This chapter have been edited by Frouade! All the credits of the better grammar and spelling were given to him!


Chapter 8. Test for Backup Team!


"So... Let's start the introduction properly, my name is Genma Shiranui. I like pumpkin broth and hate spinach. My hobby is traveling. My goal for the future... Hmm, for now, I think I want to see how you two will be in the future if you'll pass my test. Don't worry, you will know about me more in future if we will be working together..." Genma said with a smirk.

Yakumo, Genma and I sat on the top of Hokage Tower. After brief explanation about Backup Team, we were allowed to go.

Let me tell you about Backup Team.

The Backup Team is a special team that always accompanies team just in case if they will need urgent help. During Great Shinobi War there were many teams that died due to ambush and or the mission proved to be far more dangerous than they originally thought.

Having so many people died during the war made Konoha learn and they formed special team, the team they called Backup Team.

While it is true that a normal squad could be called as Backup Team too, people in a real Backup Team are different.

Their number is small, usually only two or three people, but they had their own special skill. The Backup Team normally is a team that covers what squad didn't have, for example if the squad lacks Medic Nin the Backup Team which was sent with them will have Medic Nin for them. Or, if the team needs some special tools for their mission, the Backup Team will be sent to bring the required tools.

The reason of the small number is that Backup Team must move quickly, they can't have anything to delay them due to their role as a backup.

The team was disbanded after Shinobi war because this team was practically not needed thanks to us entering the peace state, and the lack of candidates too. Backup team does not always act together, for example, Genma could be in the middle of mission when Backup Team is needed thus the rest of the team will be gone without the leader.

Backup Team members mostly are more advanced than their normal Shinobi class, if it Chunin it will be quite advanced Chunin entering the Backup Team, which in this case is Genin and the person is me. But why is Yakumo with me?

Simply put, that old man wants me to create new bonds.

He knew that if I would be separated from my friends it could become one of the reasons I would go rogue later, so he gave me a new friend, a clan heiress, in fact.

He also knew that I am a person who is interested in special or unusual people, Yakumo Kurama who possesses special Genjutsu is clearly fits the category. Hiruzen is aware that I am silently interested with clan heirs, who are different from other students, but he also knows the person must have interesting life or history.

He is informed that all people close to me: Naruto, Sasuke, Shino and Hinata actually had quite some hard moments in their childhood. And, while I am close to Rookie 9, I am not that close, not to the extent like with the last four.

Naruto with his status as Jinchuuriki, Sasuke with the Uchiha Massacre, Hinata with her father harsh nature and Shino, who seems to be too mature for his own age and is also quite lone boy.

That man is good... As expected from the Professor and Third Kami no Shinobi. If he will get to know I came from a different World he will realize that I was silently manipulating them, thankfully, he does not know.

And among all other children who possess harsh treatment, Yakumo Kurama is one of them. I had no doubt Hiruzen knew I will make bond with Yakumo and probably will teach the girl too. And added Yakumo status as not experienced one due to her isolation, he clearly wants me to teach her just like what I did to Naruto and everyone.

"My name is Yakumo Kurama. I like to train to become better at my skills. What I dislike is someone who gives false hope. My hobby is painting and gardening and my dream..." Yakumo paused as she seemed to have a hard time to speak and I was not surprised, if I recall she wished to become ninja and now she already became one, so she must settle for new dream "I guess... I want to become great Genjutsu user and prove someone that he/she is wrong!" She said in slightly cold manner.

Genma gave a nod, but I could tell he raised one of his eyebrows, I had no doubts, he knew who the person is, even I knew, thanks to watching the anime. He and Yakumo turned to me and were waiting for me to start, I gave them a polite smile.

"My name is Haru, I like to spend time with my friends and train until I can't go on again. I dislike morons who love to exaggerate something. Hobby? Cooking and finding interesting things, I guess. As for my goal..." Image of Rinnegan flashed in my mind at the moment when I thought of my goal "Well... I think you all will find it out later. I don't have any goal in particular other than serving my village now." I finished while adjusting my forehead protector.

"Alright, now we all have proper introduction. Let's talk about the test..." Genma said and Yakumo blinked.

"Test?"

"You heard what Hokage-sama said before, right? When Haru entered the office." Genma answered her question with question.

"Yes, sharp as always, Haru-kun... And before I begin, please get known with these two who will be your team if you pass."

"B-But I thought it only for Haru-san here!" Yakumo voice became high as if she was shocked by the news.

"It does not work like that, Ojou-san." Genma smirked "Backup team is something important, you can't just be accepted into the team after passing academy test. There is the reason it was quite special, ya know." He stated with chuckle "If you'll pass the test, you'll become team. If you won't, you will go back to the academy and wait for another exam to get your new Jonin teacher..."

Yakumo gulped and she seemed to clench her fist quite hard, I only put impassive face and stared at Genma.

