(UCHIHA) .:[Until Death Do Us Part]:. (SASUKE) – 08

We stood outside the gates to the forest of death. The fence was high and the roots of the trees were even higher than the fences. I looked up and gave a low whistle. Above, a bird was in mid-caw when it was silenced, a low growl echoing through the grounds. The gates on the fences were held shut with several locks and chains. On the fence was a sign that read, "Danger! Stay out!".

"Welcome to the stage of the second test. Practice arena 44, also known as the forest of death. You'll soon find out why it's called the forest of death." Anko said seriously. Naruto huffed and shook his ass with his hands on his hips.

"'You'll soon find out why it's called the forest of death.'" He mocked. "You think that scares me? That's nothing! I'm not afraid!!!" He shouted, pointing at her. Anko looked our way and smiled.

"You're spirited…" She took out a kunai and tossed it, scratching his cheek. As the kunai flew, she moved behind him and licked the blood off creepily. "Kids like you die quickly. Spraying that red blood I love…" Omg, what a creeper! What was even creepier was the guy that held out her kunai with his tongue.

"Here's your kunai." He whispered.

"Thanks." She said happily. I shivered and took a step back, bumping into Sasuke. He gave a look that said he was thinking the same thing about those two. Naruto had a look of total disgust on his face, along with being scared shitless. "But you know… Don't sneak up behind me unless you want to die." She said, letting go of Naruto and taking her kunai back.

"I just get excited when I see blood. Plus you cut my precious hair… I couldn't help it." I covered my eyes, Anko and that guy being too much to have to look at.

"Sorry about that." Naruto was sticking his tongue out as if measuring how long his was compared to that guy. "Looks we have a lot of blood thirsty ones in this test. Hehe… this should be fun." Naruto rubbed his cheek as Anko was chuckling. "Now before we start the second test, there's something I have to pass out." She held up a stack of paper. "You have to sign these consent forms to continue. There will be deaths in this one. And if you don't sign these forms, it'll be my responsibility." She said with a smile on her face. "I'm going to explain the second test, and then you can sign the forms. After that, each team will head over to that table and check in with me." She said, pointing to a booth that had a cover over it. "I'll now explain the second test. Simply put… You will attempt the ultimate survival test. First, I'll explain the area in which this will take place." She took out a scroll and unrolled it and held it up. There was a picture of a circle with a tower in the middle. There were 44 gate entrances and from the tower to the gates were 10 kilometers around. There was a river and near the south east part, it split into two. The river passed through the tower so we could follow the river but there would be more danger in doing that. "Around practice area 44 are 44 locked gates. Forest, river, and the tower in the center. From the gates to the center is about 10 kilometers." She said loud enough for the people who couldn't see the clearly marked map to hear. "During the survival in here, you will be asked to complete a certain task. Using your many weapons and jutsus, you will compete in a no-rules scroll battle."

Scroll battle? Someone echoed my thoughts and asked.

"Yes. You will be competing over these scrolls. There are 79 people here, meaning 26 teams. Half, 13, teams will get the Heaven scroll." She held out a cream colored scroll labeled 'Heaven'. "And the other half will get the Earth scroll." She held out in her other hand a dark colored scroll labeled 'Earth'. "To pass this test, your team must make it to the tower with both scrolls."

"So 13 teams will definitely fail… That's half the teams." Sakura said.

"But there's a time limit. This second test will last 120 hours. Exactly five days."

"Five days?!?" Ino shouted.

"What about food?!?" Chouji yelled, already chomping down a bag of chips.

"You're on your own. The forest is full of edible and non-edible foods. Just watch out for man-eating beasts, poisonous insects, poisonous plants…" She trailed off. "And 13 teams passing is not likely. As the days go on, the distance to the goal will become farther and the time to rest will be shorter. And with the area crawling with enemies, you won't get much time to sleep. So not only will some fail by losing the scroll… but some will die from the harshness of the course." Why does it seem like she doesn't really care about us… "Now I'll talk about how you can get disqualified. First, those that don't make it to the tower with both scrolls, within the time limit. Second, those who lose a teammate or those who have a teammate killed. As a rule, there is no quitting in the middle, you will be in the forest for five days. And one more rule. You must NOT look in the scrolls until you make it to the tower."

