A/N: Random findings. You want to know something weird, but kind of cool. I went on google translate and when I put in 'Uchiha' for the English box, I got 'Sasuke' for the Japanese. Thought I'd share if you've never tried it. Anyway, I guess time is getting away from me again. I got a job that isn't once a week for two seasons! Ever heard of Menchie's Fro-Yo? It's delicious. Updates with newly edited chapters may not come as fast as I hope. I'm still trying though, but so many things need to be tweaked in order to make sense. Gah! Well… Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto!

Second Round Jitters

The crowd of the other Genin stood in front of them in an open dirt area outside the gates, all having the same bewildered expression plastered on their faces. The grounds looked so unreal, like it was just some sort of genjutsu cast as another test to see who had the stomach to participate, but it wasn't. The deep, dark forest was as real as the ground they stood on and the air they breathed. There were obviously mixed feelings floating around in the surrounding atmosphere.

It was Team Shizen's very first time taking part in the second portion and this was not what any of them had expected. If the exams run the same in every place, every time, as Etsuyo stated, that would mean the Genin would be locked up inside the fence of the Forty-Fourth Training Ground. When the event began, every team was the enemy, but they weren't the only ones to watch out for. All the hidden animals and insects would have to be watched for as well. In there, nowhere was safe, no one was trustworthy, and anything could happen.

Ayako, Yumika, and Etsuyo began to stride forward to join everyone else. They tried their best to appear tough and unfazed, pretending the training ground wasn't intimidating at all. Appearing to be an easy target was not an option given the circumstances they knew about. Thankfully, actions speak louder than words, because Ayako and Etsuyo's views definitely contradicted their expressions.

"Wow…" Etsuyo gaped and kept her voice low. She couldn't take her bright blue eyes off the darkness as if it put her in a trance. "This is one disturbing place."

"Absolutely," Ayako didn't hesitate to agree, having the same face.

Though, Yumika felt the opposite. She actually wasn't faking the tough guy act. In fact, she felt quite calm. "It's just like home," she murmured and couldn't help but smirk at her words. In her reality, it was close to true. Beside the fact the training ground had creepy critters of the night the size of houses wandering around during the daylight; to her, it was just another forest like the one she lived in. The appearance of it didn't really affect her.

Simultaneously, her friends scoffed at the comment. They've known she was the type of girl who speaks without a care and bluntly states her opposing viewpoints. Still, what comes out of her mouth never ceases to surprise them.

While they made their way to the front of the crowd, not touching a single one person as they weaved passed, Ayako found a familiar spiky head of onyx hair in her sight. She immediately picked up the pace with Etsuyo and Yumika trailing close behind. At first, her change in speed confused them, but when the shifted their eyes in the direction she was heading and saw what she must have seen, they understood.

Seeing her brother tended to make Ayako's day a whole lot better for some reason. Maybe it was his confidence that always seemed to be radiating off of him, or how he was a good role model for never letting anything get in the way; or maybe because her motivation for becoming stronger wasn't just a mental image anymore; the real thing was only a few feet away. There was no doubt a contributing factor dealt with the fact she hadn't been able to see him for years and this was making up for lost time. Every chance she got to physically look at her twin felt…precious.

"Hey guys," she acknowledged Team Seven with a smile once she reached them. They each had their own way to return the greeting. Sasuke gave her a nod, Sakura waved, while Naruto, of course, spoke when he recognized her.

"Hi Ayako!" he yelled in her face like always. The excitement he felt could be sensed a mile away, after all he had enough energy to light up the village. "This place is pretty strange, isn't it? I hope you're ready because I know I am."

Ayako didn't answer back right away. Her finger was currently in her ear in an attempt to ease the ringing caused by the twerp. She felt like it would be a frequent action whenever she talked to him. "Yeah, Naruto," she finally responded once she could hear again. "It's intimidating but, we're ready." Yumika and Etsuyo nodded in agreement behind her.

"Alright, you maggots!" Anko's voice overlapped everyone else's. The conversations ended. "It's time we begin the second part of the Chunin Exams!"