"Alright, here is the test." Genma clapped his hands to add the effect "As Backup Team, you are needed to come to aid the team that requests backup as soon as possible. And let me get the scenario..." He then take breath while staring at us "Now this is the scenario, you two will deliver something to certain place with limited time and the item must remain intact and safe. The first one to finish will pass and the last one will go back to the academy, simple as that."

Yakumo eyes widened while I still remained impassive and I could tell she took glance at me for a moment before looking back at Genma, who was only smirking at us.

"Is there any question?" He asked us and we only shook our head, it was quite clear after all, "Well then, gather around Training Ground 44 tomorrow at 08:00AM!"

At that my eyes widened in surprise. Training Ground 44?! That was the Forest of the Death, one of forbidden training grounds! Only Chunin or higher Shinobi could train in there! What the heck this guy or Hiruzen thinks?! Placing just recently graduated academy students there?!

Okay, I admit it won't be problem for me and in fact I will like it thanks to challenge! But Yakumo is something else! And I knew this test is clearly about teamwork, but there is another training ground that could work for us! Something like that is-

Oh, you manipulative old monkey! Not bad, Hiruzen! Not bad! As expected from Hokage and the Professor, you are smart and really sly. No wonder, Danzo fears you and even he always uses dirty way he still can't surpass you.

"Well! See you tomorrow, remember sharp 08:00AM, and bring backpack with you so you can carry the object I will give you!" Genma said before he was gone in Shunshin no Jutsu (Body Flicker Technique).

Silence appeared as soon as he left. Yakumo and I did not speak to each other neither we were taking glance to each other.

"I will take my leave then, Haru-san..." Yakumo started and broke the silence as she stood and brushed away the dust on her kimono and pants "May the best Ninja candidate win." She said before she jumped away at one of the fences at the roof and left.

I only sighed while rubbing my temple.

That damn only monkey... He wishes to see my full power... He knew Yakumo won't be able to finish this test alone, but he is sure I can. He is sure I already can protect the object for this test by myself, but he wants to see if I am capable of doing it while also protecting and working with Yakumo at the same time.

"That old man..." I muttered before smirk appeared on my face "But it's okay... I always accept challenge... This could show me how strong I really am..." I said with a glee in my voice.


Later in Uchiha Estate.

"Backup Team?" Naruto asked aloud and I nodded.

"Yep..." I said "What about you two?" I asked him and Sasuke.

"Me, and Dobe are in the same team apparently..." Sasuke said with a nod "But the third member is... Sakura Haruno..." His grimace was very obvious and Naruto snorted while I blinked.

Ah yes, thanks to Hinata and everyone, Naruto's crush on Sakura came to an end, seriously, watching Naruto get pummelled from movie is amusing, but in reality it is annoying. I don't like how Sakura treats him and keeps looking down at him while in reality she is more useless than him.

But still... To think nothing changed... Well, I guess, it is very logical indeed. If Sandaime placed Hinata, that would put Shino in awkward situation.

Shino and Kiba relationship clearly works like Naruto and him, but Naruto is more patient seeing he already spent a long time with him. Kiba, meanwhile, is another thing and he is also quite cocky and wants to show off, if we add Sakura, with temper there, it will be chaos.

However, if we add Hinata, who can work as peacemaker, I think it will be a very good for the team. Not to mention, it will make them a solid tracking team.

But what makes me surprised is the disdain in Sasuke's voice. The level is quite high, it appears he dislikes Sakura so much. What happened? If I recall in episode 3 the only thing happened is...

Ah...

So Sakura made snide comment about Naruto being orphan and annoying, eh? Wow, I never thought she will do that, as far as I know, Naruto never bothered her anymore.

But still... Sasuke is quite protective towards his friends and he already accepted Naruto as one even if he won't voice it aloud. And Sakura just made comment about that... Well, I hope she won't do that again.

"And your teacher is..?" I asked.

"Kakashi Hatake..." Naruto said with a scowl "Dunno about him, but that guy is practically asshole! I mean, he comes three hours later and what is his reason?! A black cat crossed his path so he had to take another route!" He yelled with annoyance clear in his voice and Sasuke also scowled, indicating he is also annoyed by Kakashi's antic.

"Well... That's certainly interesting..." I said while rubbing my chin and put thoughtful face.

""Yours is more interesting..."" Naruto and Sasuke said in unison and in a flat tone "How about you tell us about yours?" Naruto demanded.

"Dobe is right. This is the first time I heard about Backup Team, why don't you tell us about it?" Sasuke asked and I chuckled.

Then I began to tell them about Backup Team according to what Hiruzen explained.

"So... It is like some supporting team, eh?" Naruto asked after hearing while rubbing his chin.

"Yep, the team that acts like reinforcement in case something happen. As you can see, there are times, as example, when client is hiding something from you all and the difficulty of the mission increased, if that happens Backup Team will be ordered to aid you all, either to ensure you to go back from the mission or to continue it."

