The Second Exam: Survival of the Fittest…

Mayonaka awoke that morning with a pounding headache. Her shoulder ached as well from her previously broken collarbone. She got ready for the day and headed off to training ground 44 where the second exam was to take place. Oddly enough, Naruto and Sasuke were already there when she arrived. "Since when did you two become early birds?"

"Since you've made a habit of wandering off on your own."

"Sasuke, do you honestly believe there's someone out there who can handle me when I'm pissed off? Puh-lease!"

"Mayonaka, the competition for the chuunin exams is tough. Especially that Gaara kid. You should be careful."

"And how do you know how tough the competition is? You haven't seen any of their moves yet. All we've done so far is take some lame test."

"Had you not wandered off before that test, you would've known this too. We got the information from Kabuto."

"Who's—" Mayonaka couldn't finish what she was going to ask because Anko had arrived. She explained the task at hand while collecting the signed consent forms. Each squad would be given either a heaven or an earth scroll. The objective was to get a different scroll from an opposing squad and get to the tower in the center of the training ground. They would have five days in the training ground, otherwise known as the Forest of Death. The genin were given one last bit of advice before heading off to their designated gates to enter the training ground; to not die.

Mayonaka peered through the chain link fence at the place she would be spending the next five days in. She thought "the Forest of Death" was an appropriate nickname as a ten foot long centipede crawled across a massive tree trunk on the other side of the fence. She wondered how such a small, weak fence kept in all the strange creatures that lay beyond. She didn't think people would need anything to keep them out unless they were insane; it looked terrifying.

A buzzer sounded and team 7's gate slid open as they bounded into the forest. Mayonaka had a feeling that being trapped in this area for five whole days with Naruto and Sasuke on the verge of her period would be pure hell. All three leapt through the trees keeping an eye out for other teams and for a safe-ish spot to make a sort of base. Mayonaka got a plan and jumped down into a clearing to tell Sasuke and Naruto who had followed her.

"Hey! Why are we stopping Mayo-chan? Shouldn't we be looking for other teams?"

"It's called strategy Naruto. I've got a plan. I say, I establish telepathic contact here, and we split up. I can keep contact for about ten miles away. If we split up, we've got a better chance at finding A. a team with a heaven scroll since we've got earth or B. a safe spot to set up base. If one of us finds one of those two things, I'll tell the other and we'll go after them. It's simple enough really."

Sasuke got a thoughtful expression and began to nod his head slowly. Naruto seemed to be trying to make sense of what Mayonaka had said. Naruto had gotten too excited for the second exam to think clearly. It was almost as if he had ADHD or something. Sasuke finally encountered a flaw in the plan. "What happens if we don't find anything by sundown? And who's gonna take care of the scroll?"

Mayonaka already had a solution. "If we don't find anything by sundown, we get back together and keep searching. I'll take the scroll because, no offense, but I'm the most capable of hiding it." Sasuke shrugged and tossed her the scroll. It was just small enough to fit down her shirt unnoticed but big enough that it wouldn't fall out. Both Naruto and Sasuke blushed and looked away as she stuffed it down her shirt.

Mayonaka smirked as she made telepathic contact to say one last thing before leaping into the trees, 'You two seriously need to get over the fact that you've got a girl on your team.'


It was about noon and no one had found anything yet. Mayonaka had already stopped to eat lunch. Naruto still wasn't finished and Sasuke was just stopping now. Every minute or so, Mayonaka urged Naruto to hurry up. Naruto just sort of grunted and continued eating. Mayonaka figured that if he didn't hurry up soon, she'd go over and make him hurry up.

Suddenly, Mayonaka smelled a strong bloodlust in the air. She started over in the direction of the smell and hoped to God it was coming from people and not some weird animal. As she got closer, she felt the kind of thick tension in the air that one feels before a fight. Mayonaka got only a few yards away and leapt behind a nearby bush, scaring Kiba, Hinata and Shino half to death.

