*A thank you to sydni for betaing this for me (no really, she's amazing)*


Chapter 8

'Maybe I should've grabbed some paint instead of chalk,' Harry mused. He was still holding said piece of chalk as he looked around. Grass, grass, grass, oh look, more grass. If it weren't for the fact that he wanted to be some place secluded and away from buildings, he would've already relocated.

Harry continued to walking around the forest located behind the Uchiha compound. After a few more minutes, Harry resisted cheering out loud when he finally came across a spot devoid of any grass. Still wishing he purchased the paint, he painstakingly started to draw the circle. If he had full access to his magic, this wouldn't have been necessary in the slightest. However, life always seemed to take great pleasure in throwing him under the bus. Maybe Harry should look into being a pessimist full time.

When the (crude) circle was drawn into the ground, Harry begun to take out the cloak and the elder wand, and placed them both in the middle. He finally then took off the ring, sat down inside the circle, and began to concentrate.

••••••

Sasuke mentally voiced his assent when Naruto muttered that after this, he would never step in another creepy forest again. As it was, they, somehow, haven't run into anyone yet. They did, however, hear the screaming of other groups as who knows what happened to them.

"We really should come up with a plan," Sakura said. Sasuke nodded, and gestured to a seemingly secluded area. They all sat down in a small circle, but no one made any motion to speak. When another scream tore through the area, Sakura jumped and nearly screamed. A moment later, she settled down, but was still noticeably shaking. Naruto gave her a concerned look, but Sakura shook her head. Naruto and Sasuke exchanged a look, but didn't vocalize their thoughts. Sasuke was sure Sakura was ready for this, but if she's panicking now, then they'll be in trouble later.

"I really didn't want to do this," Sakura muttered. Naruto looked at her sympathetically. "I'm a 100% sure that I'm nowhere near ready for this." Sasuke nodded.

"Same here," he said, causing both Naruto and Sakura to stare at him in shock.

"You think you're not ready?" Naruto said. Sakura was still gaping.

"The Land of Waves mission opened my eyes, among other things," Sasuke said, absentmindedly starting to trail a finger through the dirt next to him. "One wrong move could get us killed. Hell, one wrong word to someone could get us killed. Most of the people we're competing against are stronger than us. They've been training longer and have more experience. That doesn't mean, though, that I'm going to give up. My main goal is to just stay alive right now." Sakura gave a nervous laugh.

"I think that's everyone's goal, right now," she said.

"I don't know," Naruto said, "some of those people kinda looked a little unbalanced. Who knows what they would do if they're desperate…"

"Then everyone who is sane and not obsessed with this crazy, almost pointless exam's goal is to stay alive," Sakura amended, causing Naruto to snigger.

"It's not that crazy—" When Sakura narrowed her eyes, Naruto quickly changed his sentence, "not that pointless. It's the only way rank up, you know."

"A less hostile exam is preferable," she said dryly. Sasuke mentally thought that Harry would agree with her.

"How else would they test if we're ready to be chunins?" Sasuke asked. "Without putting us in these kinds of situations and getting through them, how would we show them what we can do?"

"I don't know, maybe some sort of simulated mission done either team wise or individually," Sakura explained. "That way, another person or group from another village won't try to kill you, just the proctors."

"Uh, guys. As much as I'm sure you would love to discuss this," Naruto cut in, "we're kinda in the middle of the Forest of Death with a bunch of things that want to kill us."

"Oh, right. We were supposed to come up with a plan," Sakura said, coming to attention and sitting up straight. "We should probably come up with some code in case we get separated and someone from another team takes advantage of it…" she trailed off when both Naruto and Sasuke stared at her. "Uh sorry, I mean—" Sasuke shook his head.

"No, you're right. That's a really good idea." Sakura blushed.

"I read a book about spies and that's what they did," Sakura said.

