When Team Seven arrived at the testing location the next day, they saw before them one of the most formidable and imposing areas in all of Hidden Leaf. The Forest of Death. It had not lightly gained that name. As they stared, the proctor began to speak. "the object of this mission is simple. But before I explain that, sign these waivers. It indemnifies me against your possible and quite likely demise. You wouldn't like that sort of heat on my pretty head, now would you?"

As the students each took a waiver and filled it out, Anko pulled out a pair of scrolls. "These are your objective. Each team will be given a scroll, marked either Heaven, or Earth. The object is to acquire the other, so as to complete the pair. You may not open them, or else you will be eliminated from the exam. You need only bring them to the tower in the center of the forest, within five days. You may employ any means necessary to get the second scroll. Turn in your waivers. For each team, a scroll."

The team turned in their waivers, and were handed a scroll marked Earth. They stood at the gate, and when the signal was given, they dashed away into the forest. It was little past ten minutes when they heard the first screams. "I see that confict has already broken out," remarked Sasuke. "Probably the bugs." Brom saw a slight, nearly imperceptible spasm in the Uchiha's chest.

Brom looked around. "Sakura, you and Naruto hang tight, while Sasuke and I scout ahead for traps and other teams. When we get back, we'll set up a base of operations. For now, set up a perimeter. Sasuke, hop on, and we'll scout ahead."

As they rode, Sasuke checked the rear and sides for traps and ambushes. When they were out of earshot for the rest of the team, Brom looked at him. "That sallow complexion of yours ain't from lack of sunlight, is it?"

"How'd you tell?"

"That coughing fit you stifled back with the others. What is it?"

"Consumptive Tuberculosis. In its early stages."

"How long have you had it?"

"Since about the middle of the mission before you came along. I contracted it in Hidden Wave."

"That why you-?"

"Why I nip at the flask? Yes, actually. The sake has a palliative effect. It helps to suppress the coughing. I typically go through about a pint or more per day, although as the disease is going into remission, I should be able to dry out some."

No more was said of the subject, and by unspoken agreement they kept it a secret. They scouted out a large clearing, and brought the rest of the team. A perimeter was set up, and traps laid. Naruto gathered wood and started a fire. Sasuke was helping Sakura divide the supplies into rations, and Brom was out of sight searching for game, so as to supplement their provisions. He returned with a large deer across Daredevil's saddle. As he began to dress the deer, Naruto stood. "I've gotta take a leak, guys. Back in a second." He walked out beyond earshot, and was gone for a minute or so. When he returned, he sat down and began to poke at the fire.

Brom looked at him. "Who are you, and where is Naruto?"

"What do you mean, who am I? I'm Naruto, you simp!"

"Piece of advice, stranger. Naruto's right-handed, so he carries his kunai holster on his right thigh. You're worse than he is at Henge. I'll ask once more, who are you? I suppose I already know your business. You're either infiltrating our team to scout us for an ambush, or you're infiltrating our team to attack us yourself, steal the scroll. Which is it?"

The boy dropped the illusion, and drew a knife. "I'll just kill you now, and take the scroll!" He lunged for Brom, but Sasuke was suddenly in the way, his saber drawn. The boy recoiled, taking note of the saber's reach, and retreated. He threw a handful of kunai back over his shoulder, and was beginning to pick up speed when Brom whipped the spontoon through the air. It hissed like a poisonous snake and pierced the boy's back.

Brom walked over, dragged the boy off into the woods, and proceeded to ask choice questions. "Where are you from? You wear no device to suggest a village affiliation."

"I won't talk, no matter what you threaten to do. I don't fear death."

"Trust me, my friend, you will die today. But if you cooperate with me, that end can come in a swift, peaceful manner. If you refuse, I'll keep you alive as I skin you by inches. So which shall it be?"

"I'm from Hidden Rain."

"Good boy. Now answer a few more questions, and I'll put you out of all our miseries." Ten minutes later, Brom walked out of the bush, strode to Sakura, and asked for two syringes, one filled with a strong sedative, and the other with three times the safe dose of curare.

"What do you want that for?"

