Ruri never really was one to think about others' opinions.

She just sort of had an atmosphere about her that said, 'I'm here and I don't give a shit about what you think. Don't like it, too bad. Hit the road.' Well, she might have actually said that to people once or twice but the message was clearly there. She really just didn't care.

And secretly, Sakura sort of admired that about the girl. She wasn't the best looking and had awful taste in clothes, which were too big for her anyway, she had a scraggly old bandage that covered god knows what and she always had an intimidating expression, she had a pig nose and a long, horse face. But above all, no matter what people called her or said to her, she would never take it to heart.

Sakura sometimes wished she could say the same thing about herself. She knew she had an overly large forehead and could be mean sometimes but when people remarked it in conversation; she really did take it to heart. She could admit to herself that it did hurt her.

Maybe that was why Sasuke preferred Ruri, she didn't know.

Sakura expression turned sad as she turned her gaze towards her teammate who was watching the ginger girl carefully as they all stood outside the forest of death. Sasuke, I wish you would just notice me for once. Her cheeks turned pink and she bowed her eyes to the ground. A half smile twitched onto her soft lips. Maybe I should just be more confident…

.

Anko had talked for a while about what they were expected to accomplish in the exams. Yumi had listened carefully because she knew that she was probably the only one in her team that was listening. Ruri was busy being stupid and Milos was feeding his chameleon small chunks of apple he had saved in his sleeve pocket. All in all, Yumi was the brains of the team that was for sure.

The second exam tests the abilities of accomplishing a mission and real life survival, as the participants are locked within a dangerous training area and must reach the central tower and survive five days without outside help. Each team is also given either a Scroll of Heaven or Scroll of Earth and teams are required to possess both in order to the third stage, forcing them to fight one another and hold on to their own. Additionally, teams are forbidden from opening the scrolls until they reach the tower. Yumi nodded at her keen memory. She looked around at everyone filling out their forms, she'd handed their team's forms in without a second thought. She was so ready for this. As she looked around, she caught the red headed sand ninja's stare. As soon as their eyes met, his expression darkened and his sea foam eyes hardened into a blood thirsty glare. He was all the way across to the other side of everyone and yet she still felt unsafe. I want to see your blood staining everything. She could hear it just by the look on his face. She'd have to distance her team from his as much as she could once it began.

"Yo, Yumi. The exam's about to start!"

She could hear the words but her worried, dark eyes were focused intently on the boy who glared back at her. I can't let Ruri die just yet. She turned, not taking her eyes off of him until Ruri managed to drag her to the gate in which they would enter the exams through. Yumi looked around at all of the competitors. Some had nervous written all of their faces, others looked eager to kill their fellow genin. Those were the ones she would make a note of avoiding. She spotted the entire rookie nine. Most looked at ease, others were nervous.

"Let the second exams BEGIN."

As soon as the gates opened, Yumi shot forward like an arrow, dragging Ruri with her who let out a squawk of protest at her aggressive behaviour. As soon as Ruri got the gist, she jumped up to the tree canopies with the tanned girl, Milos in tow.

"What's our scroll."

"Heaven." Milos quickly replied, taking the chameleon off of his shoulder and slipping him in his ninja pouch. The lizard would be safe there.

"Okay, so we need to make our distance and then focus on getting the Earth scroll."

The other two nodded and Ruri looked behind her nervously and her single eye opened wide as she saw some sand ninja on their tail, smirks on their faces.

Yumi too noticed and her expression hardened.

"Don't slow down!" She growled. But as they drew closer, she knew there would be no escaping and her legs were already beginning to hurt. Suddenly she stopped, taking the ninja by surprise as well as her own team and grabbing two of her foes, she span and threw them with incredible strength, releasing a loud battle cry, her nose scrunching in vicious anger and her eyes widening fiercely. The two were flung through the air at immense speed, eyes wide at the superhuman strength. This was enough to quickly distract the other whilst Milos could clasp his hands together in the sign of the snake. Ruri stopped jumping and turned, a shocked expression on her face. Yumi had changed her mind and attacked. Milos's chameleon quickly jumped out of his pouch, sticking to the branch like putty.

"Ninja art – reptile transformation!"

A large cloud of smoke erupted from where he was standing and the sand ninja stopped, taken aback by what he saw.

The once tiny reptile had transformed in size, now ginormous. A large roar erupted from its throat which echoed through the trees. Ruri narrowed her eyes at the ninjas who hadn't given up just yet. The other two had recomposed themselves and turned to Milos who they knew had the heaven scroll on his person after watching the rookies intently before the exam started. The two males stared at the large chameleon in their way. We'd have to get it out of the way first. Then we can get their scroll. The taller one thought, eyes scowling.

"Ruri, don't come any closer!"

They both looked up to see a flash of ginger flying through the air before coming down onto them. The smaller one was taken out by a kick to the face and was sent spiralling downwards from the tree branches to the ground. The taller one turned a heated glare to her as she crouched on the tree.

