Let The Test Begin!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, I only own my OC. (Female OC)

Summary: "Death, it's a funny thing really. There are people that fear the cold harsh whisper of death, while others welcome it like an old friend. Whenever I ever thought of someone dying, I always felt scared. I thought I was scared of dying, until I actually died."

Note: All information that I have I have gotten from Narutopedia, I hope I do not offend people by getting some information wrong! And if I do, I apologise in advance.

Also the Shīringu is mine alone, it belongs to me!

NARUTO

Ibiki points to us, "You, from the Hidden Sound Village! No doing as you please before the exam! You want to be failed at the get go?"

Dosu turned to Ibiki, "Sorry, it's our first time taking the exams, so we flipped out... despite ourselves."

Ibiki smirked, "Hmph. This is a good opportunity so I'll say this. There will be no battles, competitions and the like without permission of the proctors! And even if you get permission, actions that could lead to the death of an opponent will not be permitted. Any brat that screws with me will be disqualified immediately. Got?"

Zaku turned his head and smirked cockily, "This exam looks to be easy!"

All the proctors behind Ibiki chuckle slightly, accept for Haku who glares at him noticing that Zaku was near me and looked menacing. I smiled reassuringly back at Haku.

Ibiki frowns, "Now then, we will start the first test of the Chunin exam. Turn in your applications, take one of the numbers cards in exchange and sit in the seat of the matching number. After that, we will hand out the paper for the written test."

Naruto's eyes widen, he was rubbish at exams!

I pat his shoulder, "It'll be fine Naruto-kun."

Naruto's body sagged as we handed in our applications. I got the number forty four, I was near Naruto, who was at number fifty three, but I couldn't see him. I know Hinata is next to him so he will be fine; Sakura is about two or three rows behind Naruto.

I looked around, Sasuke was near the back. I was near... literally no one. I look to the proctors and saw Haku near the front of the exam room.

My attention was brought to the front when Ibiki started to write on the blackboard with chalk, "There are several important rules to this first test. I will take no questions, so listen accordingly!"

This got everyone's attention.

Ibiki began to write the rules on the board, "First rule is that you are given ten points each from the start. The written test has ten problems in all, each problem equals one point. And, this test is a point deduction system. You are deducted one point for each problem you get wrong."

I look at Naruto and then smirk to myself.

"The second rule, pass or failure will be determined by the total points of the three person teams." Ibiki says.

'Or in our case, four.' I think to myself. I just hoped that Ibiki didn't say four because it would be awkward and I know people would stare at my team, and I hate people staring at me, makes me nervous.

"W-wait a minute! What do you mean total points as a team?!" Sakura shouts.

"Shut up!" Ibiki shouts, "There is a perfectly good reason for this, so shut up and listen. If you're up for it, here is the next rule. Those who are deemed by the proctors as having committed an act of cheating or something similar to that will have two points deducted for each act."

I hear people gasp.

"In other words there may be those who will be dismissed during this test without waiting for the test grading." Ibiki informs us with a smirk, obviously loving the way people are in shock over this.

I however am smirking, 'Only if you're caught though.'

"Know that those who commit awkward cheating will bring ruin upon yourselves." Ibiki says still smirking, "If you aspire to become a Chunin at all, know that Shinobi act like exemplary Shinobi. And in case, if even one person on the team gets zero points, everyone on the team will fail."

I try and look for Sakura, knowing that she was freaking out about Naruto.

"The last problem will be given forty five minutes after the start of the test. The time of the test is one hour. Begin!" Ibiki says to us.

Immediately I flip my paper and look at the questions. If I was in my old world I would have struggled with this but would have been able to do this, but now I was smarter and I could do these questions without a problem. There were probably only a handful of people who could do this exam without cheating, Sakura, myself and Shikamaru being a definite. Sakura may be a fangirl, but she is smart, and Shikamaru is a genius, when he can be bothered. I wonder if he's fallen asleep.

Within thirty minutes I was finished with the test, all I needed to do now was wait fifteen more minutes before the tenth questions was revealed, which I already knew. I look around the room to see if I can see anyone this time, making sure I was discreet.

I saw a couple of bugs. That must be Shino, god that must come in handy. I also noticed one of the proctors looked different, that one was Kankuro's puppet. It was really creepy, it didn't even have pupils. I look up discreetly and saw the mirror panels were moving. Tenten, you sly person. But I smirk to myself, if anyone noticed that anyone could get the answers. And how the hell did she do that?!

Suddenly, a kunai was thrown at a Genin's paper, the person stands up, "W-what was that for, sir?!"

The proctor smirked, "You made five mistakes. You fail."

"N-no way..." The person said in shock.

The proctor points, "His two buddies, both of you get out of the classroom right now."

Two people stand up and walk out, damn they were Leaf ninjas, they should know better. The one caught cheating was still in shock. Eventually he walks away.

"Number 23 fails!"

"Number 43 and 27 fail!"

I look beside me; the person sitting next to me was out. He had to be forcefully removed because he wouldn't get out. He left kicking and screaming while I grinned at him, he was trying to cheat off me anyway.

A Suna Genin stood up and banged their hands on the table and shouted, "Hey! Hey! Do you have proof that I cheated five whole times?! Really, are you guys properly checking this number of people?"

