"Man this sucks," I said.

I was dangling from a tree upside down. Sakura cut me down not too gracefully and I fell on my back. I was laughing, too, which got me glares from Naruto and Sakura. Sasuke went on ahead to find the scrolls I lost, mumbling things to himself.

Earlier that day, I stood in front of the wire fence of the Forest of Death. I looked up glumly at the dark trees. Stray strands of my hair flew in my face. Streaks purred softly into my ear. He was resting on my shoulder in his cat form gazing at the forest, too.

"The Forest of Death," I said slowly. I read about it in one of the manga, but up close it was really scary. Crows flew from the trees and I could see something move in the darkness. A shiver ran down my back.

"Ready," Streaks asked.

"Yea… no… no I'm not," I said breathing heavily.

"Remember," Streaks told me, "You're not alone."

I looked back at the rest of the team. Sure, Naruto was loud and obnoxious and Sasuke had attitude problems and Sakura was fairly annoying, but they were my team now. Sending one more nervous glance over my shoulder, I walked over to join my team.

"Alright everyone," Anko called over all the conversion, "Get ready."

I got nervous, but saw the determined look on Naruto's face and relaxed a bit. The gates opened slowly letting a cold draft pass over us. Everyone quieted and stared into the darkness. I glanced at Streaks with an eyebrow raised.

"Well," he thought, "it could be worse."

Out of the corner of my eye I saw something move. I looked closely and saw a snake slither through the trees. It wouldn't have bothered me at all, but the snake was probably about as big as a bus. I stared wide-eyed with my mouth hanging open. Streaks nudged my leg.

"Hey," Naruto called, he and the rest of team seven were already past the gate, "Are you coming or not?"

Shaking my head, I followed after them. I saw the gates close finally and sighed. The point of no return. That feeling really sucked. Streaks followed after me and the team in his tiger form.

Later, he sniffed out a team not far from us and told us to lay low. We surrounded them in the trees. Waiting for Sasuke's cue, I noticed some movement again. Right behind me I saw a scaly form wrap itself around the tree. I told Streaks and he told me to stay quiet and calm. I tried, and it worked for awhile but then I felt someone breathing on my neck.

I whirled around with a kunai raised. Someone grabbed my arm and dragged me off. I kicked him and screamed. Streaks came after me first, leaving his post completely forgetting his post and the scroll. When I saw my attackers face I turned and swung. He grabbed my other hand and held me against a tree.

Streaks grabbed him by the waist with his mouth and threw him into the ground, knocking him unconscious. I stepped closer to see his face. He looked a few years older than me. He had silver hair and dark skin. A crescent moon was etched into his headband. Then the pieces started to come together.

He leapt up and knocked me over. I saw his bright blue eyes and gasped. Streaks went after him, but he got away. I was still thinking of the silver haired boy when team seven surrounded me. Sasuke seemed annoyed and glared at me. Sakura noticed something was wrong. Naruto was talking about something, but I couldn't hear him.

"What's wrong," Sakura asked.

Before I could answer, a raspy voice sounded from above us.

"Maybe she's aware of my presence," a sound ninja said.

He was by himself, but that only made it worse. He smirked down at us. Sasuke glared back stepping between us and the ninja. When I looked up again, he was coming down towards us. Sasuke spit fireballs at him, but he dodged it.

Giving Streaks orders to protect Sakura, I started to help. This ninja was strong, I could tell, but Sasuke, Naruto, and I could take him. He smiled at us and licked his lips.

Naruto cloned himself and surrounded him. I did the hand signs and my chakra started to spiral around me. While Naruto held him down, Sasuke looked at me. The real Naruto stood back, letting hi clones deal with our opponent. The tiger heads wrapped around him and tightened.

Focus, focus, I thought to myself. The jutsu started working and when the ninja went limp I breathed in anticipating him to start moving again and the jutsu not work. The jutsu disappeared after I was sure the guy was dead. We stepped closer to look at the body.

Sasuke took the scroll he had and we left him there.

Happy that I finally perfected the jutsu, I leaped through the trees laughing and carrying on. Naruto seemed happy, too, and of course Sasuke still seemed to mope. Streaks was proud I perfected the jutsu, too and promised to show me more later.

Before I knew what was happening, my feet flew from under me. I dangled upside down dazed. In my high from getting the scroll I forgot we weren't even done with the second phase. There was still three days left of the stupid forest test. The others tried attacking the attackers off, but their team was pretty strong. When everyone else was hung upside down with me, the team took both our scrolls and left.

So here we were scroll-less and angry. I laughed at myself, still not believing what happened. After all that we lost the scrolls. After I was cut down, we decided to rest for the night. No one talked to me for awhile, like it was my fault we were going to have to find two scrolls now. Well, it kind of was.

I had the first shift for night watch, I guess as a punishment. Streaks went to sleep, too, leaving me to boring lonesome. I started humming to myself, wishing I had my MP3 player. The moon was full and set long slanted rays through the trees. I climbed the tree to get a better look.

The night was peaceful, especially for a forest of death. My necklace thrummed like a heartbeat was coming from it. I held it up in the moonlight to get a better look. The crescent moon was shining and the silver glowed like it was alive.

I started to think about the boy from earlier. I remembered how the hokage told me I was the last tsuki nennin left, but I doubted that. I let the necklace fall on my chest again and went back down to my post.

A snake hissed at me a few feet from where team seven slept. I stared at it. It was huge and creeped me out. It hissed again and turned its head to where a man was stepping from the shadows. It took awhile for me realize who I was looking at. Then when he stepped from the shadows I realized who it was. Orochimaru smiled at me. He stepped closer licking his lips like he was about to indulge himself in a meal. And I had a feeling I was the main course.