"Continue it?" Sasuke asked and scowled slightly "How could it be? I mean if the mission's difficulty is too high, then Hokage is clearly going to pull us and abort the mission."

"That is what normally happens... However, there is a chance you may already be too deep. And if that happens, you won't be allowed to cancel the mission and have to succeed it in order to save yourself or prevent a war." I stated seriously, there were such missions after all. I recall I had read it in history.

"Ueeh, war?" Naruto gulped and I nodded.

"Yep... That's how serious becoming ninja is and trust me. You don't want to see it..." I muttered "Anyway, you all will have a test tomorrow, right?"

"Ah, right!" Naruto nodded his head "We will have a test, something about becoming real Genin." He said.

"It will be at 5:00AM tomorrow..." Sasuke continued "He suggests we shouldn't have breakfast so we won't puke."

"Have breakfast..." I stated immediately "He only said, right? It is not a requirement, so you all must have one."

"But he said-"

"Naruto, breakfast is very important. You will need energy in the morning and if you are hungry you won't be able to perform the test with your full ability." I lectured and Naruto put understanding look.

"Hmph, typical Dobe." Sasuke snickered.

"You are the one to talk. You also planned to skip a breakfast, aren't you?" I deadpanned to him and the pink hue that adorns his face from embarrassment is exactly what I need to know. Naruto only snickered back at him "Well, I will make extra food tonight, so you can heat it tomorrow."

Both boys nodded while muttering "thank you". I only smiled at them, well, they will be fine. There is no guarantee they will fail, Naruto and Sasuke must know the meaning of Bell Test since they are close. And while Sasuke is going to dismiss Sakura, I am sure Naruto won't. That boy is kind and good person like in the anime.

Well, now I better be worried about my own test. Yakumo is very talented in Genjutsu because at that time the demon inside her agreed to work with her. What will happen to the demon now is unknown and I am sure the resulting Yakumo's power will be slightly decreased.

I stared at outside through the window and noted it is not even afternoon. Well, I still have time to gather what I need for tomorrow.

"You still did not tell us about who is your teammate." Sasuke pointed.

"Ah, some girl named Yakumo Kurama..."

Naruto and Sasuke blinked at that, as if they were just hearing some news.

"Only one? You team up with the girl alone save for your instructor?" Sasuke asked and I nodded.

"Yep." I said and they turned to each other with a strange look. What's going on? What about me being alone with a girl is so strange?

After a moment they nodded, and Naruto spoke in solemn tone as if he just received grave news.

"Hinata shouldn't know about this." He said and I sweatdropped.

So it is about that...


Next day, 09:00AM at Training Ground 44.

"Are you two ones that Genma tests?"

Standing in front of me and Yakumo are two ninja whom I immediately recognize. If I recall their names are Izumo and Kotetsu. And behind them is the Forest of the Death and let me tell you, this forest size is abnormal!

I had gone through a jungle and wilderness in my previous life, Amazon or Kalimantan forests even, but trees there are nothing compared to this! The tree was very huuuge!

"Yes." I answered and Yakumo on my side nodded.

"Well then good luck kids. It's been a while since we saw Backup Team." Izumo said with a smirk.

"Yeah, there is reason why it's disbanded, you know. And the test was here of all things." Kotetsu added and the last part he said with a whispery tone "Anyway, look at here…" He pulled out some paper and expanded it to reveal to us it was a map.

I noticed it was a map of Forest of Death. Izumo pulled out a stick and pointed it to the tower in the middle of the map.

"You two's goal is to reach this tower and deliver the object we give to you. Genma is already waiting for you in there and the one who delivers the object first is the one who will pass the test." Izumo explained to us "The time limit is four hours, if you keep walking from here to the tower it will only take one hour normally, however..." Here he smirked before he turned to the table not far from him and took two... Orbs made of glass? "These two are the items,..." He handed them to us and I noticed they were very light... That means...

At my face Izumo's smirk widened as if he just found something amusing.

"Yes, it's very light which means this thing is fragile... One normal strike even from ninja academy student will break it." Izumo stated "If you won't be careful it will break when you are on your way and let me tell you..." He leaned slightly forward to make intimidating effect, Yakumo appeared to be disturbed, but I was not "This forest filled with creatures that even can kill Chunin ninja, this place is not a playground especially for someone, who just graduated from the academy, like you two... If you are not careful..." He paused and there was slight killing intent from him "You might die..."

Yakumo seemed to pale slightly and she gulped, I notice there was sweat coming from her head. I only narrowed my eyebrow at his statement, I wasn't even intimidated, in fact, inwardly I was eager to start this test.

"Well!" Izumo leaned back and clapped his hands in cheerful manner "Now, if you are ready, let's start the test! You two can put that in your backpack. Afterward, follow me and Kotetsu here! We will start your test separately" He said with a big grin.

"Eh?" Yakumo blinked "We will not do it together?"