"What if we do?" Naruto asked.

"That's a surprise for those that do. A Chuunin will be asked to handle classified information. This is to test your trust-worthyness. That is it for the explanations. Exchange the 3 forms for a scroll then choose a gate and get ready for the start. A final word of advice. Try not to die." She walked away and sat down near the booth eating dango.

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"You can turn your forms in now." The Chuunin behind the cloth said at the booth. Several teams hurried to line up. We lined up and got a Heaven scroll, deciding to let Sasuke hold it. We chose gate 12.

"Everyone follow an instructor and go to your gates! We will start in 30 minutes!" Anko shouted. We followed ours and he took off the chains and locks, and stood between the gate and us.

"The second test of the Chuunin Exam… starts NOW!" All around, you could hear the dashing footsteps or teams running. First screams were heard not even five minutes in. We were stopped in a clearing but stood by the trees.

"That was a human scream, wasn't it?..." Sakura asked, shaking. "I'm getting a little nervous…"

"It's nothing Sakura-chan." Naruto said with his arms crossed behind his head. He paused with a weird look on his face. "I gotta take a piss…" He said and walked over to a bush. Sakura hit him on the head.

"What are you doing in front of a lady?!? Go in the bushes!" He stumbled away and came back out a while later, everything about him off. My eyebrow twitched and I flicked a kunai in front of his feet. 'Naruto' stopped and looked at the kunai and didn't have time to react to Sasuke's fist to his face.

"What are you…?"

"Where's the real Naruto?"

"What are you saying all of a sudden?..." 'Naruto' asked, wiping the blood from the corner of his mouth.

"You dumbass. If you're going to copy someone, do it right." I said, getting in stance.

"Your shuriken holster is on your left side, Naruto's right handed. And the main difference is that you don't have that scratch that proctor put on Naruto's cheek. You're a fake loser who's worse than Naruto at henge no jutsu." 'Naruto' stood up and poofed into his real form, a Rain nin.

"Unlucky! You figured it out! Which one of you has the scroll?" He asked. Shoving my hand in my kunai pouch, I transformed a blank scroll into the heaven scroll and pulled it out, holding it in front of me. His eyes locked on me and Sasuke had a look of worry and confusion on his face. I mouthed to him 'go find Naruto and take Sakura'. He nodded and motioned for Sakura to follow him. She gave a last glance at me before following him. While the rain nin was looking at them run, I got out a wire with a weight on the end and swung it around, lightning running through it. The rain nin saw the blue flowing around the wire and jumped but I caught his ankle and dragged him down, shocking him. He sputtered on the ground for a while and thinking he was out of it, I pulled the wire back and he got up, dashing off to where Sasuke and Sakura went off to.

"Hey!!!" I shouted and ran after him. I caught up to him and kicked him in the back. He flew forward and landed on the floor. Before I landed on him with my knee in his neck, he jumped up to get elbowed in the gut by Sasuke. He did more than just elbow him. In his left hand, he held a kunai which was driven forward more by his right hand. Blood covered Sasuke's face.

"Sasuke-kun…!" Sakura said, shocked he would do that. This isn't a game Sakura. Life or death in this test.

"This is rough, but I don't have a choice! Don't just stand there, there might be others! Listen! Relax for a moment and you might die!" While Sasuke was yelling at Sakura, the guy leapt away. Squinting, Sasuke only hit his left arm. When everything calmed down, we sat in the clearing, Sakura had wiped off the blood on Sasuke's face, something I would have rather done…

"If we get separated next time… Even if it's one of us, don't trust them. This could happen again."

"Then what do we do?" Sakura asked.

