Ch. 9

The strength to accept death

The teams were all back in the room where they had started. There were overall twenty teams. Less than at his first chunin exams. He'd made it hard to try to get the team from the sound knocked out, but it hadn't worked.

"All right kiddies listen up! Your next task is a survival task. You are to show up in the village square tomorrow at six o' clock. If you are late you'll be disqualified. Be sure to bring all the equipment you think you need. You'll get the rest of the information tomorrow."

He turned and left through a door at the back of the room. Kankuro grabbed his wireless which he had kept in his pocket. "Gaara."

"What?" came his brother's voice at the other end.

"We have twenty teams for the next task."

"More than half of them will probably fail during the next one."

"Yea. By the way, the genjutso didn't knock out the sound team."

"Well, they probably have a specialist in that area or there sensei taught them all to recognize it and cancel it."

"It was the girl who canceled it, for all of them."

"Wait the genjutso for them focused on them as an individual?"

"Yea that was how their room was set up."

"I want to see the video of them in the room."

"Well I'll be sure to bring it to you."

Meanwhile back in the room………….

"Well we made it," said Ookami, "This second task should be easy."

"Not necessarily, this isn't like surviving at home," said Hoshiryu as he started to lead the others out of the room.

"Excuse me."

They turned around. The girl from the sound team was there, her head as usual down toward the ground. "What's your name?" she pointed at Hoshiryu.

"Why would you want to know?" Hoshiryu asked her reaching for his bag of kunais. If she decided to try to kill him know he'd be ready. Ookami looked from the sound girl to Hoshiryu. She knew that Hoshiryu had just stiffened. Something he did when he anticipated a fight. Raion had noticed too and sent her a worried glance.

"I just do," she responded. She never lifted her gaze from the floor. This girl made Ookami uneasy. Something about her was not right.

"Nara Hoshiryu," He told her.

"I thought so," she said turning around and heading back to her own team.

"Hey!" yelled Ookami. The girl turned around.

"What is your name?" Ookami asked her.

"I'd rather not say," she said before she continued on her way.

"Dude what's with you?" Raion asked Hoshiryu.

"Nothing."

"You're lying," said Ookami as they started to walk out.

"Dude tell us," Raion said.

"No, you guys wouldn't understand," Hoshiryu told them.

"What wouldn't we understand?" Ookami asked.

"Look I can't tell you because I don't really know," his team mates stopped as he kept walking. He stopped a few paces ahead of them. "I want you guys to promise me something."

"What?" asked Raion.

"If I die while we're here promise me that you two will look for my sister."

"There is no way that you can die here Hoshiryu. Even during the survival task we'll have a safety line."

"Just promise me," he said turning toward them. Ookami saw something then that she hadn't wanted to see. Hoshiryu was the bravest of their squad. Yet for the first time since his sister was kidnapped she saw fear in his green eyes. It was hard to see, but it was there.

"Dude it's not like it's going to happen but I promise," Raion said.

"Ookami?" asked Hoshiryu. She remained silent. "Ookami?" he said again a hint of pleading in his voice.

"I promise."

Meanwhile with Koshaoto………….

"What was that about?" asked Ryu.

"Just checking something," Koshaoto told him.

"I'm going to go get the supplies guys," Ryu told them, "Maybe it's best to leave you two lovebirds alone."

"Ryu, for the last time Niourki and I aren't going out."

"Whatever," he said leaving.

"What was that really about?" asked Niourki as he and Koshaoto made to leave. He hadn't told Ryu or even Koshaoto, but he really liked her.

"Hoshiryu was one of the people in my memory dreams. I…..last night I dreamed that I had to kill him."

"Kill him?"

"I have no idea why, he mentioned protecting me once, but there's more."

"More?"

"He said that his family's name was Nara. I know that from somewhere. I just can't put a finger on it."

"Well there was a Nara Shikamaru who killed Lord Kabuto."

"Yea every one knows about him. He foiled the plan that Lord Kabuto had set to make our village stronger."

"Yea but nothing else was really taught to us about him."

"Yea, and right now I wish I did know more," Koshaoto told him.

"Tell you what, I'll go look him up in the Suna library for you and you can ask Sensei about him. He probably knows a bit more than we do."

"Thanks Niourki."

Meanwhile…………….

Gaara winced. He had never felt anything like this before. Pain shot up his body at irregular intervals. Finally it stopped as suddenly as it had begun. A knock was heard at the door.

"Come in," Gaara grumbled.

Kankuro entered holding a couple of tapes. "Did you want to see any one else's tapes Gaara?"

"Not especially."

"There are a couple of things here I think you should see."

"I want to see the sound team first then."

"Okay," Kankuro said walking over to a TV. which was conveniently in the room. He pressed the on button and slip a tape into the VCR.

Instantly an image of three people walking into the room showed on the screen. All of a sudden they seemed to lose their balance and surprised looks appeared on the boys faces. The girl's head was turned down so no one could see her face. Weapons headed toward them every once and a while. Then after a few minutes the girl said, "Kai," but no hand sign had been used.

There was a conversation between the team members, before they destroyed the machines. As they were being destroyed the girl covered her ears. Kankuro stopped the tape. "We had a machine that recorded what ever sound this dude made," Kankuro pointed at the boy in the black cloak, "was too high for any normal human hear, she obviously heard it because he," Kankuro pointed at the other boy, "was unaffected."

"Strange, though not unheard of," Gaara muttered.

"What are you thinking?"

"She was raised in the sound she could be able to here those tones because they are used around her all the time. The boy might not be as exposed to them."

"I think you need to hear this."

Kankuro pressed play on the VCR. "Nice," the girl said, "you gave me a migraine………"

"Sorry I forgot you had sensitive ears."

Kankuro removed the tape. "It isn't that she had been around them. Not from the way he implied."

"Odd…….I wonder what she's hiding," said Gaara putting his feet on his desk and leaning back in his chair.

"I know. She kept her head turned down the whole time. It has to be something with her face."

"Can't be to sure," said Gaara.

"Well there's another thing I think you should see, it has to do with one of the sand teams."

"What?"

"One of them has used a jutso that none of our anbu know about."

"Who?"

"His name is Haru. I think you'd better watch the tape."

Kankuro put the tape in the VCR and fast forwarded it to the fight part. "The boy on the left is Haru."

Gaara watched the boy as he calmly attacked the jonin with the jutso. "Snakestealer jutso."

"Go back," said Gaara, "I want to see what kind of hand signs he used."

Kankuro set it to frame by frame and rewound the tape. Gaara watched as the boy first did bird, then one that he did not know. The right index finger and pinky sat on the left index finger and pinky. He'd criss-crossed the others below and had the thumbs sticking up. "What hand sign is that?" Gaara asked.

"Beats me. Some of the anbu are looking into it."

"I wonder what else he knows."

"So do I Gaara, so do I."

Unices: And I'll leave you hanging.

Temari Sabaku Nara: Why do you always end this story in a quote?

Unices: because I did in Cursed Love, and don't ask why because I don't know.

Temari Sabaku Nara: Okay, Neither me nor the pegasuses-unicorn thing own Naruto, if you don't know check her profile

Unices: I have a name!!

Temari Sabaku Nara: You do?!?

Unices: I'm Unices!!!!!!!!!!!!!!