"What should be the code?" Naruto asked, looking between them. Sasuke hesitated for a moment, and reached into his pack and pulled out a blank scroll. He paused again, and quickly wrote out a sentence with a small pencil stub. He slowly turned the scroll towards them so they could read it. A moment later, he turned it back towards himself, and wrote out the response, and again turned it towards them. As soon as they nodded in acknowledgement, Sasuke quickly ripped, and burned that part of the scroll.

"It works," Sakura said slowly.

"That sounds like something I should've come up with," Naruto deadpanned. Sasuke shrugged.

"If it works, it works," he said, slightly defensive. Sasuke also mentally added that if it worked for Itachi, then it should work for him. Naruto grabbed the pencil and ripped the scroll from him, and quickly wrote something down. Turning it around, Sasuke and Sakura leaned in to read.

I think we should find a spot to settle, and set up a buttload of traps.

And is someone actually listening in on us, or are you just being a paranoid bastard?

Sasuke sighed, and grabbed the pencil.

Someone is actually near us. Underground in fact.

We should. You'll be in charge of setting up the traps, since you have experience. We should maybe have both false and real ones.

Once Naruto read the note, he started to grin.

"You just read my mind," he said, continuing to grin. Sakura read the note and nodded.

"Sounds good," she said, handing the scroll back to Sasuke. Sasuke ripped that part off, and burned it.

"Time for operation: get that scroll," Naruto announced, standing up.

"How about operation: getting out of here alive and intact," Sakura suggested, dusting herself as she stood up.

"Or operation: move," Sasuke said dryly. As they moved out of the area, Naruto paused.

"Mind if I erase your jewelry design?" Naruto asked, clearly amused. Sasuke blinked, and looked down.

"I didn't realize I drew that," he said. "Erase it." Naruto compiled and used his foot to wipe it away.

"Getting jewelry with your initial on it is really dumb by the way," Naruto added.

"I'm not getting jewelry with my name on it," Sasuke said sharply.

"Then why were you drawing some fancy 'S' thing on the ground?" Naruto said smugly.

"That counts as doodling, and we were busy making a plan, so I wasn't actually paying attention," he hissed back.

"Can you guys argue later?" Sakura said, sounding slightly annoyed. Naruto and Sasuke kept their mouths shut after that. After a few minutes, Naruto stopped at a spot, and grinned.

"Number one," he said softly. Sasuke raised his eyebrows. Did that mean he was intending to make traps in more than one place? "Grab as many branches as you can," he told them, while grabbing his own pack and pulling out wires and… a pack of un-inflated balloons?

"Just branches?" Sakura said, uncertain.

"Just branches," Naruto confirmed. Sasuke and Sakura walked away from Naruto and went to search.

"What could he possibly do with only branches?" Sakura asked. "Distraction maybe, but nothing destructive…"

"I just want to know what he's using balloons for," Sasuke muttered.

"That too." After grabbing as much as they could, they headed back to where Naruto was, who then immediately grabbed it out of their hands, and promptly ordered them to go grab more.

By the time Naruto was satisfied with the traps he made, Sasuke and Sakura had to make a total of four trips to get the all the branches Naruto wanted. If it weren't for the fact that Sasuke was 100% sure that they were still being followed, he would have asked Naruto to explain what he did. From what Sasuke could see, there was wire everywhere within the branches of the higher trees that had to be connected to the branches that he and Sakura brought to him.

"Next," Naruto announced. Already deciding that they should just let Naruto do whatever he wanted at this point, he and Sakura just followed Naruto and did whatever he told them to do or grab.

"I swear he's just doing this on purpose," Sakura grumbled. This time, Naruto wanted logs, and the two of them were delayed when another group (they couldn't see who) went by them. Thankfully, they weren't seen, but they vowed to be more careful.

By the time night fell, they (Naruto) had set up a total of five traps in the five different areas. Naruto wrote that he incorporated both real and false traps, but Sasuke had no way of knowing if he did (or if Naruto actually made traps instead of goofing around), so Sasuke just took his word for it.

"Let's rest here for the night," Sasuke said, settling down in an area where the trees made a natural barrier on three sides. "I'll take the first watch. In a couple of hours, I'll wake you up, Sakura, and then Naruto will guard after you." They both nodded, and within ten minutes, both of them were fast asleep. Shivering, Sasuke kept watch while he distantly sensed the person from earlier still watching them.