"We'll make a codeword just in case. Listen, if they get the codeword wrong, assume they are the enemy no matter what they look like. Listen carefully, I'll only say this once. The nin song, "Nin Machine". When this is asked, reply with, 'A large amount of loud enemies is the friend of the shinobi, hide and remain silent. A shinobi must understand the proper time, when the enemy is tired and ill-prepared.'" He finished. Um… What?... A large amount of loud enemies is the friend of the shinobi… and then?!?

"Ok!" Sakura said, smiling.

"Wait… That's impossible to remember…" Naruto said.

"Are you stupid? I already memorized it!"

"Not everyone has a huge forehead." I said, crossing my arms. Sasuke stood up and tucked the scroll away after a while of re-discussing who would hold it.

"I'll hold the scroll." A hard gust of wind blew by, throwing sticks that scratched when they passed us. "More enemies?!?" I had to close me eyes from being blinded and felt myself picked up by the wind.

"Shit!" I flew back until I hit a tree, the wind knocked out of my chest and I blacked out. Fuck! Do not… pass out… Wake… up..!

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"AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" I shook awake and ran over to the scream, wobbly from the blood that rushed up to my head.

"Sa… Sasuke?" He was on the floor, Sakura was holding him crying and Naruto was pinned to a tree a few yards away from the branch they were on. "Sakura? What… what happened?" Her head snapped to me.

"Password." She said, still holding onto Sasuke and a kunai in her left hand. I gulped and walked over to her.

"I can't remember." I kicked her shoe to try to shrug off this atmosphere. "So stop acting like a baby cause you and me are gonna have to take of them." She sniffled and nodded. I jumped over to Naruto, using chakra in my feet to keep me on the tree and pulled the kunai out from his jacket and hauled him over to the open space in a tree Sakura found. We laid Naruto and Sasuke down and she set towels on their foreheads. I sat next to Sasuke, her next to Naruto. Her face was tear streaked and dirty, her usually perfect hair matted with dirt. I reached up and untied the ribbons and tied my hair back up in pigtails so there was a loop so that they weren't so long. (If you don't get what I'm trying to say then think about how you put your hair in pigtails. Cuz you have to pull your hair through a scrunchie and on the last time you pull it through, don't pull it all the way. But I guess it only works with really long hair. Like waist/hip length. So I'll try to find pics or something but I can't take pics of my hair cuz I lost my camera D=)

I had taken the night shift and Sakura was sleeping curled up in between Naruto and Sasuke. The sun hit my face and even though I didn't want to, I woke Sakura up. She sat up and rubbed her eyes. When I was sure she was awake, I closed my eyes to go to sleep but opened them when I heard her throw a kunai. Squinting my eyes, I saw the explosive note on the squirrels' back. I took out a kunai and crawled closer to the opening of the tree. "Sakura, get ready for a fight." She gulped and was shaking. This'll be good for her to actually get some fighting experience.

"Up all night?" I darted my eyes to the three Sound nin from the first test. My eyelids were dropping and it was getting harder to stay awake. "That's no longer necessary. Wake up Sasuke-kun. We want to fight him." I slapped myself to wake up and it worked.

"What are you talking about!? I know that someone names Orochimaru is pulling the strings from the shadows!! What's his purpose?!?" Sakura yelled and took out a kunai. "What's this weird mark on Sasuke-kuns neck?!? You did this to him… And now you want to fight!??"

"Man… I wonder what that guy is thinking. But hearing this, we can't let you go. I'll kill these two girls and that Sasuke guy." God dammit. Didn't get a little time to sleep and now I have to kick ass?!? Popping a couple chakra pills in my mouth, I activated the Zetsumeigan.

"Wait, Zaku." Dosu said.

"You're not very good. A recently overturned stone, different colored dirt. Grass doesn't grow here." Sakura and I feigned to be surprised. "A booby trap. It's pointless unless it goes unnoticed." He said, lifting up a square of grass. I smirked and made the handseal, the explosion only big enough to throw them in the air and get a few scratches. Sakura cut the wire that held up a giant log and it flew towards them.

