Chapter 10:::Waiting

Nami watched a huge snake eat a bird inside the forest Anko was telling them was the Second Exam.

"Well it just seems lovely." she said sarcastically.

Gen was shaking.

"What's wrong with Gen?" she asked Fuyu.

Fuyu looked at his brother concerned, and put a hand on Gen's shoulder. "He's afraid of snakes."

Nami frowned. Oh poor Gen-kun." she hugged him tightly. "We'll just have to look out for those nasty snakes."

Gen hugged her back and both happily rubbed their cheeks together. Fuyu rolled his eyes and pulled them apart.

"Pay attention." he said flatly.

Both Gen and nami pouted and looked at Anko.

She was smirking in amusement and the nervous Genins in front of her. "You will be able to experience why this place is called the Forest of Death."

Gen froze at the word death. Nami frowned and put an arm around his shoulders.

"Don't worry, she's just trying to make us scared."

He nodded.

Naruto snorted and put his fisted hands on his hips. "You will be able to experience why this place is called the Forest of Death." he mimicked irritably. "Ha! There's no point trying to scare us like that! I'm not scared at all!"

Nami smiled. "Once again he has to announce it." she whispered.

Anko smiled and tilted her head to the side, eyes closed and said in a sickly sweet voice. "Really? You sure are energetic." With her eyes still closed she threw a kunai that just barely hit Naruto's face and appeared behind him.

"Boy like you die the fastest." she said grabbing hid face and turning it to his bleeding cheek was facing her. "After spilling out that red blood I love all over the place."

She went to take some, but quickly turned, another kunai ready for any attack. It turned out to be a Grass-nin returning her other knife with his tongue. Naruto looked officially freaked out and Nami would have laughed if it wasn't for the tension in the air.

"Here's your knife." said the Grass-nin.

Anko smiled the same sickly sweet smile as before. "Thank you."

Nami hid behind Hinata. "Are all head examiners for this thing scary and creepy?" Hinata nodded nervously.

Anko continued the talk to the ninja with the long tongue. "But don't stand behind me like that. That is, unless you want to die young." She took the kunai back and the Grass-nin's tongue recoiled.

"Well, I get itchy when I see blood. Also, my precious hair was cut, so I got a little excited."

Nami shivered at the ninja's voice. It was like a maliced filled purr.

"Naruto-kun..." Hinata muttered.

Nami watched the Grass-nin looked at Naruto. He was trying to see how far he could stretch his tongue. She smacked her forehead. "Don't worry about that baka Hinata-chan, he's fine."

Hinata just nodded.

Anko moved away from Naruto. "Before we begin with the Second Exam, I'm going to pass these out to everyone." she took a stack of forms out of her pocket. "These are consent forms. Those taking this exam must sign these."

"Why?" Naruto asked.

"From here on, people will die. Therefore, we need people's consent before we continue." Anko smiled as if it was a big joke. "Otherwise I'd be held responsible." She laughed.

Nami moved from her spot behind Hinata. "Oh yes, and we wouldn't want that."

Anko nodded. "Exactly, now, I will begin the explanation of the Second Exam. To be concise, you will all go through an extreme survival match." She gave the forms to Naruto, who took one and handed the stack to someone else.

"First," Anko unrolled a map. "I'll explain the training fields geological features. The 44th training area is a circular region surrounded by 44 locked gate entrances. There is a river, a forest, and a tower in the middle. The tower is approximately 10 km away from the gates. Inside this limited space, you will have to go through a certain survival program. The program consists of a competition where anything goes over these scrolls." She rolled the map back up and took out two scrolls.

"Scrolls?" Sasuke asked.

"Yes." She showed both. One was labeled heaven, the other earth. "The Scroll of Heaven, and the Scroll of Earth. You will fight over these scrolls."

Anko's face was blank. "26 team in total passes the First Exam. Half of those teams will get the Scroll of Heaven. The other will get the Scroll of Earth. Each team will get one of these scrolls. Simply, you have to fight over these."

"And? What's needed to pass?" Sasuke asked.

"Bring the Scrolls of Heaven and Earth to the tower with your teammates." Anko answered.

"In other words, 13 teams, half the people, will get their scroll stolen and fail." Sakura stated.

Anko nodded. "But it need to be done within the time limit. This Second Exam has a limit of 120 hours or exactly five days."

"Five days?!" Ino shouted outraged.

Chouji eyes widened. "What about food?!" He looked like the world just ended

Nami rolled her eyes. "Chouji-kun, possible death is a little worse than missing a few meals."

Chouji glared at her backpack, which was filled with food. She had gone a little overboard again when she made the food. "Easy for you to say, but what are the rest of us going to do?!"