••••••

The next morning, after eating quickly and packing their small camp, Naruto immediately demanded to go and check his traps. To Sasuke and Sakura's surprise, they actually did catch and trap a team. Though Sasuke felt slightly guilty that is was another Konoha team. It was a group of older genins that none of them recognized, which lessened the guilt of taking their scroll and leaving them there. Unfortunately for them, it was the same scroll that they had, but Sasuke suggested that they still take it. That way, there was less of a competition for whatever the next part would be, or they could use it to bribe their way out of a situation if worse came to worse.

The other traps turned out empty, but Naruto wasn't too bothered by it. Sasuke still had no idea how he had placed the traps. The one that caught the Konoha group had been all wires with logs and trees anchoring them, and sharpened branches to make spikes placed close to vital points ensuring that they would not be able to escape easily.

Coming to a unanimous decision, they headed towards the center of the forest, close to where the tower was supposed to be. According to Itachi's scroll, some groups usually stayed close to wherever the meeting point of the exam was, to capture and hoard items. They would either try to take them down, or somehow negotiate an exchange.

Sasuke sensed their presence before he heard them, and Naruto must have also sensed them at the same time, because he grabbed onto Sakura and jumped out of the way when the paper bomb landed near them. Even though they managed to get out of the way in time, when it exploded, they were still disoriented. When the smoke cleared, a single person stood in the middle.

"Kusagakure," Sakura said with a gasp. "Was he the one that was─" Sasuke nodded. This was the person that had been following them since they started. Before Sasuke could even think of doing anything, he made eye contact with him and froze. All Sasuke could even think about at that moment was that he and the others were going to die. He dimly noted that someone was trying to say something, but the image of a kunai going straight through his body and killing him overtook his mind. This was it; this person was going to kill them─

BAM!

Clutching his now throbbing head, Sasuke stared at a frightened Naruto.

"Snap out of it!" It took Sasuke a few moments to realize what happened. Straightening up, he ignored the pain, and focused back onto the other shinobi as Naruto tried to snap Sakura out of the genjutsu.

"What do you want?" Sasuke yelled at him, making sure to avoid looking directly at the other shinobi's eyes. The person didn't answer, but he continued to smirk. The moment Naruto managed to bring Sakura back to the present, Sasuke decided that they should run. Making eye contact, Naruto immediately got the message.

"Running away now, are we?" the other shinobi said finally. Seeing that he still hadn't moved, Sasuke took his chance, and indicated to Naruto to start running. They didn't get far, as the moment they moved away from the other shinobi, another paper bomb appeared near them, and Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto separated to protect themselves.

The other shinobi moved, and in an instant, was above Sasuke with his kunai out. Sasuke managed to, just in time, to pull his own out to protect himself. The pressure from his attack, though, drove Sasuke into the ground. Quickly getting to his feet, Sasuke couldn't see where the other shinobi went, but turning around, he immediately jumped sideways to dodge a lunging snake. Looking up, he spotted where the other shinobi had gone. Standing on a branch high up in the tree, he brought his hands together, and quickly pressed the palm onto the branch he was standing on, and right behind him, popping into existence was the biggest snake Sasuke ever laid eyes on. Once again immobile due to shock, Naruto had to snap him back and dragged him away before the snake crashed down in the spot where Sasuke had been.

"Seriously, you're the one that's dragging us down right now," Naruto said. Sasuke shook himself. "Please tell me you're not going to freeze on us?" Sasuke shook his head.

"I was badly caught off guard," he said quickly. "Since it's obvious he's after me, you and Sakura get out of here, and─" Naruto grabbed the collar of his shirt.

"Finish that sentence, and I will punch the daylights out of you─ Snake!" They were once again forced to separate when the giant snake barreled towards them. Expecting the guy to come after him, Sasuke was surprised when the shinobi changed tracked and went straight for Naruto.

