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Sakra-chan: Don't worry about it! I'm just happy that you are enjoying the story!

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Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, If I did, everyone would be able to tell if Haku is a boy or a girl.

Now everyone, enjoy the chapter!!


Chapter 3: The Forest of Death Part 1

"Torao-sensei!" Kukiko shouted to the owner of the voice as he approached the group. "Where have you been?"

"Gomen, but I had some missions to do for the Tsuchikage before I was able to come here." He said ruffling Kukiko's hair. "I'd wish you'd stop doing that." She grumbled as she fixed her hair. Torao smirked as Takeshi asked him to tell them about the next exam.

"Okay then. I will tell you about the next exam and you three better pass it. It will show Konoha, no, all the Elemental Countries that the Hidden Rock Village is no village to mess with!"

Torao started going on about how the Fire country humiliated them in the past, so Daijiro snapped and dragged Torao's jounin vest close to him and yelled; "OI! Torao-sensei! Just tell us about the second exam already! We only have an hour to get to the forest gates!!"

Torao ran his hand through his brown locks and sighed "Fine." He pulled a crumbled piece of paper out of his pocket and read off it aloud: 'Your genin will have their next exam in the forest of death.' He looked at the paper and sighed; "Forest of Death? Weird name…why would you name a forest deat….?"

Daijiro interrupted, his face turning red with rage. "Torao-sensei! Could you please hurry up!!"

Torao rolled his eyes and continued reading the paper 'They will have to take two scrolls to the center tower of the forest before five days and four nights are up. They will only be given one scroll. They will have to steal the other scroll from another team. There are two scrolls: Heaven and Earth. They are not allowed to have two of the same. If they reach the tower without each scroll and/or all of their teammates, or two of the same scroll, then they can not proceed unto the next exam. No rules apply in getting the scrolls. They can gather the scrolls in any way possible.'

"Do you all understand the instructions?" Torao asked looking at each of his pupil's faces.

"Hai!" They all said simultaneously. Daijiro then said "Ok. Give us the scroll so we can be on our way." Torao smirked and replied "You don't get your scrolls with me. You'll have to go to the gate of the forest to get them. Also, you guys only have twenty minutes to get there. You three better run!"

"Nani?" Kukiko shouted. "Oh no!" She grabbed her cellmate's wrists and forced chakra into her feet as she ran towards the forest, leaving a trail of dust for her sensei to choke on.

Torao choked on the dust and wheezed as he said "cough Go...od luck…kids cough" After that he walked to the Silver Leaf hotel to check in.

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They made it to the forest gates with four minutes to spare. They were all dripping with sweat. Daijiro glared at Kukiko while Takeshi wiped off the sweat and walked over to the exam instructor.

"Kukiko-swan!!!!" Minato said waving at her. "Oh. Hello Minato-kun." She said smiling at him. "You are taking the exam too?" "No, I'm here to watch the teams off into the forest…Of course I'm taking the exam!" Kukiko said slapping his head.

"I will protect you, Kukiko-swan with my life!!" Minato said grasping unto her left arm tightly.

Kukiko grimaced in pain as she pried Minato off her arm saying "Arigato, Minato-kun, but I won't need any help. I can manage just fine with my cellmates." Minato smiled and said "Okay, Kukiko-swan!" He then glared at Takeshi who approached them with consent forms in his hand.

"Hello, Minato." Takeshi said to him. Minato glared at him and walked over to his team. "Hey Takeshi. What are these for?" Kukiko asked as he gave her a form and walked over to Daijiro.

"Oh. These are in case anything happens to us, like we are injured or we die, then the examiners are not going to be held responsible for it." Kukiko's and Daijiro's eyes widened as Daijiro shouted "Death?" "Hai. Now sign these forms."

Kukiko signed the consent form without hesitation muttering; "I will get you back, Hatake Sakumo for embarrassing me at the market."

Daijiro looked over at the consent form, sweating profusely. "I can do this. I trained years for this. I must surpass my elder brother. I can do this." He repeated to himself over and over in his head.


After the forms were signed, Takeshi took them back to the examiner and received their scroll. He placed them in his bag and walked back to his team. "Now, that I have the Heaven scroll…" Takeshi spoke, as he looked at his cellmates faces and saw Kukiko reaching into his bag for the scroll. He slapped her hand away and continued saying "We have been assigned to stand by gate number three and wait for the examiner's whistle to begin the exam. Kukiko, you are not to be trusted with the scrolls since you lose things so easily."