"You fucking bitch!" He screamed before he jumped backwards, performing four very swift hand signs. Yumi's eyes widened as she recognized the wind technique. With quick feet, She jumped to Ruri, picking the lanky girl up and over her shoulder before rushing towards Milos who looked far too easy going in the situation as his giant chameleon dragged the screaming sand ninja towards its mouth, large tongue wrapped around his ankle.

"We need to move, now."

Milos jumped slightly at the tone of her voice but complied. His lizard had finished the job and gulped the boy down whole, eyes flickering around the forest for more food.

"Gomiko, let's go!" He shouted and the large reptilian friend crawled quickly in tow as they all retreated.

"Ninja art, blade of wind hurricane!"

Yumi jumped down to the ground with Ruri screaming out curses the whole way, Milos behind with his lizard that had transformed back and was perched on his shoulder. The four took cover behind a large tree as a huge gust of wind began to pull everything towards it. The three ninja all cringed, holding onto anything that might keep them from flying off towards the powerful jutsu.

It took about five minutes for the jutsu to wear off and by that time, the user had gone, along with an earth scroll. Yumi sighed in frustration. That could have been their ticket out of there. She suddenly threw the ginger kunoichi onto the ground and gave her a harsh look as the girl returned it.

"What the fuck was that for?!" She hissed, rubbing her coccyx which would definitely be bruised the next day. Yumi rubbed her temples, trying not to shout. Milos awkwardly stood at the side, looking between the two as he petted his chameleon.

"That was for nearly getting yourself killed. Idiot, you know you're not strong enough to take on guys like that!" The girl seethed, crossing her arms. Ruri scowled at her and looked away. She didn't like it being a known fact that she was useless. Ruri crossed her legs and scoffed.

"Oh, and you could of handled them?"

Yumi opened her mouth and then closed it, like a fish.

"I would have been fine. You on the other hand could have died."

Ruri stood in anger, clenching her fists and stepping closer to Yumi. What the hell gave her the right to talk to her like that?

"You know what, you always act like you're the fuckin' boss of me and I'm getting pretty tired of it." She snapped, bringing a finger up threateningly. "You know what I think; I think you want to hold me back."

Yumi gave her and incredulous look. Was the ginger kunoichi seriously going to accuse her of something so stupid? It's true, Yumi did have a superiority complex over the girl but only because she was…

Well…

Yumi lazily stared at Ruri.

"Well, if you're so sure you can handle yourself, go. We'll meet you at the end in five days."

Milos's eyebrows rose. He'd never expected that. Ruri felt a nervous feeling build in her stomach for a moment before she glared confidently at the girl and huffed, turning away from the two.

"Fine. I can take care of myself, just you frickin' watch. I'll see you bitches outside the tower."

And with that, she was off, jumping through up to the canopy. She gave them both one last glare before turning and sprinting out of sight. Yumi turned to Milos, arms still crossed. He gave her an incredulous look.

"Well, now we're one man short and still have to find an earth scroll."

She scowled at him before shoving her hands into her pockets. She could practically hear the accusation in his voice. He doubted her and wanted her to know it. She turned and began walking forward.

"Yes, I know that. Now, hurry up. We have to keep moving."

.

Ruri spun in a circle, questioning which way to go. Her gut told her North but she wasn't exactly sure where North was. She tapped a long, bony finger on her pale chin. She was surrounded by thick canopy and vines. She heard birds chirping and felt her tummy grumble, realizing she hadn't actually eaten for a while and it would get dark in a few hours or so. She thought back to survival training with Anko. Were birds edible? She dumbly stuck a finger in her ear like an ape. Her eyes opened wide. Wait… Chicken was a bird. So was turkey. She grinned. She was an absolute genius. She hummed a tune proudly as she looked up, trying to see if she could spot a bird's nest anywhere. She soon found what looked to be one, nestled in between two slim branches, messily assembled but somehow pretty neat. She raised an arm to shield her face from the small sliver of light that leaked through the branches. She scowled. She'd have to choice but to climb up.

It took her about half an hour just to climb up the damn thing. The tree trunk was thick and the first stable branch was about five feet up. When she got to the nest, it was empty save for two large eggs. She blanched, face going pale. It would be the only way…

She'd shoved the eggs in her ninja pouch so she could use her hands on the way down, stopping her from falling to her death or… a sprained ankle since it wasn't even that far up. When she got down, she smirked to herself. Can't handle myself, eh, Yumi-Chan. She cackled slightly and sat down but leapt back up when she heard a crack and felt an oozing wetness that soaked over her ass. She winced slightly. Oh no…

.

Yumi paced back and forth in front of the fire. Milos watched her, slightly agitated from her worrying as he ripped off the cooked squirrel meat.

"Yumi, she'll be alright. What ninja would attack her when she doesn't even have a scroll?"