Furious at himself for how useless he had been so far, he quickly shot out a fireball at the snake to distract it. It seemed to have worked, so Sasuke made a beeline move towards the area where Naruto and the other shinobi had been. At the last minute, the snake regained its sense and went to lunge at Sasuke again, but this time, a kunai with a paper bomb attached to it went into its side and exploded. Sending Sakura a grateful smile, Sasuke continued to search for Naruto.

Spotting Naruto on the ground, he immediately landed next to him and saw that he was unconscious. Grabbing his water bottle, he splashed Naruto's face, hoping that it would wake him up. When there was no change, Sasuke gave up for the moment to find the other shinobi. Hoping that Sakura, somehow, had the snake situation under control, Sasuke jumped backed into the trees, and kept his senses on high alert.

Spotting him hidden among the trees, Sasuke grabbed a bunch of kunais and a spool of wire, and quickly tied them at the end of the kunais. Activating his sharingan, Sasuke took a few moments to judge the other shinobi's position and the area around him before he threw the kunais and manipulated them enough to wrap around the other shinobi and the trunk of the tree, trapping him there. Without hesitating, Sasuke, recalling the technique from Itachi's scroll, quickly shot a small, but strong stream of fire along the wire, which quickly raced towards and engulfed the other shinobi. Seeing no way that he could escape, Sasuke relaxed. Loosening his grip on the wires, however, was a mistake.

Sasuke jumped back and landed on the branch of another tree, when the other shinobi escaped from his bonds. Sasuke's eye widened when he took in the sight of the other shinobi. His face looked like the skin had melted off. The other shinobi just reached up and pulled the rest of the skin off like it was nothing, revealing a different face. Sasuke's eyes widened as he took in his pale, snakelike face that was currently smirking. Now having trouble breathing (even though he had no idea why he felt so much fear by just looking at his face), Sasuke was beginning to panic.

"You really do have a lot to learn, Sasuke," the man said. Sasuke tried to force himself to move, but to no avail. "You're nothing like Itachi," Sasuke stared at him in shock, "but I suppose you'll have to do for the time being." Sasuke had no idea what he meant, but he knew it wasn't good. Sasuke was close to hyperventilating. This guy wanted him for something, something bad. The familiar suffocating feeling that he had felt back when they were fighting Zabuza was back. He had to get away. He couldn't just sit here. The man began to open his mouth. Sasuke had to move. The man's neck began to stretch. He had to move. The man's neck became more elongated, and stretched impossibly. He had to move. Facing Sasuke, the head suddenly moved towards him. He had to… Just when the head was close enough for Sasuke to feel its breath, Sasuke shut his eyes─ Move!

In a single moment, exactly like how it had been back at the bridge, Sasuke's insides felt squished, and he couldn't breathe. That feeling only lasted for a second. When Sasuke took a deep breath, he reached out to the nearest object to hold himself steady, while fighting down the urge to vomit. Opening his eyes, he was relieved to see that the other shinobi wasn't right in front of him anymore. Scanning the area around him, Sasuke spotted him a good distance away. He was back to normal, and was staring at Sasuke in shock. His shock then turned into anger, and Sasuke knew whatever fluke that just happened won't happen again. Still disoriented, he grabbed out a kunai, and held it out in front of himself just as the other shinobi moved.

BOOM!

Sasuke was thrown back, and for the second time, the world around him spun a little. Giving up trying to steady himself, he clung to the tree to wait out the blast. Seconds turned into minutes, and by the time Sasuke straightened up, it had been nearly five minutes. One explosion had, apparently, triggered a whole chain of them, and the other shinobi had been right in the middle of it. Sasuke had been far enough away that he hadn't been caught in the direct explosion, but when he stood up, a sharp pain in his arm told him that he didn't escape unscathed.

"Sasuke-kun!"

"Oi! Sasuke!" Sakura and Naruto! As quickly as he could, Sasuke got down the tree, and saw Sakura and Naruto (the latter leaning heavily on Sakura) waving at him. Besides a few bruises and scratches, they looked to be physically fine.