"You will do it together of course! But you will start it from different place." Kotetsu stated with a nod as he folded the map he held "Remember, the first one to arrive will pass the test and you can use any means necessary to pass." He said with a slight smirk.

I held the urge to punch his nose as I felt Yakumo gave me a look. You just had to make my work harder, aren't you? Damn you! I never met you before, why the hell did you do this?! I swear I will get you back, Kotetsu! In Chunin Exam!

Kotetsu seemed to notice my look and he only laughed at me, much to my annoyance, oh yeah, you can laugh for now.

"Alright, let's begin the test! Follow me."


Moment later.

Yakumo gritted her teeth in annoyance as she jumped and dodged attack from spiders. The spiders were big, bigger than her, they were about her own size and there were a lot of them!

The Chunin and instructor before were clearly not lying about this forest being dangerous.

It had been just fifteen minutes after she started walking and she is already barraged by giant leeches which fell from the sky! She was barely able to dodge them! Heck, even few of them managed to land on her hand and it was luck she brought salt and used it to separate leeches from her.

However, the wounds were already opened, the leech was able to inject something that makes her wounds stay open! Her blood loss was big and her condition due to her isolation is not helping!

And not long after escaping from the leeches she found herself surrounded by group of giant centipedes! And, mind you, there were so many of them! They were large!

Seriously, what's wrong with animals here?! All of them are bigger than normal! She means, what kind of centipede sizes about 4M?! And what kind of leeches is bigger than someone's hands?! And there are spiders too!

But even it was hard she can't fail! She can't fail in here!

She finally became a Ninja! She finally did! Becoming Ninja is her dream and her goal is to become great one. As the last survivor of Kurama Main Branch members she had responsibility and job to do!

It was her own fault that her parent is dead...

So it was her job to atone it... To bring Kurama clan back to its glory... She had to! And she can't do that if she will not become Shinobi!

She wasn't that bad, despite her isolation and quite weak body, but still she was better than average Genin. Thanks to that woman training her in young age, she also knows high level Genjutsu.

Her Ninjutsu though is only average, however she can perform three basic academy ninjutsu quite well. Her taijutsu... Well, she is bad at that and her shurikenjutsu is standard.

She broke out from her mind as she saw one spider launched a web to her through its mouth and she jumped again to dodge it. As she soared in sky she failed to notice one spider crawling above the tree and it let out screech as it jumped down.

Yakumo turned upwards and saw what was coming, but it was too late to react as the spider slammed her and... passed through.

The group of spiders who were seeing this seemed to be confused as they found their prey in sky slowly dissipated like a mist.

Not far from them, Yakumo panted while hiding behind a tree. Unlike what people think, Genjutsu does work on animals. It doesn't matter whether you have Chakra inside you or not, Genjutsu works by injecting your chakra to the victim's body and controlling the spiritual energy inside the victim.

Of course, to trap large group like the spiders takes quite a lot of chakra but for Yakumo, who was very good in Genjutsu and accustomed with it, she is able to balance the chakra usage like a Jonin.

'The glass!' She immediately went to her backpack and tried to find the orb and to her relief, it still was fine. She let out sigh of relieve at that before she carefully placed it back 'I don't know how close I am to the tower now, but... It already an hour! Only three hours left!' She gritted her teeth in annoyance as she realized she was wasting time now!

She immediately jumped and resumed her journey to the tower. While on her way she couldn't help but to fear that her fellow ninja candidate may already be there or be closer than she was now!

She was wasting too much time when threated her wounds from that leech. Seriously, those things are very dangerous. She doesn't know maybe some Goddess of Luck at that time protected her from them.

As she was jumping from one branch to another her vision suddenly got blurry and her eyes widened.

'!? M-My head, c-could it be I lost too much blood? Those things only latched to me for a minute!' Yakumo thought with panic as she tried her best to focus her eyes.

Sadly, her fate clearly was not that good.

By reason of headache and blurry vision, she lost focus on her footing and she tripped over some branch. She immediately let out scream as she fell from the tree.

'The orb!' She thought with a panic.

BRUK!

It was lucky that she was able to twist her body to land on her stomach rather than bag. If she did, the orb would be destroyed by now without any doubts.

But to her bad luck too, falling from eight meters and landing on your stomach is obviously not good for your body save for if you are trained ninja and able to endure pain. And since Yakumo is not that type of ninja thanks to her isolation it was bad.

"Ughh..." She grunted as she tried to stand up 'I-I think my ribs fractured a bit and bone on my foreleg cracked.' She thought with pain sensation on her chest and leg.

Damn it! Her situation is bad! With this wound and conditions there is chance she won't reach the tower in two hours! She can't afford to reach the place just in time since it better if she will arrive as soon as possible!

"I hope things won't get worse..." She grumbled as she tried to stand.

Oh, she just had to say that, hadn't she?

And to response to her words, suddenly, from the bush large tiger appeared. I mean really large, larger than Yakumo herself. The girl cursed inwardly at her situation as she fell into stance.