In the next second, all bodies faced forward, all mouths shut, and all attention was given to the woman up front. The candidates were prepared to hear the details of their next task.

"They call this place the Forest of Death," Anko didn't hesitate to mention when she saw everyone settled down. "And soon enough, you'll find out why."

Ayako made a face of revulsion by knitting her eyebrows together and scrunching her nose. The proctor's sadistic and blunt personality kind of irritated her, especially how she carried those traits in a cocky fashion. Something about Anko just didn't sit well with her, but no one ever said she had to like the supervisors.

From the corner of her eye, she saw Naruto move his body in a strange way. Sticking out his butt, he placed his fists on his hips and wiggled from left to right. While doing so, he mocked Anko. "They call this place the Forest of Death. And soon enough you'll find out why!" he repeated, raising the pitch of his voice to sound more feminine. Then he regained his posture and playfully threatened, "Do your worst! I can handle anything!"

Ayako annoyance only grew from his hyperactive determination to make everyone think he was the best. "Naruto, shut up!" she hissed. She was just about the knock the kid on the head when suddenly a kunai zipped past her, cutting his cheek and causing it to lightly bleed. Instinctively, she stepped to the side and the next thing she knew, Anko was right behind Naruto holding his face.

The woman whispered into Naruto's ear, but still a few Genin surrounding the two heard the disturbing words. "Tough guys like you usually leave their blood all over this forest…" Those words easily scared him. He went stone cold then, freezing as she slowly wiped the blood on his face with on finger. He regretted ever speaking.

Without being seen moving forward, a Kusa kunoichi wearing a straw coolie hat appeared behind Anko. Her tongue hung lowly beneath her chin with the thrown knife at the end. Anko was defensive at first, pulling out another, ready to attack, but the freaky lady quickly explained she only wanted to return the weapon. The proctor accepted the kind act and took her kunai back but her emotion went from kind to deadly as she warned her not to stand so closely behind her, unless she wanted a premature death. She obliged without being affected and slithered back to her place.

"I think the other participants are freakier than the forest itself…" Etsuyo commented with wide eyes and pursed lips. Yumika let out a short chuckle, shaking her head. Ayako couldn't have agreed more.

Anko began to make her way back to the front as she spoke. "Now before we begin this test, I have something to hand out to you all." She reached into her coat and pulled out a stack of papers. "It's just a standard consent form," she explained, observing the curious stares aimed at her. "Before the test you all have to read this over and sign it."

"Why?" Naruto asked stupidly, raising an eyebrow even higher.

"Some of you may not come back," she responded, nonchalantly. "Due to that risk, I need your consent, or else it'll be my fault." She laughed deviously letting everyone know how unsympathetic she was even more. Mutters of her sanity as well as possibilities quietly broke out.

Handing the papers to Naruto for them to be passed around, Anko went on. "I'll be explaining the test as these come around. But first, I'll give you a description of the terrain of the practice field." Ayako was handed the pile at that moment. She grabbed one, passed it to her teammates, and directed her attention back to the front. She listened carefully to every word.

"The forty-fourth battle training zone has forty-four locked entrance gates. There are rivers and a forest inside. In the center is a locked tower located ten kilometers from each gate. It's in this confined area that you'll undergo the survival test. This will tackle every one of your survival skills by consisting of…" She reached into her coat again, but this time took out two small scrolls and held them up in front of her. One was white, while the other black. "Anything goes battle to get your hands on one of these." The white one had the symbol of Heaven, and the black had the symbol of Earth. "Altogether here, there are 28 teams. Meaning half will be looking for the Heaven scroll and the others will have to find the Earth scroll. Each team only gets one, which will determine the one you're vying for."

"Okay, then how do we pass?" Sasuke asked. He wanted to cut to the chase. All this explaining was worthless nonsense to him.

"Your entire team must bring both scrolls to the central tower," she instructed.

"That means at the very best, half of us will face," Sakura noted aloud. "Possibly more if some teams don't make it." Those chances intimidated her. After all, she wasn't much of a fighter.