"What happened to that snake?" he asked Sakura.

"I managed to stop it with enough bombs," Sakura said, "but just a few moments ago, it disappeared. Since it was a summon, it must have disappeared when that guy left." Sasuke looked above them, but he could neither see nor sense the other shinobi anymore. He turned to Naruto.

"What did he do to you? I couldn't wake you up." Naruto shrugged.

"I have no idea," he replied. "I just remembered that he hit me in the stomach. I tried to turn so it wasn't a complete hit, but I still passed out somehow. The next thing I remembered was Sakura hitting me." Sasuke looked at Sakura who blushed.

"It worked," she mumbled.

"Can you walk?" Sasuke asked Naruto.

"Kinda..." Sakura spotted his arm.

"Your arm is broken!"

"The explosion was loud, so we have to move before someone comes here," Sasuke said.

"But your arm!" Naruto looked concerned as well.

"That needs to be taken care of first," he said.

"That can be done later," Sasuke said through gritted teeth.

Sasuke, with his uninjured arm, grabbed one of Naruto's arm, and Sakura grabbed the other, and they slowly moved out of the area. "Do you guys even know what triggered that explosion?"

"Uh..." Sasuke stared at Naruto who looked both sheepish and guilty.

"We were lucky that guy confronted us here," Naruto said. It took Sasuke a moment to put it together.

"You set up traps here?" Naruto grinned. "We were never here!"

"While you guys were off getting me stuff, I made some detours just in case. Sasuke, you were the one that always told me to be prepared."

"Naruto…" Sakura said slowly. Naruto turned towards her, grinning. One look at her expression and a look of fear crossed his face. "Did you purposefully send us to grab all that stuff for no reason?"

"B-But it helped. If I never did any of that, then we never would have gotten that creep away," Naruto said quickly.

"He has a point," Sasuke added when Naruto shot him a pleading look. Sakura stopped glaring, but she still looked annoyed.

"Where did you even get that many paper bombs?" she asked.

"I splurged all my money on them, but now I have absolutely none left."

"After this, I swear I'll buy all the paper bombs you want," Sasuke said seriously.

"Same here," Sakura said, smiling a little. They walked for a bit more, before Sasuke spotted an area similarly guarded by trees like where they had made camp the night before.

"We still need to hunt down an Earth scroll—" Sakura cleared her throat. Sasuke and Naruto stared at her as she reached into her pack. They both gaped at her as she pulled out a slightly burnt Earth scroll.

"How did you get that?!"

"During the explosion, I saw it fly out," Sakura explained. "That guy must have had it, since he was so close to the explosion…"

"I could kiss you—"

"Don't," Sakura said shortly. Naruto continued to grin.

"We should head to the tower then," Sasuke said. "The longer we stay here, the more of a chance someone will come by to attack us."

"But you two need to rest," Sakura protested. Naruto shook his head.

"No, he's right. We should go," he said.

"Besides, if we wrap my arm, I'll be good for a bit," Sasuke said. Sakura and Naruto both stared at him.

"Yeah… right…" Sakura slowly massaged her temple.

"Boys…"

••••••

Despite the exhaustion that Harry felt, he couldn't help but grin widely. When he felt tears prickling the corner of his eyes, he didn't bother being subtle about wiping them away.

"It's been awhile," Harry said softly to them smiling face of Hermione Granger.


I know a lot of people have been reviewing about wtf is going on, and I just want to sorry that I can't really say much without spoiling stuff... However, since many people are confused, I've dedicated the next chapter to what's going on (kinda)... that way, some questions /may/ be answered, and more questions will be created (maybe...) Either way, I'll post that chapter either next week or the week after

Thank you so much for your reviews guys ^_^ (I know I barely reply to anything because I'm either so busy or just mentally exhausted, and by the time I do get time, it's been a long time, that replying becomes awkward . Just know that I read each and every review, and appreciate/squeal at each one (They really do help lift my mood whenever I'm down (like right now... I feel sick, and I badly f*** up some school assignments TT_TT))