Kukiko pouted and crossed her arms retorting; "I don't lose things easily. It's Daijiro who pushes me and I tend to drop them." Daijiro's face began to turn red with fury as he tried to defend himself by saying "It's not my fault that you lose our things that easily! Don't go pinning the blame on me!!" "It is your fault! If you didn't bully me all the time, I could have an easier time holding onto things!" She retorted back.

Takeshi sighed as he rubbed his temples. He walked up to both of them as they were fighting and smacked their heads together.

"ITTA!" They both shouted as they rubbed their heads. Takeshi hissed in anger at them "We are the Iwagakure representatives for this exam. You two are humiliating all of Iwa with your insistent fighting!" All three of them looked around and saw everybody watching them; some with amusement, some with curiosity, and others with just plain annoyance.

Kukiko's face grew red with embarrassment as Daijiro snapped and shouted at them "What are you all looking at? There's nothing to see here! Go away!" Takeshi clenched his fists and bopped his friend on the head hard. While Daijiro was moaning in pain, Takeshi apologized to everyone replying "Gomen, everyone. My cellmates were just looking forward to some friendly competition. You all may continue what you were doing. Sorry about the disturbance." He said as politely as he could.

As everyone turned away from them, Takeshi pinched Daijiro on the cheek. "You are in the Chunnin Exams for Kami's sake. Stop embarrassing the Tsuchikage and all of our people."

Kukiko snickered at Daijiro, so Takeshi turned around and started to scold her "You too! You started this whole mess. Think about how your actions will affect Torao-sensei and everyone else next time!"

Kukiko pouted, crossed her arms and was about to retort when Takeshi interrupted her saying "Enough! Now we have to stand by gate number three." He said walking towards the gate. Kukiko and Daijiro glared at each other as they followed him towards the gate.

Minato's team was at the gate beside Kukiko's team. He tried to get her attention but she was too busy glaring at Daijiro to notice him.

Sakumo's team was about two groups to the left of Kukiko. He was busy thinking of the quickest way to get the Heaven scroll and the quickest path to the tower.

When the examiner blew into her whistle, the gates opened and all the teams ran into the forest starting their exam.


Kukiko ran ahead of her cellmates, jumping for joy. Takeshi told her to calm down and then said "We need the Earth Scroll, so we need to find a team that has one immediately. No bloodshed until we find the cell that has one."

"Okay!" Kukiko said. She was planning on saving her energy for her vengeance. Daijiro was disappointed. His brother told him that he killed at least half of the cells when he took the exam. Kukiko sensed his disappointment and said "You do know that your brother failed the Chunnin exam at least three times before passing. You don't need to take the exam the same way he did."

Daijiro huffed and replied "It's a matter of pride, Kukiko. Something you wouldn't understand." "Of course, I wouldn't understand it. You are a guy and I'm a girl." She retorted. He was about to make a comeback when Takeshi shushed them. "Will you two shut up?! I hear voices ahead!"

They became as quiet as a mouse and the noises got louder as they approached. One of the voices sounded like Sakumo. "We need to find that Heaven scroll so we can get out of here quickly. I don't like this forest at all." A whiny girl on Sakumo's team complained.

"They have the Earth scroll? That's great!" Daijiro shouted as he ran to them. "DAIJIRO!!" His cellmates shouted. "Hand it over and we might let you live." Daijiro said.

Takeshi caught up with them and apologized for his friend's behavior. Kukiko glared at Sakumo and said "We challenge you for the Earth scroll. No killing. If we lose, we will give you the Heaven scroll." She responded.

"We accept the challenge." Sakumo said getting into his fight position. His cellmates followed him, pulling out kunai and shuriken as they were getting into their position.

As the teams were getting ready to fight, Rain ninjas were watching the fight in a tree, planning to kill the winning team and take both scrolls.


I know what you all are thinking. Haven't updated in a while and I give you this. I'm sorry. I had a huge writer's block and I was also procrastinating. I'm sorry. I hope you enjoyed this, sorry for making you wait so long. If you are still reading this, then I'll give you a hug and a sugar cookie!! XD

Next Chapter is Forest of Death: Part 2... Look forward to it