"Another trap from above?!?" Dosu said, faking to be scared. From where I was sitting, I couldn't see what he did but the log burst into pieces.

"What the hell?!? It was hollow?!?" I yelled. The three were going to land in front of Sakura and I shoved her to the side and got ready to fight a 3-on-1 fight. Then out of nowhere, Lee's attack came and he stood there with a squirrel on his shoulder.

"You guys should work harder." The three were kicked away from each other and far from our opening in the tree.

"Who are you?"

"The beautiful green beast of Konoha… Rock Lee!" Sakura wiped the tears from her eyes.

"Why are you here?"

"I will… always appear when you are in trouble." I saw her smile to herself.

"Well… you saved me." She said shyly.

"I said it before. That I will protect you until I die." I huffed.

"Hey, Sakura. If I were you, I'd give up on Sasuke and go with this guy." I whispered behind my hand. She pursed her lips at me. "Just saying…"

"Oh well. Zaku, you can have Sasuke-kun." Dosu said, starting to run. "I'll take care of them." Sakura threw a kunai at the ground and Dosu jumped to avoid it but then Lee had reached in the ground and pulled up a giant root.

"There's some tricks to your attacks, right? I'm not simply going to dodge them. Since I've seen your attacks before. But at three against one, I am at a disadvantage." I stood up and walked over next to him.

"Who said it was just you?" I asked annoyed. He looked down at me and I tried imagining the dark spots under my eyes.

"You're in no condition to fight."

"Tch. I'm fine." What a lie. I'm tired as hell and my eyes sting. I heard Lee sigh before he attacked Dosu. I was too busy watching Lee to notice the other Sound guy use his attack on the ground, cushioning Dosu's fall.

"Phew. Looks like I made it in time." My eyes snapped to Zaku. When Dosu went to attack Lee, Lee looked like he was in pain or something. I ran over to Lee and shoved him out of the way, still managing to dodge Dosu's attack. But not entirely. I had forgotten about his sound attack and fell crouched on the floor, holding my head. My head hurts… What's that noise? Their mouths were moving but everything sounded muffled. I could read Dosu's lips most of the time. I slapped my cheeks as a sumo wrestler would and activated the Zetsumeigan. I can fight without sound. No worries… Most of Zaku's chakra went along lines in his arms. Instead of Dosu attacking Lee again, he went for Sakura. Lee was fast enough to get in front of her and tried using his attack but he cringed and Dosu was able to knock his leg away. I watched as the chakra came out from that thing on Dosu's arm up to Lee's ear. His mouth was open in a scream and I whipped out a string of wire and threw it so it flew a couple times around Dosu's neck and pulled. Zaku tried coming after me but Sakura threw a couple shuriken which ended up getting blasted right at her. She jumped back was caught by Kin, who was holding her by her hair. My hearing started to clear up a little and I threw Dosu in front of me and used Sento Tokkan in the back of his neck. He fell over on his face, some of his muscles spazzing for a while until he lay still.

"Much more shinier than my hair… If you have time to treat your hair, then train yourself. Zaku, kill that Sasuke guy in front of her. Let's teach her a lesson." I jumped in front of the tree and pulled out a kunai. "Hey girle, I'd move if I were you. Or else I'll kill this girl." Kin held a kunai to Sakura's neck. "There will be situations in which a teammate gets taken hostage. When the decision comes, someone will die." Kakashi-sensei's words rang through my head.

"I'm not gonna let Sasuke or Sakura die so shut up!" I said and made the handseal for Kage Bunshin. Another me appeared and ran to Kin and Sakura. Zaku took this chance to use his attack on me and I flew to the tree, landing on my feet and I used chakra to stick there. I looked over at Kin and Sakura, my clone had poofed and Sakura was holding a kunai.

"That won't work on me." Sakura had a look on her face that said she was going to stop screwing around and smirked.