"Hey, no one said it would be easy." Anko shrugged at her observation. This was the Chunin Exams. Nothing is ever easy thanks to all the rules and regulations. "There are ways your team can get disqualified. Including: If all three members can't make it with all three scrolls, or if a teammate becomes incapacitated and can't continue. But the most important rule is, you absolutely cannot open the scrolls before you reach the tower. You don't want to read it beforehand anyhow."

If curiosity wasn't an apparent feeling before, it was now. The scrolls had material within them forbidden from their eyes. Those words were like holding candy in front of a child, the temptation was inevitable. Luckily, the thought of failing and the way Anko warned them extinguished the feeling…for now.

"Another thing," she recalled something else she had to say. "The test has a time limit. You must complete this task within five days." At that point, no one could hold in their opinions. Majority of Genin thought it wasn't enough time and they expressed it by shouting at the proctor.

Ayako on the other hand, scoffed. Confidence slowly oozed through her veins. "Five days is a bit more than we need…" She nudged Yumika who rolled her eyes playfully. Overestimating their skills was something Ayako tended to do a lot. It helped her feel positive about succeeding. It stopped the anxiety. If only all the other Genin felt the same. It would end all the complaints being thrown around.

The three couldn't hold back their smirks at everyone's anguish. They remembered when they felt the same exact way during the first portion their first time taking the exams. After, they were more worried about whether or not their sensei would show up and stop them than the tasks needed to be completed. Now the only obstacles they were going to face were the other candidates who dare get in their way in the forest.

"This is designed to be a grueling test," Anko told them. She had enough of the whining because they obviously didn't know what to expect at all and it showed how unready they were to be shinobi. She questioned how some of them even became Genin. "I'm sure some of you won't be up to it, but you can't just quit in the middle of this because you can't quit during battle…well I guess you could but you'd just end up dead." She laughed again at her inappropriate 'joke'. It was pretty hypocritical how she handled the situation. She talked about how serious the exam was, yet made it a laughing matter.

"Alright, when your team is ready, you will be called to bring them over there." The woman pointed to her right with all seriousness once she stopped chuckling. "They'll exchange it for your scroll. After that, pick a gate and you'll be let inside when the time is right." She sighed. "Oh and one last thing…just don't die!"

"That's a cheery ending…" Etsuyo mumbled sarcastically.

All teams dispersed and made little huddles with their own all around the area. Some hid in the trees, behind large boulders, or out in the open, though staying away from the 'enemies' were managed. Privacy was respectfully granted during these moments. This wasn't the time to intrude. This was the time for planning mentally… because death was on the table.

The grounds were quiet as every single person read every single word on the sheet of paper. It could be easily determined there were those who had hope of finding a phrase or a word that would ensure a way to escape with their lives, but of course there wasn't. Still, they tried. After all, this could be the absolute end of them. What else would be expected? No one wants to die.

It was the number one word shinobi feared the most. The thought of it was enough to cause the body to freeze, the heart to race, and the mind to stop working. It was the ultimate bringer of sadness and sorrow. No more waking up to the sun shining, no more breathing in the fresh air, no more feeling your own heart thump, and no more seeing the ones you love. Death was the end of everything. Though, it was inevitable, preparations were made anyhow, because as a shinobi, it could happen at any time, by anything. But, even after all the attempts to accept it, no matter what, no one is ever ready. The only thing that can be accepted is the knowledge of knowing it may happen.

Team Shizen didn't bother to read it over. They were up for the challenge even if it involved risking their lives. They've done it many times before. Certainly, the thought of dying scared them, but none of them could see the future. If their death was un-for-told, they couldn't be afraid of it happening. If they weren't afraid, their emotions wouldn't hold them back. The documents were signed without opposition and all they had to do was wait for the sentinels to call their team back.

When they did, all three girls rushed forward and entered the little shack. In exchange for their consent forms, an Earth Scroll was their gift.

It was given to Ayako at first, but she didn't feel right about being the keeper. She believed someone else had the right to possess it. "Yumika," she spoke to her yellow-eyed friend. "Since we're in a place that you are more familiar with, the scroll will be safer with you."