"Scrounge it up yourself. The forest is a treasure box of nature. There should be plenty of food." Anko told him.

"However." Kabuto added. "There are a lot of man-eating beasts, poison bugs, and poisonous plants."

Chouji's face fell. "Oh no"

Ino looked at him. "Stupid that's why it's called survival."

"Also, it's not possible for 13 teams, 39 people, to pass." Neji added.

"As time passes you are required to move more. So, the time to rest your body becomes shorter." Lee smiled. "This seems quite rough."

"And we're surrounded by enemies. We won't be able to sleep in peace." Nami said smirking. "Luckily, I slept a couple extra hours to be prepared and I drank a lot of coffee. I won't be able to good to sleep for days."

Fuyu and Gen hung their heads. Now she's going to keep us up. They thought at the same time.

"People will get hurt in the process of fighting over scrolls." Anko said. "And those who can not bear this program's strictness will emerge as well."

Shikamaru raised his hand half-heartily. "Excuse me, can we quit in between?" He asked

Nami sighed. Such a lazy guy.

"As a rule, you are not allowed to give up during the Exam." Anko said sternly, before smiling sweetly. "You will spend five days in the Forest."

Shikamaru crossed his arms. "Just as I thought...how troublesome."

Anko got a bored look on her face. "While we're on this topic, here are the conditions that will tail you." She held up a finger. "First, a team that can not bring both scrolls to the tower with three teammates will fail." She held up a second finger. "Second, a team that loses a teammate or produces an unrecoverable teammate will fail. Also just as a note, you are not allowed to look inside the scrolls until you reach the tower."

"What happens if you look?" Nami asked.

"That's a surprise you'll see when you look at it." Anko answered in a mocking voice. "If you become a Chuunin, you will be handling top secret documents. It's to determine your reliability. That is all for the explanations. We will exchange three consent forms for one scroll at the hut," she pointed the the wooden hut to her right. "And after picking your gate entrance everyone will begin at the same time."

Anko sighed out of breath. "Here's a last piece of advice...Don't Die!"

Everyone spread out into their own teams or by themselves. Nami was pacing in front of the sitting figures of Fuyu and Gen, reading her consent form. Once finished she stopped and faced them.

"Okay, we can do this, and nothing will happen as long as we're smart. Right?"

The twins nodded.

"And to be smart we have to stick together and use teamwork."

They nodded.

"But one of us will need to step up, someone has to take charge."

Fuyu raised an eyebrow and Gen frowned. "What?"

Nami crossed her arms. "As Genins we learn to use teamwork. As Chuunins we learn to be leaders. We have to think of this exam as a real mission. It is the leader's responsibility to make sure that the scroll stays in our possession and that the team they're assigned stays safe. This test is to tell whether we're ready to take on that kind of responsibility. Our assignment is to keep our scroll safe and to take the other by any means necessary. This test is not to be taken lightly. Everyone is the enemy, trust no one."

Gen raised a hand. "But what about our classmates? Sasuke, Shikamaru, Kiba...what if one of their teams' have the scroll we want-"

"Are they still the enemy?" Fuyu finished.

Nami pondered that for a moment. If I take Naruto's scroll he'll be mad at me. If I take Shikamaru-kun's scroll he probably won't care, but Ino sure as hell will. I don't want to be on her bad side, she's crazy. It would be pretty funny to take Kiba's scroll just to see the look on his face, but Hinata-chan is my friend.

"Well?" The twins asked.

Nami shook her head. "Yes, they're still the enemy and we can't foolishly trust them because they're our friends, but we should set our sights on teams from different villages. Even though this exam should be taken seriously we still don't want to be on our allies bad sides when it's over. But if it's necessary we will take the scroll from one of them, hopefully that won't happen." she watched as the examiners closed the curtain around the hut. "I see. We won't be able to see what type of scroll each team receives and who's carrying it. Alright, there's a 75 people, taking out that people we're not going after it's 57-"

"57? I thought you just said we weren't going to go after our classmates." Gen interrupted. "Who are the other three teams?"

Nami looked at the red haired Sand-nin. "I don't want to fight Gaara of the Sand...there's something about him." She shuddered.

Fuyu nodded. "And the other two teams?"

Nami turned her gaze back to her teammates. "One is Lee's team. We'd never be able to beat Lee or Neji, maybe Tenten, but Neji wouldn't trust anyone but himself with their scroll. Also that guy with the long tongue, he just rubs me the wrong way. Plus did you see how quick he got behind Anko-sensei, he's dangerous. Gen has the first aid kit and water, and Fuyu you have a map right?"

Fuyu nodded.

Nami opened her pack, it was stuffed with food. "Now, I have enough food to last a month and we could always hunt otherwise, do you care if I give some away, the pack is very heavy."