"What are you talking about?" She whipped the kunai up and cut off the hair that Kin was holding. I stared wide-eyed. Hearing shuriken come at me, I used the Zetsumeigan to alter their course and go to the side and then up. They scratched through the bark beside me before shooting up in the sky.

"Sakura, kick her ass!" I cheered. Sakura had stood up, still holding the kunai and her forehead protector had fallen off when she cut her hair. Sakura made a handseal and Kin rammed her in the back but Sakura turned into a log. With a surprising chain of attacks, Sakura had gotten over to Zaku and lodged a kunai in his arm. In front of my eyes, a dark purple started to float up. I jumped off the tree and saw little trickles of chakra coming out of Sasuke and sighed out of relief. Good. He's starting to get chakra again.

"Let go of me!" Zaku yelled, punching Sakura in the face. He kept punching her and she still didn't let go. He got her off and before he used his attack on her, the InoShikaChou team jumped in front of her. They had a moment before the ass-kicking started again. Zaku had the nerve to call Chouji a fatass which always got him pissed off. Sakura crawled over to Sasuke and Naruto to get out of their way.

Kin was busy watching them and I ran over to her and punched her hard in the gut, twisting my hips with the punch to get the maximum amount of damage. If I had hit her back, her spine would've probably broken. I jumped away before she barfed and fell over, but fell over when an unsuspected hand grabbed my ankle. I stared at Dosu who was sitting up with a kunai in his hand. Before he brought it down on my neck, a voice stopped them. The kunai stopped when the tip was about a centimeter in, blood trickling down.

"What's with these weak nins bullying a bunch of these second-rate kids and declaring victory." We all looked up and saw Neji and Tenten. "You made a mistake."

"Lee…" I looked over at him. His eyes were closed but he was still breathing.

"That knocked out freak over there is our teammate. You're going to pay for that." The veins around his eyes were visible and I could tell that the Byakugan was strong. "If you go any further, I'll go all out. Huh?" His face showed confusion and the veins relaxed. "It seems that won't be necessary."

"Sasuke-kun!!! You're awake!!!" I looked over with my eyes at Sasuke, not wanting to move my head to slit my own throat. That chakra, now that I could see it in that massive amount, didn't look that great. Along with that, there were weird markings all over his body, crawling up to his face and to the right. "Sasuke-kun…?"

"Sakura… who did that-" He looked over at me and I gulped, turning my eyes away. Dosu was stepping on my hands so I couldn't do anything about that and if I had kicked his head, the kunai would've been driven in more. In less time it takes to blink an eyes, I felt a gust of wind as Dosu was knocked off me and into a tree. The cracking of wood was enough to give that away. I reached up to the wound on my neck and sat up. Sasuke's eyes were dark, the Sharingan on too. I felt myself shiver seeing them.

"I did it." Zaku answered proudly. "I beat that girl up."

"Sasuke-kun… your body…" Sakura muttered.

"Don't worry. Not only that… I feel power overflowing from within me. I feel… great. He gave it to me. I finally understand it. I am an avenger. Even if I must eat the Devils fruit, I am on a path where I must gain power. Now. It was you, right?" He said, glaring at Zaku. The girl woke up, holding her stomach and cringed. I was on the verge of ripping my hair out. That eerie chakra. It didn't belong to Sasuke. It was drifting around, infecting the air like miasma. I scooted away from him to keep from getting touched by a wisp of it. Zaku used his ultimate attack and everything in it's path was blown to bits.

"Heh. I've blown him away."

"Blown who away?" Sasuke knocked him around and then used a fire jutsu. Zaku tried blowing the fireballs out but there were shurikens inside which ripped through him. In a flash, Sasuke was standing over Zaku, holding his arms from behind. "You seem pretty proud of these arms…" He said and pulled on his arms, keeping his foot on Zaku's back. Snaps were heard right before a horrid yell. The look on Sasuke's face was horrible. He was grinning like a manic, as if happy by the screaming and blood. He turned to Kin and Zaku and before he could attack them, I ran over to him, beat by second by Sakura and stopped half-way. She was hugging him from behind, crying into his shirt.