'Only one, I could trap it in genjutsu...' She thought as she tried to perform handseals. However, suddenly her vision got blurry again and she felt very exhausted and it was preventing her from casting the technique.

The tiger seemed to notice Yakumo's attemp to attack it and before she could, it decided to attack first. It let out growl and lunged at her, much to Yakumo horror, she was feeling helpless while staring at the incoming tiger.

'Okaa-san, Otou-san, I... I'm sorry...' She thought as she closed her eyes and accepted her fate to the tiger that lunged at her.

BANG!

A loud voice echoed as she heard something hit the flesh, she immediately opened her eyes and sew the boy, Haru appeared and kicked the tiger on its right cheek.

'W-What?'

Haru wasting no time pulled multiple shurikens from his pouch and threw them to the tiger which crashed at the tree. Tiger which just stood again after the impact just in time to see multiple projectiles launched to it and the shurikens hit it in the head, killing it in a second as its giant cat body fell to the ground, lifeless.

Haru seeing the enemy's death turned to Yakumo who were staring at him with wide opened eyes and gave her a smile "Are you okay?"

"E-Eh?" Yakumo blurted out, snapping from her daze and shock.

Haru decided to approach her openly and Yakumo was about to move, but she was feeling too weak and before she was able to do anything she found herself grabbed by Haru and...

"The wound on your back... It is still bleeding... You are losing too much blood." Haru muttered as he observed the wound on her back in rhomboid part.

Why do you care?

That's what Yakumo wanted to ask but she found out she couldn't speak somehow.

"At this rate, in only two hours you will be dead... The wounds are still bleeding after all... Wait a moment..."

Suddenly, Yakumo felt something touching her back and she hissed before felt slightly better, she could feel the flowing warm liquid that wet her back now stopped.

She was barely able to glance and see Haru's hands glowing green and he healed her wound with medical ninjutsu much to her surprise.

"I already closed the wound, but you still lost too much blood..." Haru informed before he rammed through his pouch and pulled out brown red small pill "Here, eat this..."

"What is it?" Yakumo hissed, her tone clearly shown she does not like her situation and there was distrust in her tone.

Haru was not feeling offended and only offered her a smile "This is Zōketsugan (Blood Increasing Pill), this pill will speed up the formation and increase blood in the body. It tastes bitter, but at least you won't die." He answered.

"How do I know you are not lying?" She asked with a glare.

"If I wanted you to die, I wouldn't bother to looking for you or save you from that tiger." Haru replied with a sigh and as patient as he could, he knew this girl appeared to have a trust issue considering what happened with Kurenai.

In the meantime, Yakumo showed sincere surprised look at Haru's answer. He was looking for her? "Why?" She asked with a confused face.

Haru opened his mouth to answer, however, before Haru could, his senses alerted him and he turned around, Yakumo followed his gaze and found out there was a group of tigers appeared from the bushes and they all were surrounding them.

"Another nuisance..." Haru said in nonchalant tone, but there was a slight annoyance in his voice, Yakumo noted it was like a man who was tired of dealing with them.

"There are 12 of them..." Yakumo muttered and she couldn't help but to worry, unlike dealing with spiders or insects, predator like a tiger is something else.

"Just eat your pill Kurama-san and leave this to me..." Haru reassured as he prepared himself.

"Eh? But there are so many of them and they are tigers! It's not like dealing with insects!" Yakumo said with disbelief.

"Maa, I got this." Haru smiled before facing the group of tigers "Come, you ignoramus cat, that if you understand what I said." He smirked at them.

The tigers let out growl before lunged at him and Yakumo. The girl behind Haru prepared herself, despite being told to relax, but her stance was slightly dizzy.

As the tigers lunged at him, Haru only remained calm and when they were near, he performed one-handed seal and the movement of the tigers suddenly stopped.

"W-What?" Yakumo muttered in shock and disbelief as she was watching at the unmoving group of big cats.

No... They were moving... Yakumo could see that their bodies twitched and shivered, as if they were trying to move, but they couldn't. Something was holding them.

"Kanashibari no Jutsu (Temporary Paralysis Technique)..." Haru said with a smirk "A temporary technique that will paralyse the victims, of course, paralysing fellow Shinobi or summoned animal could be hard, but overgrown normal animal is something else." He chuckled "Now eat that pill, we have to leave before they will be able to move again."

This time Yakumo didn't bother to question him. She took the pill and ate it, as soon as she did that, she found herself feeling better like what Haru said, her headache got better now.

"The effect won't be instant, come on. Let's go..." Haru said and swooped up Yakumo in bridal style before she could do or speak anything. He jumped and left the group of paralyzed tigers behind.

Yakumo face turned to shade of red as she felt Haru's arm was holding her firmly. She didn't know whether she should be feeling grateful, but now she was more embarrassed than the last time.

"Let me go!" She squeaked out of embarrassment as she started struggling.