"A peaceful and humane end for our interloper. He was the scout for a team from Hidden Rain. They are camped a quarter mile due east of us, and Naruto is currently alive and well, tied and gagged, not four hundred yards that way, beneath a willow tree."

"But the drugs?"

"The wound he suffers is surely fatal, as it punctured the liver and one kidney. It is a miracle that he hasn't bled out by now. The sedative to put him at ease, and then the curare to end his life. I don't enjoy killing, not after I've had to talk with the person I'm to kill, but I will do it. It's a necessary evil." He walked back to the bushes, and granted one last mercy to the dying boy. He went over to the willow indicated, and untied Naruto. When they returned, Brom looked around, and stated, "We need a password, to confirm the identity of our teammates in the event this sort of thing happens again. So listen up, here's the password:"

"Tell me not, (Sweet) I am unkind, that from a nunnery, of they chaste breast and quiet mind, to war and arms I fly. True, a new mistress now I chase, the first foe in the field, and with a stronger faith embrace a sword, a horse, a shield. Yet this inconstancy is such, as thou too shalt adore. I could not love thee (Dear) so much, loved I not honor more."

"It's called To Lucasta, on Going to the Wars, by Richard Lovelace."

Naruto grumbled. "Why'd you have to pick something so hard? Why not 'Swordfish'?"

"Don't complain, Naruto. I've already memorized it," said Sakura.

"Bite me."

Brom slapped his cousin across the head. "Language."

Naruto shut up and began to cook the now-butchered deer. "Medium or well done?"

"Raw," replied Kyu. Naruto threw him the heart and liver. For a little guy, he ate like a hog.

Brom was honing his hunting knife when a sudden wind blew leaves up around them, and the team scattered to avoid them. Brom and Sasuke weathered the brunt of it, but Naruto and Sakura dove off to either side. As the leaves whirled about, Brom could faintly make out a human shape just outside his vision. As the leaves quit blowing, the figure disappeared. Sakura stood up out of the bush she'd landed in. "Wait, Sakura! To Lucasta!"

"Of course! Tell me not, (Sweet) I am unkind, that from a nunnery, of they chaste breast and quiet mind, to war and arms I fly. True, a new mistress now I chase, the first foe in the field, and with a stronger faith embrace, a sword, a horse, a shield. Yet this inconstancy is such, as thou too shalt adore. I could not love thee (Dear) so much, loved I not honor more." She retook her place by Sasuke's side.

Naruto stood grumbling from a brier bush. "What happened?" he asked as he began to walk toward them. Sakura cut him off. "The password! To Lucasta!"

"Right. Tell me not, (Sweet) I am unkind, that from a nunnery, of they chaste breast and quiet mind, to war and arms I fly. True, a new mistress now I chase, the first foe in the field, and with a stronger faith embrace, a sword, a horse, a shield. Yet this inconstancy is such, as thou too shalt adore. I could not love thee (Dear) so much, loved I not honor more." He ducked as Brom and Sasuke both sent kunai blazing past his head. "Why'd you do that?!"

Sakura was in shock, too. "Guys, he got the password right!"

Brom grinned a predatory grin. "And this one's at least good enough to dodge my attacks."

The Naruto vanished, to be replaced by a Grass nin. "What gave me away?"

"I knew all along that you were dropping eaves on our conversation, so I picked a password that the real Naruto could never memorize."

"I see, quiet mind, eh? How fun!" The ninja stood, and held up an earth scroll. "I suppose that you want my team's earth scroll, seeing as how you've already got a heaven. Well, come and get it!" With that, she swallowed the scroll whole. "We fight to the death!"

Brom, Sakura, and Sasuke were rooted to the spot. Each faced a vision of their own death so real as to make them each think that they were really dead. Until Daredevil roared in Brom's head, "SNAP OUT OF IT!!" Brom shook off the illusion and broke Sakura out of it. Sasuke had stabbed his own leg and focused on the pain to snap free. They took off into the trees, all the while scared out of their minds.