"Stop it!" She yelled. He stopped walking and the marks on his body started to creep back to where they came from. He fell back and Dosu dropped the scroll in front of us, walking over to his teammates and hobbled away with them. I walked over to Sasuke and his breath was ragged. Naruto woke up and Sakura walked over to Lee and Tenten. Sasuke looked up at me with an eyebrow raised.

"D… Don't rely on him or your Sharingan too much." I said and walked away. I walked over to Sakura who was just punched Naruto again. "Hey Lee-kun. Thanks for helping out there. Sorry you got a little beat cause I wasn't paying attention…" I said, rubbing my arm. He smiled and gave a thumbs up, although I could tell that this one was different from the one's he would give Sakura. Sasuke walked over and I turned my head.

"It was nothing. But it looks like I need more hard work. Sasuke-kun. It looks like the Uchiha clan sure is great. To drive off those Sound nins, you are the owner of incredible power. I got my butt kicked." Lee said glumly. Sasuke stared at him as if it was a lie. "The next time we meet, I will be a stronger man. I promise." I looked up at Neji who was standing on a high branch and waved.

"If you just stand up there, a bird is gonna crap on your head." He looked at me and shook his head before jumping down. He, Tenten and Lee went off on their own, as did Ino, Shikamaru, and Chouji after Sakura's hair was fixed up. "Ah geez, I'm tired." I said, sitting down back in the hole in the tree. Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura came in as well. Sakura held out a canteen full of water and I drank a bit.

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The next day, I had woken up early. Sasuke was on guard duty and Sakura and Naruto were sleeping.

"I'll be back by noon. Any later than that, assume the worst." I said and dashed out of our hideout next to the river. I used the Zetsumeigan and, just like I was told, there was a bunch of souls floating around. A lot of them were following the river except for this one area where there was a lot of them in one area. Cautiously, after getting a dozen or so from the river, I ran over to the clearing. I coughed and covered my nose, a couple dozen dead bodies rotting over each other. I had gotten the last one when I looked into the canopy and saw chakra focused in the eyes of their user. Next to them looked like it was hollow-ish but had a smoky look to their chakra. The last person in that group was normal but had a small companion. I shrugged when they didn't attack and ran back to my team.

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I was almost at our hideout place when I was walking around the bushes, my scream was muffled by a hand over my mouth when I was pulled in. Their other arm was wrapped around my waist and they whispered in my ear. "Don't worry, it's just me." I had recognized their voice as Kabuto and nodded, standing on my own feet and turned around when he pulled his hands away. "You shouldn't be walking around on your own." Ah… Here's another cool guy… I shrugged and tucked away the small box in my kunai pouch, not seeing his eyes drift to it and see the mark of Shinigami-sama on it.

"I had some stuff to do." He started walking and motioned me to follow. I did and kept an eye out, just in case this was a lame ambush.

"You're one of Shinigami's koins, aren't you?" He asked.

"Yeah… How do you…?" He turned his head and held up a card with a smile on his face. "Oh." Hey… That's kind of creepy though… He stopped and I bumped into his back. "Oof! Sorry!" He grabbed my hand and poofed somewhere, my head spun for a moment. He was holding the scroll closed, Naruto's finger threatening to open it.

"You shouldn't do that… Did you forget the rules?" He said seriously, giving Naruto a sharp look. Sasuke came back from wherever he went and ran at Kabuto. Well I guess I would too if two of my teammates' hands were grabbed and the guy had a serious look on his face. I saw him and swept him off his feet, catching his head on my other leg to keep him from a hard fall.

"Geez Sasuke, calm down a bit." He huffed and got up.

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We put out the fire and stood around the wet logs. "What were you thinking?" Sasuke scolded Sakura and Naruto after hearing about them about to open the scrolls.

"That was close."

"S-sorry…" Sakura said softly.