Taking it from Ayako's hand, Yumika acknowledged her offer and slipped it into her back pouch. "Another thing," Etsuyo stepped in as they wandered back out into the open. "It'd be best if you're in charge. You know, of our battle techniques and tactics. Whatever you say, we'll do." Ayako hummed in agreement.

"Sounds good to me," the girl assured. "I'll make sure we pass." She sounded convincing, but honestly, it was a little unnerving considering her true feelings. She had to ignore them, though. She needed to think differently for them because she couldn't let them down now. Their success was in her hands.

Once everyone obtained a scroll, Anko gave out one last instruction. "Listen up," she declared. "Everyone has their scroll so go to your gate and wait there. When they open, the TEST IS ON!"

Team Shizen moved to their desired gate, number eleven. Coincidentally, Team Seven chose the one right next to them.

"Hey Sasuke…" Ayako caught his attention. Their eyes immediately connected. "Good luck! That goes for all of you. You guys better make it!" He only nodded as a sign of concurrence.

"Don't worry Ayako." Naruto flicked his wrist. He obviously wasn't seeing how big of a deal the forest was. "I'll make sure we get to the tower safe and sound!"

"Sure you will Naruto." She responded to his gloat adding an eye roll.

The conversation between the teams stopped there as they'd rather tune their minds into the task ahead.

All that was left to do was wait for the clock to strike two-thirty. Only a few minutes stood between them and the Forest of Death. With their eyes glued to the chains that were recently dropped to the ground, unlocking the entrance, and fists clenched at their sides, excitement ran through their veins. They were ready for the next challenge and they were ready to achieve another accomplishment.

The clock hanging against the gate ticked and ticked until eventually, the hands reached the wanted time. Once it did, Anko yelled the signal. "The second part of the test has begun!"

The gates swung open, clanging and rattling.

Ayako aimed her body towards her brother for one last time before departing. "See you at the tower!" She winked and saluted with two fingers as a goodbye. Facing front her team darted forward at the speed of light and were encased by the dark, eerie forest.

The team jumped from the branches making their way through the battle ground. Trees surrounded them from every corner. It wasn't as dark as it seemed from the outside. The forest was lit enough to make it possible to see clearly. The creatures seemed to have hid away once the humans entered their territory. It was quite quiet at the beginning. All of which would be taken advantage of by the girls.

Yumika was slightly ahead of Ayako and Etsuyo, scanning with her senses. She directed them away from the other participants as best she could to ensure they wouldn't get intercepted before they had a plan. "Should we go for the scroll now or later?" she asked, wanting their opinion. She was in charge of them, but that didn't mean only her ideas counted.

"Now," Etsuyo answered with certainty. She wasn't afraid to explain her reasons either. "Most likely, the others are coming up with strategies, base camps, or are analyzing the terrain. If we wait until everyone is active, this is going to be harder."

The second round of the exams may be new to them, but the situation at hand wasn't. Nishiya taught them well as they knew the usual steps a shinobi makes on a retrieval mission. They've encountered a few before. Though, minor difficulties occurred, sometimes barely any, the best plans came out of them.

"It may be the easy way," Ayako pointed out, "but we want to pass, and we don't need to get into any extra trouble just for the hell of it."

"Alright then, I'm going to begin sensing presences near us," Yumika instructed. "You two, choose a team you want to ambush." Tora no me, she thought. Her eyes shifted from yellow to green, and her pupils vertically elongated. The once normal vision she saw became less detailed. It darkened and blurred, and the only thing that stuck out to her were blue specks, representing chakra. Her senses heightened, and she became capable of knowing whether or not the spot was familiar and who it belonged to.

"Okay…wait," an issue came into Ayako's mind. "What if they don't have the other scroll?"

The girl looked left and right first. "Then we can call it a training exercise. When they wake up, they can continue the test," she explained. "Face it, we're not going to kill anyone even though Anko said we could. We're not the type to win that way." The other two agreed.

Right then, Yumika picked up on something. "Stop!" she halted on a branch. "I sense a pretty good target…and it's not anyone we know, I promise."

"Then we trust your judgment, let's go!"