Haru did not bother to resist it, he immediately complied and gently put Yakumo down when he was sure their current position is comfortable enough to stand.

"Why are you helping me?!" She asked in a slightly annoyed tone.

Haru only blinked openly "You didn't know?" He asked.

"Don't know what?" She scowled.

"This test's purpose is for teamwork..." Haru answer made Yakumo's eyes open wide "It's practically impossible to survive in here alone, you had to notice it. The instructor was not lying about Chunin got killed in here, just look at the environment. There is a reason why this place is forbidden after all." He said while gesturing at their surrounding "If you throw someone who was just graduated from the academy here they will be dead in an hour." He deadpanned.

Yakumo, who were hearing that blinked. Now she thought about it clearly, how could she miss such obvious thing?! What he said is truth, this place will kill Genin!

"Forest of Death or Training Ground 44 is place where Chunin exam is mostly held. This place is training ground only for Chunin or higher Shinobi, so training here is forbidden but to reach the tower is something else... Genins can reach it as long as they work together well..." He explained.

What Haru said was clearly logical and true judging from her opinion. There were no cracks or holes in his reasoning, yet she still couldn't help but to voice her doubts aloud.

"How could I trust you? All I know you could be lying and trying to destroy my orb!" Yakumo said with distrust and scepticism.

Haru only blinked again before putting deadpan look "If I had a wish to do that I could let the tiger attack you in the first place..." He repeated what he said before and Yakumo slightly blushed in embarrassment. He sighed while rubbing his temple "I don't know what is your problem Kurama-san, but you seem to have trust issue. I won't ask why, but if you do not believe me, then I will allow you to enter the tower first before me just to satisfy you." He stated with a calm look.

Yakumo scowled again at that answer, but she nodded, she still won't trust him and keep an eye on him. She is even going to prepare genjutsu and trap him if he will try to betray her.

"Good!" Haru said with a smile "Now..." He then took his backpack before he rammed it and pulled out his orb "Would you like to hold mine inside yours?" He asked and Yakumo blinked "I mean, isn't it better if it will be one person who holds the objects and the other tries to protect by observing the delivery woman/man?"

Well, technically, what he said is true but...

"You'll give your orb to me just like that?" She asked with bewilderment in her voice "How can you trust me like that?"

"You are my teammate, why shouldn't I trust you?" Haru asked back with a scowl "Here..." He pushed the orb and slowly Yakumo took it.

"O-Okay then..." She murmured and thought that this man is strange. He is too... Trusting... She began to put Haru orb inside her backpack before turning to him again, she sew the boy smiled at her and she couldn't help but to blush "S-So, what's now?" She asked in a slightly timid tone, inwardly cursing the way she spoke.

"Now, let's get to the tower together." Haru smiled to her "Can you stand and walk around you?"

"Y-Yeah..."

"Good, but don't push yourself okay?" He said with a grin and Yakumo only grunted while turning away. Haru only chuckled in amusement before his eyes widened, he immediately dashed and stood in front of Yakumo while performing one-handed seal.

"What are you-"

"Katon : Endan (Fire Release : Flame Bullet)"

Haru spewed out a blazing flame bullet and burned three spiders that were crawling on the wall and were about to ambush Yakumo from behind.

Yakumo seeing this had eyes open wide before she began to look around and noticed there was a group of spiders around them.

"Above!" She shouted as she saw spiders jump down at them like a rain. She pulled out multiple projectiles and threw them at the spiders.

The shurikens pierced the spiders, but there still were many more that rained down at them. Yakumo pulled out shurikens again and was about to throw them, however, Haru beat her.

"Katon : Hōsenka no Jutsu ( Fire Release : Phoenix Sage Fire Technique)"

Dozens of fireballs with diameter around 40CM launched from Haru's mouth and they struck the remaining ones that were not struck by Yakumo.

The girl appeared to be surprised at Haru skills in ninjutsu as her eyes widened 'He's good!' She thought in awe.

"Let's leave! We can't stay in one place for a long time!" Haru yelled and Yakumo nodded 'This glass... I don't know what, but there is something about it that attracts animals to us, I'm sure of it! Damn that old man, he certainly doesn't make it easy!' He thought as he allowed Yakumo to jump first before he followed her and spew out another fire ninjutsu to delay the group of spiders that were on their trail.


Two hours thirty minutes later

"Well... I must say I'm surprised, never thought you two will come like this." Genma remarked with amused smirk as he saw Yakumo and Haru condition.

There were dirt and bruises covered them, mostly on Haru. Yakumo, meanwhile, seemed to have lighter wounds.

Genma wasn't surprised by that, but what surprised him is he saw that Yakumo was carried by Haru's piggyback style. The girl pale skin now turned to shade of red, there was a bad bruise on her left leg and it seemed she wanted to hide herself due to embarrassment she had.

It was when they were on their way, they were attacked by group of bears and this time the bears were clearly stronger than the tigers. Haru managed to beat them all, however one of them managed to hit Yakumo.