"Those that ignore the rules are put in a condition that forces retirement. In a previous exam, a hypnotism jutsu was set up and whoever opened the scroll would be knocked out." Kabuto explained. Sasuke turned to me with his arms crossed.

"And you." While they were explaining what they were about to do, they told him that Kabuto and I had came at the same time. "What were you doing so early in the morning. And with him too."

"I had business to take care of." I answered, looking up at the clouds.

"What kind of business?"

"I can't tell you that."

"Why not?"

"He told me not to tell." I saw Sasuke's eyes flicker to Kabuto for a second then back to me.

"Who?"

"I can't tell you…"

"…" It seems Sasuke gave up and shook his head at me. "By the way, you're Kabuto, right?" He asked turning to him. "What are you doing over here?"

"It's not like I'm after your scroll." He replied.

"Yeah I figured. If you wanted to, you could've taken it from Naruto. So you're after the Heaven scroll too." Kabuto shook his head.

"Nope. I already have both." He said and took out the two scrolls. "Something happened so I'm on my way over to meet my teammates at the tower. Well, I'll be going." He said and walked off a bit.

"Wait!" Sasuke yelled. Kabuto stopped and turned around. "Fight me."

"Fight?" Kabuto asked. There was a glare over his glasses which made it impossible to see his facial expression.

"S-Sasuke-kun! What are you saying? He just helped us out!"

"You're serious?" Kabuto asked, ignoring Sakura.

"Sorry… but we don't have any more time left." Sasuke stated. "We don't have a choice. I said it before. This is the only way for us to-"

"Nu-uh." I said crossing my arms. Everyone looked at me and I held my hands up in defense. "if you think about it, there should be more groups waiting closer to the tower so there's a likely chance to find them around there." Actually, I just don't want to fight Kabuto-kun… Haha…

"She's right. And you aren't as cold-hearted as you say Sasuke. If this test had really turned you into someone like that then why would you have asked to challenge me instead of just attacking? That's a ninja." He turned. "Following the plan Arashi-chan said, I'll tell you the path you should take. But I'll tell you as we move. The smoke and the smell of fire and the fish can be sensed from far away. Wild beasts and enemies could be on their way over here already." I looked around before following him.

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We were jumping through the trees at a pretty fast rate. "Are there really more enemies?" Sasuke asked.

"Yes, no doubt it. The smartest fighting technique in this large area is to stay put by the tower with an ambush ready. So on the last day, the easiest place to find a scroll is near the tower."

"So basically we go after a team that has both scrolls and is heading for the tower!" Sakura said. No. If we did that, then we could take Kabuto-kuns. Which we won't! Grr…

"You're one-third correct."

"Huh?"

"I mean that you aren't the only ones thinking that. There could be others that have already set up traps."

"I see! So there are already tons of enemies waiting to ambush us near the tower! Hah! This is more exciting with that possibility!" Naruto yelled. "Bring it on! We'll kick their asses and pass the second test!"

"Kabuto-san, what's the remaining two-thirds?"

"People I call 'collectors'. Even though the tower is right in front of them, they continue fighting to get more scrolls in case they run up against a strong group and need to hand something over to get away. Or those that try to receive and favor information by delivering an extra scroll to them to a team from their own village. Or… those that want to pick off more teams while in a disadvantage to ensure an easier time during this test. You should realize without me telling the ones that are strong and confident in their abilities are the worst possible enemies."

"I see… I finally understand why you came out in front of us." Sasuke said. "It's because you're afraid too."

"Exactly."

"Or you could be trying to scrape up information on us." I said, not forgetting that just cause he's a little cute, he's still an enemy. "Right?" I asked and looked over at Kabuto. He pushed his glasses up and smiled.

"Well my cards aren't complete, so two birds with one stone, I guess you could say."

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"We can finally see the tower." We had stopped on a rocky ledge, the tower looking pretty far but not impossible to reach in the time limit. "We have to be more careful from here on."