"Geez Mayonaka! What'd you do that for?! I nearly had a heart attack!"

"Sorry Kiba. What's going on here?" Mayonaka looked over the top of the bush and gasped. In the middle of the clearing was Gaara's team and they were facing an opposing squad. Mayonaka listened in on what Kankurou was saying.

"Listen, Gaara, they have the same scroll as us. See?"

"It doesn't matter. He looked at me the wrong way. He's going to die."

Mayonaka's face went pale. He really was a cold-blooded killer.

"Mayo-chan. Mayo-chan! Mayonaka!"

"Huh? What?" Kiba had been trying to get her attention while she was staring at Gaara. As she turned around, she found him in a fighting stance with a kunai in his hand. Shino and Hinata were also in fighting stances.

"Mayonaka…I don't want to attack you but if you have the scroll we need I will."

Mayonaka sighed in relief. She had already checked their thoughts and found that they also had an earth scroll. "Don't worry, we both have earth scrolls." The other team relaxed slightly and went back to watching the impending fight. Mayonaka finally noticed that Akamaru was trembling with fear inside Kiba's jacket. "Kiba, what's wrong with Akamaru? He doesn't get that scared easily."

Kiba looked down at the shaking pup and began stroking his head worriedly. "He can smell the strength of other ninja. He says that the redhead there has unimaginable and terrifying power. It's really freaking him out." Mayonaka looked back over the bush and saw a shower of senbon needles plummeting towards Gaara from one of those black umbrellas before a barrier of sand blocked them. Gaara didn't even move a muscle and neither did his siblings. Mayonaka wondered what was going on behind those cold eyes of his.

Suddenly, Akamaru whined as some of Gaara's sand shot out and coated the ninja who had thrown the needles. Mayonaka recognized the move from Gaara's memories. Her face went pale as she realized what was about to happen. Gaara lifted the ninja into the air while his comrades watched in horror on the ground; they knew their teammate was about to die. Waves of sheer terror were rolling off of Mayonaka's friends as they watched from behind the bush. Gaara picked up the umbrella from before and held it over his head as if it were raining. Mayonaka closed her eyes and turned away just as Gaara clenched his fist in front of him and the sand imploded, crushing the ninja leaving nothing but bloodstained sand.

Mayonaka and her friends sat down with their backs to the bush. Mayonaka tried to control her violent shaking as she stared at the looks of horror on her friends' faces. Gaara told the ninja's teammates that they needn't worry, he had used more force than necessary and the ninja had died without pain. Mayonaka peered over the bush again to see if Gaara's expression had changed into a smirk since he was mocking someone. She was surprised to find that it hadn't changed at all; he was completely serious! 'I hate to admit it, but this kid is messed up! He just killed someone for looking at him wrong, then told his friends not to worry like nothing bad had happened! What the hell am I going to do with him?!'

Suddenly, Gaara moved his arm so that his palm was facing the four Konoha genin. They ducked back down behind the bush, afraid that Gaara had seen them and praying to God he hadn't. Mayonaka took the risk of venturing into his mind to see if he really had seen them or not. When she made contact, she expected screaming as usual. Mayonaka had finally realized the screaming was Shukaku from Gaara's memories. What she didn't' expect at all was Shukaku purring! It seemed pleased by the innocent blood spilled.

Mayonaka was disturbed and slightly disgusted until she realized that she and her demon used to be exactly the same way before she had gotten control over her bloodlust. Since Shukaku was remaining so calm, Mayonaka could hear Gaara's thoughts much more clearly. He didn't appear to have seen them and Mayonaka visibly relaxed. The problem was, his team had a heaven scroll. Mayonaka tensed up again and broke contact just before a large cork soared over her head, carried by sand.

'What the hell?' Mayonaka peered through the bush instead of over it this time knowing the chances of one of the other ninja seeing her had raised considerably. The cork soared over towards Gaara and wedged itself in the opening in his gourd. She relaxed slightly as she turned around again. She suddenly realized she had forgotten to breathe and let out the held breath as she examined the faces of her friends.