The girl practically threw herself so she was wounded further and thanks to that their glass orb did not break, yet she clearly broken her leg.

"Do you have the object?" He asked.

Haru glanced to Yakumo on his back and the girl lifted up her bag and gave it to Genma who took it.

Genma opened the bag and found that two glass objects are still intact and remain unharmed, without even a single scratch.

"Well... Since you appeared together and seeing your condition, I think I won't explain what the true purpose of this exam was, right?" He asked.

"Teamwork..." Yakumo answered and Haru, who was carrying her nodded.

"You got that right, Ojou-san..." Genma smirked with a nod and Yakumo's eyes twitched at the nickname "There is no way new graduated Genin could pass this forest alone, this is a place for Chunin or higher, after all. Only Genin that could be considered as a candidate to be Chunin at least could survive in here." He then stared at them with a slight stern look "So how they can pass? Simple, your mission is to deliver the information or object. You ignore everything around you and deliver it, with one Genin watching over the second one who carries the objective. You can survive in this forest if your objective is just to reach the tower without hindering with each other..." He paused to make sure both of us understand what he said "Backup Team never consist of one person, unless that person is Kage level Shinobi or the situation urgency is higher than code red." He finished.

Haru only smiled with a nod while Yakumo appeared to be sad for a moment since she never thought like that, but it was gone as she gave a nod of understanding too.

"Well, I guess now congratulations in order." Genma chuckled "We all are now officially Backup Team and you two are Ninja from now on!" He stated with a smirk.

Haru gave a grin at that and Yakumo also beamed as she smiled at him, the girl was practically too happy. After years, she was finally allowed to continue her studies and she finally became Ninja!

She unconsciously tightened her hug on Haru and her face scrunched to full smile of happiness. Haru seemed to be slightly choked, but when he noticed Yakumo's smile, he only rolled his eyes and accepted it. Well, this girl deserves a moment of happiness after being isolated for such long time.

"Alright! I know, you are all happy, but Ojou-san's wound should be treated. You can act lovey dovey to your new boyfriend later." Genma remarked with a grin of amusement.

Yakumo blush reawakened and she let out sputter of denial while Haru only gave flat look at him that was clearly stating he is not amused by the joke.

"I will carry Kurama-san to medics then..." Haru said and Genma nodded before he left.

On his way to the medic, he heard a whisper from Yakumo.

"What, Kurama-san?" He asked.

"We are teammates now..." Yakumo muttered, there was a slight blush on her face "You may call me Yakumo..." She said timidly.

Haru blinked before he burst into laugh "Okay then, Yakumo-san!" He replied as he left.

Genma who was watching them only shook his head, it seemed working with them will be amusing. He was actually surprised when Hokage came to ask for his help, he wanted to reject it at first but decided to humour it. Why not? He is also interested to become teacher after all.

And now seeing those two, maybe, it will be interesting. Especially when he will see their expression, when they will meet D-rank mission later.

"You watched it, Hokage-sama?" He asked as he turned and saw there Hiruzen standing in the corner of the hall room, hiding behind the wall.

"I've had watched it since the beginning..." Hiruzen said with a chuckle as he went down through stairs "And like I said that boy is not a Genin... You must saw, he took down group of bears by himself, there were 10 of them and he beat them alone without any difficulty... He also performed Kanashibari no Jutsu at 12 tigers at same time, that requires good Chakra Control. That level surpasses even Chunin..." He stated as he had seen the boy through his crystal ball.

"12 tigers at the same time? That is something…" Genma replied with a slight surprise, he had heard about the boy from Hokage directly that he should be better than Genin. But hearing that is still surprising.

"And the boy still appears to hide his ability..." Hiruzen remarked and Genma stared at the direction boy left with a smirk.

"Hoo... Then teaching him will be interesting..." Genma remarked with amused smirk and slight glee in his tone.


There you go! Now Haru become official ninja! How the test? As you can see Backup Team is different team, of course the team will be different

I hope you all satisfied with the test. Forest of Death after all place for very skilled Genin, Yakumo of course have hard time but Haru is not

Remember, Yakumo spend her time in isolation. Her chakra control maybe good because she skilled in Genjutsu but her taijutsu and endurance not very strong, not to mention she almost have no experience in battle

Right now Haru skill still mysterious but he clearly far stronger than when he 8. We get the glimpse of it now, his full power will be revealed soon or later

And team replacement, I hope you all satisfied with Sakura on Naruto and Sasuke team. The reason was very reasonable and logical, Hiruzen will place Sakura since he knew that the younger generation have to make bond

As for Sakura, I'm not bashing her. It just reality that she is useless until part two. In part one, even in Wave Arc she didn't do anything and when Chunin Exam about to enter she had nerve to comment Naruto is worse than her

I mere stating fact and its not bashing but its reality that Sakura not have more role in part 1

Next Chapter will be training with Haru and how he perform D-rank mission. There will be small confrontation too between Haru and certain masked Ninja XD

Please Favorite, Follow, Read and Review

Ja Ne! XD


Omake : Sasuke & Sakura conversation

"Where's Naruto?" Sasuke asked as he just got out from toilet, when he arrived back at a classroom he found the blond was not there.