Brom spit off from Sasuke and Sakura, and was hiding among the branches trying to think invisible thoughts and formulate a plan when he heard Sakura yell, "Sasuke! Snake!" Brom tore out of the branches in time to see a giant viper lunge at Sasuke, only to be halted by a rain of shuriken. The Grass nin tore loose from the dead serpent's body where he'd been hiding, and laughed at them. "For shame, letting down your guard so! Stay on your toes, as good prey should, and it will make the chase so much more rewarding... for the predator!"

"Devil, any ideas?"

"One, but you won't like it..."

Brom stepped forward to speak, just as the ninja lunged up the tree toward Sasuke. He was stopped by a trio of shuriken from nowhere. "Sorry, guys, but I forgot that stupid password!" yelled Naruto. He disappeared from the limb he was on and reappeared by Brom. "What's the plan? How do we kick this freak's butt?"

"We don't." Brom stood. "You want our heaven scroll, right? Take it and leave." He pulled the scroll and threw it toward the enemy ninja.

It was intercepted mid-flight by Naruto. "What the heck do you think you're doing, Crane! Is this some clever little strategy of yours, to give up all we've got?"

"Stay out of it, Naruto. This guy's way out of our league." He would have said more, but Naruto clocked him.

"I forgot the damned password, so I can't prove it, but this is not my cousin!"

"I'm me, you idiot!"

"Bull! And you're the idiot! And a coward, which Brom isn't by a long shot! I'm not so sure we ought to be scared of this guy, and even if we did hand over the scroll it's no guarantee that he won't still kill us, you dolt! So even if you were the real deal, I'd still be calling you an idiot!"

"And you're right," cooed the Grass nin from above. "Why bargain when I can simply kill you all and take the scroll?" He bit his thumb and swiped it down a tattoo on his left arm. "Art of the Familiar Spirit!" The leaves swirled, and the Grass nin stood atop the head of another giant snake.

Naruto lunged at the snake, calling out to Kyu, who had been in his pocket. The snake swiped him down with his tail and went to eat the fox boy, but Naruto was game. "Eat snot, sucker!" He hit the snake as hard as his fox-chakra strengthened arms would allow. The enemy ninja used a wind jutsu to blow him away, and turned now to Sasuke. But as the snake lunged, his aim deadly, he was stopped by an orange blur. "You alright, fraidy cats?" slurred Naruto. Next to him was an exact double, except that this one had canine eyes, and fangs that would make a vampire jealous. It spoke. "Kitsune Henge: Fox Transformation. Finish this worm, will you?" asked Kyu.

"Gladly." Sasuke ran Inazuma through its head and lunged after the Grass nin, his Sharingan spinning wildly. But the ninja simply dodged away faster than eyes could follow. He reappeared behind Naruto and Kyu.

"My, my, using a forbidden jutsu to separate the Nine-Tailed Fox from his host, and bind him to another body? Most interesting, but the technique, so vulgar and crude!" Little fires of chakra appeared on the tips of each finger. "Gogyo Fuuin: Five Elements Seal!" He slammed each hand into a gut, and both Narutos slumped unconscious. He produced the heaven scroll from Naruto's bag, and burned it.

"Sasuke, Heaven and Hell?" The Uchiha nodded, and they both vanished. The Grass nin rushed toward Sakura, who now stood defenseless.

"Your fight is with us!" yelled Sasuke as he fell from the sky. He'd ascended to the treetops, and then jumped as high as he could. He now returned to earth, lead by Inazuma. The ninja leapt back. "That's the beauty of Heaven and Hell. I come down from Heaven,"

Brom exploded from beneath the ground where he'd been hiding. "And I come up from Hell! Hellfire Style: Black Dragon Missile!" A huge dragon of black fire erupted from Brom's hands, and engulfed the Grass nin. Brom watched as the ninja was burnt to the bones, and collapsed. He heard Sasuke groan, and Sakura scream. He turned in time to see the Grass nin clamped onto Sasuke's neck. Brom looked back at the body only to find a log.

The ninja let go, and spoke. "I look forward to seeing you again. The mark on his neck is a little memento. I do hope you can defeat my three loyal Sound ninja. It would be a shame not have a rematch with you, especially you, Sasuke. I am Orochimaru." And with that, the Grass nin melted back into the forest, and was gone.