They were in shock. She gave them each a little shake to get them out of their trances. "You guys should go on ahead. Don't worry about me. I'll be fine. You all need to get heaven scrolls anyway." Kiba began to protest until Mayonaka silenced him with her signature death glare. He didn't seem all that willing to leave her until she really convinced him she'd be fine. "Kiba, I can take care of myself. You know that. Everyone in Konoha knows that. If I do get into trouble, I can call on Naruto and Sasuke and they'll be by my side in an instant. Now you guys need to get out of here. I wouldn't be willing to fight these guys, and that's saying something." Kiba nodded and disappeared into the darkness of the forest with the rest of his team.

Suddenly the panicked sound of Naruto's thoughts interrupted her own. 'Mayonaka! Come quick! Get Sasuke too!' She instantly pinpointed his location and locked on. Before she did anything else she made sure Sasuke was coming.

'Sasuke! Naruto's in trouble! He's about two miles northeast of where you are now. Hurry; he sounded panicky.' Sasuke started towards Naruto without responding. Mayonaka suddenly realized she would have to go through the large clearing if she wanted to get to Naruto very quickly at all. Gaara's team had not yet left and she didn't think waiting for them would be a good idea.

Mayonaka took a breath, sprouted her wings and with one giant flap, she was in the air. She flew not far about the heads of the ninja in the clearing. She had just about gotten back into the trees when something grabbed her ankle. She turned around mid-flight and hissed like an angry reptile. She looked back and saw sand covering her foot and ankle and slowly beginning to creep up her calf. She looked at Gaara who was giving her a death glare that could rival even hers. He was obviously still pissed off about that guy looking at him wrong and just wanted to kill something else.

She glared right back at him as she began to get pissed off as well. She wanted to say, "You bastard," but when she opened her mouth, all that came out was another angry hiss. The grip of the sand tightened around her leg when Kankurou asked, "What scroll do you have?" Mayonaka took a deep breath and felt the roiling heat well up insinde her lungs. She managed to get out, "Earth you bastard! Now go piss off!" before a stream of blue fire erupted from her mouth. The foliage around the clearing began to smoke as the water evaporated from the leaves and the grass turned from green to black in an instant. Kankurou and Temari each took a step back out of surprise but Gaara remained firmly planted where he was.

Mayonaka felt a sudden crushing pain in her foot and ankle and as her leg flinched back, she realized the sand no longer had a grip on her. She cut off the stream of fire even though she could have sustained it longer. As she turned around again and began slipping between the higher up branches on the trees, she made sure that Gaara, Temari, and Kankurou could see her middle finger stuck high up in the air in their direction.

Mayonaka looked down at the bloody stump that was left of her right ankle as she flew away and let out a heavy sigh. "God damn it! Those shoes were brand new too." She let out another exasperated sigh as her gekai set to work on regenerating her foot. She thought it best if she told Sasuke and Naruto she was on her way; Sasuke was bound to have caught up with Naruto by now. 'Sorry I'm taking so long guys. I got tied up with something and I'll be there in a minute or two.' Neither of them responded and Mayonaka could tell they were about to battle something. The beat of her wings quickened.


"Shit! God damn you Naruto! You always get us into trouble!" Mayonaka had just arrived at the clearing where Naruto was. Her foot had completely healed and she had kicked off her other shoe knowing it would have eventually gotten on her nerves. Right now she was facing a female Grass country ninja who somehow knew the jounin level technique of blocking out telepaths. The reason Mayonaka was facing this ninja was because Naruto had seen that she had a heaven scroll and attacked. He had bitten off more than he could chew.

"I'm sorry Mayonaka! She had a heaven scroll!"

"God damn it Naruto! Haven't we told you over and over to evaluate the strength of your opponent before blindly leaping into battle?!"

"Guys! Shut up! We have more pressing matters at the moment!" Mayonaka looked back over at the ninja and saw that Sasuke was right; she was poised like a snake ready to attack. 'Fuck! I just know this won't end well.'

