other group stopped walking once they passed them, she turned back to see them staring at her squad.

"You, what's your name..?" The dark haired guy called out, she wasn't sure at who, but either one of them.

"Who are you referring to?" She asked shyly, walking backwards as Shaydene and Ghost won't bother to stop.

"Hey wait, you with the braid." The guy said again pointing. "I asked what your name was, answer."

Aliya bit her lip, this guy sounds a bit arrogant... She wasn't sure how Shaydene would react... She was always.. Unexpected..

Shaydene stopped dead in her tracks.

'Uh oh... This isn't a good sign.. Shaydene don't do anything reckless, please..'

There was a moment silence.

'This is bad...'

Then she continued walking, "what does it matter."

The guy in front gritted his teeth, he walked towards her so she wouldn't get too far away, "tell me or fight me."

"Sasuke, wh-.." The pink haired girl uttered, trailing off.

Shaydene once again stopped walking, she turned around shooting glares at the persistent dark-haired boy, "you're annoying. Fine. My name's Shaydene." She snickered, then continued trailing off, she was thirsty and hungry and this guy's making a big deal out of her name.

"Yeah, and my names Nar-!" Shaydene cut him off,

"Go away."

Aliya looked at them apologetically, Especially that dark-haired guy, he looked pretty pissed off. "Shaydene.. Can't you be nice.." She whispered turning back to her friend. Though, she didn't answer, "Sha-" Before she could continue, Ghost pressed a hand on her mouth, then bought one finger up to his, telling her to be quiet.

That boy, he looked in real pain, he was holding his shoulder while talking to the girl behind him. They appeared to be fighting and she was crying.

Not much later she saw Kabuto walk out, given the option to leave now or continue with the exams, what a scaredy cat. She never liked Kabuto.

After the whole explanation of rules the kids spread along the 2 outer platforms a few meters above the arena where the kids were now supposed to hold their matches. Giving it a clear view.

"Hey... You don't know what happened to Ino's group do you? Team 10?" The girl with pink hair asked the guy with the puppy on his head.

He shook his head, "no, I see they didn't make it either, that sucks. You guys were friends weren't you?" He asks,

The pink haired girl nodded sadly biting her lip.

But one other guy with light purple eyes and no pupils walked up to her, whispering, "Ino is the blonde girl right? I saw her in the forest.. After I left them I saw that group's chakra surrounding them, That girl, the one with the braid.." He pointed. Ghost heard what he said, since he was standing relatively close but as usual no one noticed him.

The girls eyes shot open, "are you sure?" She asked, looking back and forth.

"Yeah.. Then I went to help Lee, and that's where you were.." He said, still whispering. The girl nodded, feeling tears form in her eyes.

She slowly walked up to Shaydene shyly,

"Sakura, wha- No, don't." The blonde boy warned but his words failed to reach her. The dark haired boy also watched as she approached the creepier, quite mysterious looking girl with the braid.

"Um... Excuse me, I-I.." She started,

"What..?" Shaydene asked, leaning on the rail bars, looking down as the match between two people already started.

"Do you know what happened to Ino..?"