Gen shook his head. "Go ahead. We have food too."

Nami nodded. "So now we just have to sign these and decide which of us will lead the group. Any suggestions?"

Gen stood up. "I nominate Nami-chan!"

Nami raised an eyebrow. "Really, cause I was thinking Fuyu could-" She looked at him.

Fuyu shook his head and stood up. "Both of us are good with strategies, but you're a quicker thinker when you're not too tired to comprehend what's going on. I cave in stressful situations. This is the type of thing you're best at. Besides you seem to have the whole thing figured out already."

Nami smiled and ignored the doubt in the back of her head. She signed her form and handed the pencil to Gen, who signed and handed it to Fuyu, who signed. Nami grabbed all of the papers and looked at her watch. "Well we still have fifteen minutes. So do whatever you see fit, I'm going to find Chouji."

Nami threw her bag over her shoulder and walked in the direction she saw Chouji and Shikamaru go earlier. She looked at her feet as she walked. Am I really ready for this? What if I make a mistake? What if Gen or Fuyu get injured? What if- Nami was cut off when she ran into something solid and fell backwards onto the ground.

"Ow...that hurt."

Someone laughed. "Geez...didn't know you were ugly and clumsy, aren't you supposed to be a girl?"

Nami scowled at Kiba and stood up. "Shut up, I was just thinking, something you seem incapable of doing."

Kiba crossed his arms. "Why are you such a bitch?"

Nami glared. "Hey, you were the one that made fun of me first, not even bothering to help me up."

Kiba waved a hand. "No I mean in general. You're nice to everyone, but me. What's your problem?"

Nami shrugged. "You're an arrogant bastard, and always make fun of Naruto. Why should I be friends with someone who doesn't respect me or one of my closest friends. Now if you excuse me, I have to find someone." She walked past him, but paused. "Oh yeah, I almost forgot. I have something for you."

"Huh?" Kiba asked surprised.

Nami ignored him and took out a treat from her bag. "Here Akamaru, I made this for you." She held the treat in front of Akamaru from his place in Kiba's jacket.

Akamaru barked happily and ate the treat greedily. Nami laughed and patted him on the head. She shot a glare at Kiba before walking away.

Kiba shot a jealous glance at Akamaru. "Why do you get a treat?"

"Woof Woof Arrf!" 'I'm cuter than you.'

Kiba scowled and watched her walk away. He couldn't help thinking. She has a pretty laugh...

When Nami found Chouji she was amused to find Ino and Sakura trying to out glare and out shout each other.

"UGLY UGLY UGLY!"

"FOREHEAD FORHEAD FORHEAD!"

Both glared at each other again before each turned and walked away with a loud 'humph!'.

Chouji and Shikamaru looked scared.

"Hey, why do those two hate each other so much?" Chouji asked.

Shikamaru sighed, annoyed. "I don't know such a troublesome thing."

Chouji looked at Nami as she walked closer. "What do you think Nami?"

Nami shrugged. "No idea whatsoever."

"But you're a girl, you should know these things." Shikamaru said.

Nami rolled her eyes. "I chose long ago that I would rather fight with my fists than with my words. I no longer speak or understand the language or species that is girl. Well anyway, here Chouji-kun, I saw you eyeing my food earlier."

Nami opened her pack and took out about half of her food and handed it to Chouji. Chouji's eyes brightened and he immediately started munching on a rice ball.

"Thanks Nami."

Nami shrugged and handed Shikamaru an onigiri. "No big deal, I made too much, might as well sare before we become enemies."

Chouji and Shikamaru blinked. "Enemies?"

Nami nodded. "Of coarse. Once those gates open and the Second Exam begins anything can happen. Well gotta go." She turned and waved back at them.

Chouji shrugged and continued to eat. Shikamaru eyed his food before taking a bite.

"You know what?" Chouji asked in between bites. "Even if she acts like a guy she still cooks really good."

Shikamaru nodded.

As Nami walked back over to her team one of the examiners peeked out from behind the curtain. "It's time to trade your forms for a scroll."

Nami looked around for Fuyu and Gen and spotted them in the same spot she had left them. She waited for them before entering the hut. She exchanged the three forms for a heaven scroll and gate number. She pocketed both and Squad 9 made their way towards gate 28.

"Okay, you guys ready?" Nami asked.

Both nodded.

"Once these gates open we're going to find somewhere safe to discuss any battle tactics before any action is taken, okay?"

Again the twins nodded.

The minutes of waiting passed like hours. Finally the examiners took the lock off the gate and Anko looked up from her watch.

"We will now begin the Chuunin Selection Second Exam!"

All gates were opened and all participants entered to Forest of Death.

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