"Alright! Let's go!!!" Naruto shouted. We all turned hearing a twig snap and Naruto was the first to throw a kunai. "There!!!" There was a splash of blood and a squishing noise. The kunai had pinned a giant centipede to a tree, it's legs wiggled for a little while.

"Naruto-kun… I'd like us to avoid unnecessary actions and noises from here on. Moving through the forest like an elephant will only tip off our enemies. And they don't have a fun welcome party waiting for us. From this point on… let's move slowly and carefully. Arashi-chan, if you would." I nodded and activated the Zetsumeigan and popped a few chakra pills. I tilted my head and looked around.

"Does this forest give off chakra?..."

"A bit." He answered.

"Then I don't think I'd be of any help." I said sighing and deactivating it. "There's not enough light to differentiate where the chakra is coming from unless my target is this close to me." I said, holding out my arms. He sighed and I felt a bit sad about letting them all down.

"Well then, let's all be careful."

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"I can't go on…" Sakura said, leaning against a tree.

"Sakura-chan?!" Naruto asked in a hushed voice.

"How long have we been walking? We aren't getting closer to the tower at all…" She said. I ran forwards a bit and saw that it was in the same place as before."

"It seems like… They've already welcomed us." Kabuto said. "See that?" He said, pointing.

"That's…! No way!" Naruto said. Pinned to the tree was the same centipede we should've passed hours ago. "Wh-what's going on?!?"

"Genjutsu?" Sasuke asked under his breath.

"Looks like… We've already fallen into their trap. Seems they've taken advantage of our worries and made us walk around in circles."

"They're watching us." Sasuke said, looking through the corner of his eyes.

"They probably plan to tire us out and use that opportunity to get is." I groaned.

"Then it's going like they planned…"

"Then in that case, they should be about ready to attack." Sasuke stood in front of Sakura, something that made me want to beat the enemies up even more. Everyone looked exhausted. My feet hurt… There were a lot of enemies and were most likely clones. "There's a lot of them!" I activated the Zetsumeigan, despite how low I already was on chakra.

"Clones?!?"

"Heh. It'll be more fun with a handicap."

"You're trapped now, you little rats." Naruto started to attack them pointlessly. When he punched one, it split in half and another clone was made. One of the clones got behind him and his back was turned to us.

"Naruto-kun!" I threw a couple shuriken but they were caught in the clones arm and when he swung his arm back, they came whizzing back to me. I couldn't move and the Zetsumeigan turned itself off. "Oh shit…"

"What are you doing?!" Kabuto yelled and swept my left leg from under me to push me to the ground. His left shoulder got cut and blood dripped down on my cheek.

"S-sorry…" He got up and helped me up. "I guess its no more chakra for me for now…"

"Does the fact that Kabuto-san got hurt mean they're shadow clones?! But shadow clones disappear when hit. But these don't! Shadow clones or genjutsu?! Which is it?!?" Naruto yelled, still fighting them off.

"Don't! It's useless!" Sasuke screamed. "They're illusions. This is the enemies genjutsu."

"B-but Kabuto-sans wound is real."

"No. Sasuke-kun is correct. The enemy is most likely hiding somewhere and matching their attacks with the movements of the fake shinobis. So that will make it seem like the illusions are attacking." Kabuto explained. I got out a roll of bandages and quickly wrapped it around his shoulder. I got out a lollipop from my kunai pouch and stuffed the wrapper back in. Cool. Strawberry flavor.

"Arashi-chan, what are you doing eating candy right now!" Sakura said.

"I need anything to get more chakra. And we're all out of pills right now."

"Then let's find the idiots throwing the kunais and kick their asses!" Naruto said, determined as always.

"But… This confuses where the kunai's are coming from and prevents us from accurately locating where the enemy is at. Which was exactly what they planned to do. They're the type that prefer long range attacks and are weak at Taijutsu and close-range fighting. The real enemy… won't reveal themselves until we can no longer move. At lease for now, we can dodge their attacks!"