They took a hard right and after a few meters, they stopped again above a young group of Kusa shinobi who were sitting in a middle of a small open field.

"Follow me," Yumika whispered her direction. Her eyes faded back to normal.

They slowly jumped higher up above their enemy. All three girls stood on the same branch staring down at them. "I can feel they're a bit edgy by how they're speaking right now." Yumika's head was tilted to listen to their tones. "Their voices are shaky…perfect, easy target."

"How are we going to go about this?" Ayako wondered.

"I can think of one way…" Before they could say anything, a growl began to emit from Yumika's throat. When she opened her mouth it escaped wildly, causing birds to fly away.

The team below stood up almost immediately and looked around nervously and frightened.

"What was that?" They heard the pink haired girl with glasses yell.

"I don't know!" Her team members answered.

"Just another little push…" Yumika grinned along with Ayako and Etsuyo. "Ayako, create a barrier around them so they can't escape."

Ayako did as she was told and moved to another branch for more room. She rose out her arms and encircled them in front of her. Water from a river close by surrounded the team below her with high walls. Slowly closing her hands, the water hardened into ice.

"Good," she praised. "Now you two might want to plug your ears because this one's going to be even louder." Following instructions, they plugged their ears with their fingers and braced themselves. Another growl erupted from Yumika, and as she warned, it was even louder. Her teammates slightly cringed, still being able to hear it.

Their target started to fuss and run around trying to escape. They screamed for help and banged against Ayako's water wall. Yumika then whispered into Etsuyo's ear. She nodded and took out three circular smoke bombs from her pouch. Placing her hand over them, Yumika said, "When these drop and explode, fall down there and take them out, Etsuyo. Ayako and I will remain up here."

"Will do," the red-head agreed and turned her hand to give up the circular weapons.

Yumika chucked them one at a time to Ayako who caught them easily. She extended her arm right above the middle of the area. Her palm downward, she looked at her friends. When they nodded, she dropped let them fall straight down.

A second later, the bombs landed in the center of the team and erupted into a cloud of black smoke.

"GO!" The Hakinowa ordered. The red-head leaped down from the trees and was engulfed. All that could be heard was the sound of yelps, smacks, cracks, and groans. When it was silent, Yumika took out a small fan from her back pouch and opened it. A green tiger eye etched in the center along with tiger marks on the wooden frame. She sliced it in front of her and the smoke blew away.

There, standing in the middle was Etsuyo, surrounded by three, unconscious bodies, looking up at her team with a Heaven scroll in one hand, while the other was in a thumbs up.

"Good choice," Ayako admired her friend's decision.

"Really it was a lucky guess," she responded modestly. They climbed down to meet their friend.

As their feet reached the ground, Ayako swiped her arms to the left, putting the water in motion to go back to its source. "We're already done!" she stated the obvious in joy after finishing.

"Should we head to the tower then?" Etsuyo questioned with a wide smile. She gave the scroll to Yumika so it would be with its other half.
None of them could give an answer, though.

Unexpectedly, they heard a loud rustling behind them. Their attention focused to it instead. The three braced themselves by raising an arm in defense, ready to attack if necessary. For just a moment it stopped, but then a low growl came from the same direction and they all flinched. At the sound, Yumika knew exactly what it was coming from, and her shock grew immensely.

"Oh…shit…" The words escaped from her parted lips.

"What is that?" Ayako uttered, sounding the pink haired girl Etsuyo just took out. She didn't take her eyes off the bushes and the darkness that lie behind it, hiding the creature heading their way.

"We have to go," was her reply before she turned around to face them. All seriousness showed in her eyes. "Now!" she sternly ordered, grabbing onto their wrists. She forced them to jump back onto the tree branches and as they did that, a tiger lunged out of the foliage and landed where they were just standing.

Yumika pulled her teammates away from the animal and made them run.

Things have now taken a turn for the worst… in Yumika's case for the most part.

A/N: In my opinion the ending was my favorite part. haha I just wanted to get this out already. By the way Tora no me means 'Tiger Eyes'. This became a whole lot longer than I expected... Thanks for reading!