The brunette girl crossed her arms over her chest and raised a thumb to her finger in thought. He had raised a good point. The girl would be useless to any passing ninja. She couldn't even put up a good fight either. Her eyes widened when she thought back to the redheaded boy. He would kill her without a second thought. Even though Milos was talking some sense, he obviously hadn't included the sadist ninjas who killed for sport. The ones who weren't actually in this exam for the title 'Chuunin,' but here for an easy kill. The types who hunted down loud mouth rookies like Ruri and toyed with them until they would beg for death. She stopped pacing and turned to Milos.

"That's it; I'm going to find her." She commented seriously. He let out a small moan of protest.

"Really? But we just managed to relax and this fire's really warm." He muttered the last part, making Yumi roll her eyes at him. She threw his chameleon at him that had managed to crawl its way up her shin and turned, running off. Milos glared after her and stroked Gomiko a bit. He sighed upon the realization that he really had no choice.

.

Ruri held herself as she looked around warily. It was dark and she was mentally screaming for light. She had no idea how to start a fire and every noise made her jump out of her pale skin. Her chest heaved up and down as she crept onwards, eye wide with fear. She let out a quiet scream as she heard a low grumbling noise but realized that it was in fact her stomach. She hadn't managed to find anything else to eat after those damn eggs and her combat pants were beginning to stink like rotten eggs which, although she didn't usually keep the best hygiene, hated. She couldn't see a single thing and carried on moving in the dark. She hated the dark.

"Haha! Did you see the look on their faces?"

Ruri jumped, shaking slightly like a skittish rabbit when she heard the voices talking in the dark. She looked up in fear, in the direction of the other genin that wondered through the night just like her.

"Yeah, they never saw it coming!"

She could smell something delectable but wasn't too sure of what it was. She noticed a small flicker of light that she hadn't before. Light… She stared in awe and began crawling up the tree like a bush baby, eye wide like one too. She had to get to the light if she wanted to survive. When she was at the large branch, she stopped and waited. There were three of them. She didn't care enough to look at their head bands to check what village they were from but they looked strong. Stronger than her. She could see what had caused the lovely smell and looked at it. Turkey? No, it wasn't that. Her gaze darkened when she found the source of the delicious aroma. One of the genin lay on the ground, smiling at the other two. It was the boy. Something in her stirred. It wanted to spread over her like a cancer and ate at her stomach with hunger. She didn't know what it was about him but…

An orb shone in the darkness, a slanted pupil growing and stretching within red. It watched them like a predator and it would strike when the moment was right.

.

Yumi panted and bent over, hands on her knees. It was early morning and she had been on the go for hours. She'd searched everywhere close to where Ruri had left but there was no sign of her. She grew nervous. Had something happened? She carried on jumping from branch to branch, hands grabbing onto others and propelling her forward like an acrobat. Dark circles were forming under her eyes from lack of sleep and she tutted. She wasn't used to such a thing. Her stomach growled since she hadn't eaten when she could have. Milos had offered but she was too busy worrying about her 'friend.' Ruri would have been gone for a total of 12 hours, in which anything could have happened to her. She could have been eaten by a large animal, she herself could have eaten something poisonous thinking it was a sushi roll or something. Yumi gulped when she thought back to the sand genin. She could have been brutally murdered.

"Yumi-chan, look there!" Yumi's eyes gleamed with hope, thinking Ruri might be right in front of her or something cliché like that but instead, she saw smoke twirling up into the air. But only an idiot would light a fire in an exam as dangerous as the Chuunin exams. Her eyes hardened. Maybe it's our idiot. She'd sped up significantly under the influence of hoping very desperately it was Ruri.

When they jumped through the branch, they were shocked at the sight. Milos turned and cupped a hand over his mouth.

"Oh my god…" He uttered, gagging.

There were body parts everywhere. Absolutely everywhere. Yumi narrowed her eyes. What could have done such a thing. A wild animal probably. But as she observed the scene, she saw a roasted turkey. Milos sniggered.

"Well, whatever it was clearly didn't want the turkey."

Yumi rolled her eyes and picked the meat up for herself, biting into it. It was cold and the meat was dry but it would do. She tried to ignore the putrid smell of massacre but she just could handle it so with a shake of her head and a cringe, she jumped down to the ground level. Milos followed her, looking around.

"You don't think it got her, do you."

Yumi stopped biting into the meat and froze. She hoped not. But then again, if that had happened, they would have been disqualified already. The boy began to pat his pants and look around.

"Oh no…"

Yumi rose and eyebrow.

"What now."

Milos stuck his hand in his pouch feeling nothing but his scaly lizard.

"I think I've lost the scroll."

Yumi rolled her eyes and pulled it out of her own pouch making him awkwardly stare at her, feeling stupid. How strange, he'd never usually be such an idiot. Maybe the role of Ruri was contagious.

Milos jerked his head slightly.

"Hey, isn't that her. And who's that…"

His eyes widened.

.

Thank you all for reading! This chapter's pretty long and I have to say, I really enjoyed writing it! Please rate, review and follow. I love me a good follower. Thank you all again!