Curse Mark…

They had been engaged in heated battle for hours now. The sun was beginning to set, Naruto had disappeared after the attack of a giant snake, Mayonaka was pinned to a tree for the time being by several kunai knives, and Sasuke was beginning to think about running away. This ninja was not normal. This exam was for genin who wanted to become chuunin, but this chick was above way above even ANBU level!

Mayonaka had lost contact with Naruto when the snake attacked him. She was scanning the whole forest but she couldn't find him anywhere. She knew he wouldn't give up that easily, but she feared for the worst. The only reason she couldn't make contack with someone was if they were dead. She finally found him a couple of miles away.

'Naruto, where the fuck are you god damn it?! We need help now!'

'I'm sorry! I got swallowed by a snake!'

Mayonaka couldn't help but think of the phrase "the dog ate my homework." 'Well, I haven't heard that one before, but it's still not much of an excuse. Use an explosive seal or something. Just hurry!'

Mayonaka broke contact and began trying to free herself from the kunai knives. She was just about to free herself, not five minutes later, when Naruto finally showed up. Mayonaka began mumbling to herself the way she always did when she got frustrated. "It's about fucking time. The bastard sure as hell took long enough." As she pulled the last kunai from her skin, she dropped about ten feet and landed on a branch below. Up above, the Grass ninja had summoned another monstrously oversized snake. 'What is with this woman and snakes?'

The snake was about to strike Sasuke when Naruto jumped in the way, obviously pissed that the thought of running away had even crossed Sasuke's mind for a moment. Naruto didn't need mind reading to tell; it was written all over Sasuke's face. Mayonaka was surprised Naruto had been able to stop the snake on his own, that is, she was surprised until she took a closer look at him. The whisker-like lines on his face were etched deeper into the skin. His irises were a bright red while the pupils had formed into thin slits. And his already bristly hair began to look a lot more like straw than hair because of how much it bristled. The Kyuubi was beginning to take over.

Suddenly, the Grass ninja lashed out with…her tongue?! 'Holy shit! What the fuck is this woman?! Her tongue is like…forty feet long!' She wrapped her tongue around Naruto's waist and slammed him into a tree knocking him unconscious. She then held his limp body in the air before hers. She lifted his jacket and shirt with her tongue to reveal the 4th Hokage's seal around his navel. She then created a new seal on top of that one and tossed Naruto aside.

Mayonaka leapt down through the trees to catch Naruto before he hit the ground or a branch. He had screamed in pain when the tongue-lady had put the second seal on him, but he hadn't awoken. 'Damn it Naruto! If we live through this, I'm going to kill you and eat your liver!' Mayonaka felt the heat of one of the Uchiha's signature fire-style jutsus when she finally caught Naruto; Sasuke was fighting on his own. 'Shit! We can't get separated!'

Mayonaka slung Naruto over her shoulder and leapt through the trees back towards Sasuke. She returned just in time to see the Grass ninja stretch out her neck and bite Saskuke right above his left shoulder. 'Great! Now instead of just tongue and snakes, she's a tongue, snake, vampire, lady, thing! What the hell?!' Sasuke shrieked in pain and Mayonaka leapt over in time to catch him on her other shoulder when he collapsed, unconscious. A strange bruise-like mark that looked oddly like a 666 formed on Sasuke's shoulder near the sit of the bite.

Mayonaka looked back over in the direction of the Grass ninja but she had already disappeared. Carved on the tree where she had stood was the message, "My name is Orochimaru and he will seek me out in his quest for power." Mayonaka looked back at the still unconscious Naruto, let out an exasperated sigh, and shook her head.

"Naruto, you are so dead when you wake up." Mayonaka bounded through the trees towards the original clearing the team had found. She found a spot in between several trees where she could see the whole clearing and there was still room to take care of the two boys. Mayonaka set up camp and prepared to keep watch over the wounded ninja.