"I don't know, he said something about buying ramen." Sakura answered and Sasuke inwardly snorted, typical Naruto, he is always like that.

Sakura seeing gleam of happiness at Sasuke's eyes couldn't help but scowled. Just what so special about the blond clown anyway?! She can tolerate Haru presence since he is very polite and also helps if someone asks him.

Hinata herself, the fangirl tolerate it because that girl has crush on Haru and she acts like an older sister to Sasuke and Sasuke sometimes acts like a brother to her too, that's the reason they never bother her.

Shino? Okay, that boy is creepy, no one dares to disturb him without fear to got bugs after their ass.

But Naruto?

The blond is not like Haru and Hinata for sure. He's loud, annoying, not smart, obnoxious and loud! Always does whatever he wants and acts so free! Even the adults hate him so much!

So why is Sasuke friends with him? Why can Sasuke smile and laugh when he talks with him but can't when he is with her?!

"I don't understand, Sasuke-kun..." Sakura muttered and Sasuke turned to her with narrowed eyes "Just what makes you be friends with Naruto-baka anyway?!" She asked "He's loud, idiot, always annoys people and always acts like he wants! Even the adults don't like him much!" She stated with a quite scowl.

Sasuke, who was hearing that only put grim look, anger briefly flashed in his mind when he remembered how people were staring at his friend. To Sasuke, Haru and Naruto were already like brothers. They were there when he was in his most vulnerable moment and they healed his wound, allowed him to make bonds again and reminded him how family should be.

He won't voice it aloud, but he actually likes Hinata, admires Naruto, who is so strong and able to withstand against the glares from this village. That boy is so strong that he is able to hold himself to not lash out to them, if it was Sasuke he already would burn them with Katon.

Oblivious to Sasuke mind, Sakura continued to speak.

"He's so annoying and loud. Do you know why? It's because he doesn't have a mother nor father. No one raised or taught him the right way, while I admit Haru-san is good and can calm him down sometimes, but Haru-san is still a boy and Naruto also often doesn't listen him. He just does whatever he wants!" Sakura let out sigh while shooking her head "If I did something like Naruto, my parents would scold me immediately and I would get in problem so, of course, I won't do it. But if you are like Naruto, then how would you know?" She lamented with another sigh "He's so selfish, bratty and- Sasuke-kun?"

Sakura see Sasuke already walk to the door, planning to go out too so she stop talking

"Sasuke-kun? Where you going? Our teacher could-"

"All alone..." Sasuke spoke in low voice, but Sakura still heard it "Alone by himself, you don't have even slightest idea how it feels." He said coldly while still not looking at her and Sakura's eyes widened in shock.

"W-Why are you saying that?" She asked in shock.

Sasuke turned to her from his shoulder and for a moment Sakura swear his eyes were red instead of usual black.

"You, who lives in your fantasy and cuddling by your parents, what do you know about us? About us, who live alone without parents." He commented coldly and Sakura paled as she realized that Sasuke also became orphan.

"I... I... S-Sasuke-kun I don-"

"You, who is ignorant to people hardships and only lives in happy fantasies. Don't you dare to speak like that about someone who is alone..." He cut her coldly "People like you... Make me sick..." He spat with disdain and venom clear in his voice and Sakura's eyes widened, tears gathered in the corners of her eyes "You are annoying... Don't talk to me anymore." He stated before he turned and slammed the door close, leaving to find Naruto.

Sakura who heard what Sasuke said couldn't help but to feel hurt. But she mostly felt is shame and regret. How could she just speak like that before? How could she not be aware about the real Naruto's situation? How could she not be able to see that since the beginning?

What Sasuke said is right... She had no idea how Naruto feels and what the blond went through... And she just spoke like she knows him...

She feels like Ami who bullied her when she was a kid... And, oh God, how awful it is... She couldn't believe she stepped so low like that.

As tears were falling from her eyes, she couldn't help but to think about how she always looked down on the blond and even insulted him openly. She never tried to help him or tried to understand him. How could she? She still remembers when the boy had a crush on her, she used him to help her or cheer her up, yet she just brushed it like it was a wind.

'I... I should apologize to him... If I have a chance... I have to... We are going to be teammates after all...' Sakura thought as she wiped out the tears on her face, she promised that she will become nicer person to the blond and try to understand him more.

'Cha! You bet we will! We won't be like that spoiled and arrogant Ami again!' Her inner self yelled with enthusiasm and Sakura agreed as she gave a nod outwardly.

For Sakura Haruno, this will become the best step she will ever take for her ninja carrier in the future.