A proctor kicked the Suna Genin into the wall with his arm at his throat, "Listen up. Even among us Chunin, we're elite who are selected for this exam. We don't overlook you even blinking once. In a matter of speaking, this strength is in the proof." The proctor let the Genin fall to the fall gasping for breath.

That Suna Genin was then removed along with his teammates.

"Number 59 fails!"

"Numbers 33 and 9 fail!"

"Number 41 fails!"

"Numbers 35 and 62 fail!"

I look down at my answers and notice something... there was an eye ball?! My eyes widen and I panic at first, it just looks at me. That's when I remember, Gaara's third eye jutsu. I smile at the eye and look away, might as well let him cheat, it was a cool move. As the eye was fading away I waved subtly at it.

"Excuse me."

I look up and saw Kankuro with his hands raised.

"What is it?" A proctor asks.

"I need to go to the bathroom." Kankuro says with smile.

Kankuro's puppet handcuffed him and took him to the toilet.

Finally, forty-five minutes of the test had passed. I was looking at the clock bored, it seemed that people were finished and had stopped cheating, which was really boring.

"All right." Ibiki says getting our attention, "Here is the tenth question!"

I look around; people were looking nervous and anxious. I definitely know Naruto was. He'd be shaking. I know he placed all of his hope on this one question because he couldn't answer any of the rest, there's no way he could. I even bet that some ANBU could have trouble with this exam.

"But before that, I'm going to add some rules for the last question." Ibiki says with smirk.

The door opens, revealing Kankuro and his puppet, back from the toilet. Ibiki scoffs, "Aren't you lucky? It looks like playing with the dolls wasn't a waste of time after all?"

Kankuro's eyes widen and he glares at Ibiki.

Ibiki sighs, "Anyway, sit down."

As Kankuro sits down, he passes the cheat sheet to Temari very discreetly.

"Let me explain!" Ibiki says getting our attention again, "These are the hopeless rules."

I swear I heard audible gulps.

"First, you guys will have to choose whether or not you will take this tenth question." Ibiki says to us.

Temari protests, "What, choose?! What happens if you choose not to take the tenth question?"

I expected Ibiki to tell her to shut up like he did Sakura, but he didn't, "If you choose not to take the exam then your score will be zero. In other words, you fail! And the same goes for the two others in your group." Ibiki explains looking smug.

Now people were protesting.

"W-what does that mean?"

"Of course, everybody is going to take the exam!"

"This is ridiculous! As if we have a choice!"

Ibiki dismissed the protested and started to talk again, "And, one more thing. If you chose to take it and are unable to answer correctly, then you will have to relinquish your right to take the Chunin exam forever."

Kiba shouts while standing, "What kind of ridiculous rule is that?! Besides there are plenty of people here who have taken the exam many time!" Akamaru barks in agreement.

Obviously he was referring to Kabuto.

Ibiki starts to laugh, "You're just unlucky. I make the rules this year. But I did give you an option to go back." Ibiki says darkly.

Kiba looks at Ibiki shocked.

"For those of you who aren't confident, you can choose not to take it and take the exam next year or the year after that." Ibiki says trying to convince some of us to drop out, and it was working for some.

When no one stood up Ibiki spoke, "Let's begin. The tenth question. Those who will not be taking it, raise your hands! Once I confirm your number, I'll ask you to leave."

Someone raised their hand right next to Naruto, "I'm quitting! I'm not going to take it!"

"Number 50 fails!"

"Number 130 and 111 fail as well."

Loads of people began to raise their hands, and in the end, our numbers were cut by a third. I was alarmed when Naruto slammed his hand on the table and shouts, "Don't underestimate me! I won't run! I'll take it! But even if I'm stuck being a Genin forever, I will become Hokage no matter what it takes! I'm not scared!"

'Go Naruto-kun!' I cheer in my head.

"I'll ask again." Ibiki says, "It's a choice that will alter your life. If you want to quit now, now is your chance."

Naruto grins, "I'm not going to take back my words! This is my ninja way!" It seemed like Naruto's speech had given the other confidence to take the test, Naruto was that type of person though. He could motivate anyone.

Ibiki looked at his proctors, who all nodded at them. This bunch wasn't moving anytime soon.

"I like your determination!" Ibiki says.

I nearly had heart failure... did he just compliment Naruto?!

"Then, those who are still here... The first exam... you have passed it!" Ibiki says smiling slightly.

The whole room stopped. Every Genin, besides me, looked at Ibiki as though he had two heads.

"Huh?" Naruto mumbled in shock as he dropped his pencil.

"H-hey, what does that mean? What about the tenth question?!" Sakura shouts out.

Ibiki starts to laugh with a grin, "There wasn't such a thing to begin with! Well, you can look at the choice you just had to make as the tenth question."

"What?" Sakura says in shock.

"Wait!" Temari yells out, "Then what were all those nine questions for?! Was it just a waste of time?!"

Ibiki smirks, "Not a waste of time. The objectives of the nine questions were already accomplished. It was to test your individual ability to gather information."

Temari looks confused.

"The focus of this test was on the system of determining the pass or failure based on the three man person groups that was proposed in the first rule. By grading the exam on a group bias, I added the unimaginable pressure of dragging down your teammates." Ibiki explains to us.

Naruto nodded his head, "I see, I see. I kind of felt that was the point of the test."

I scoffed loudly, making Naruto turn around and pout at me. Haku laughed behind his hand but smiled at us.

"However, the question on the tests weren't the things you Genin would have been able to solve. So in that case, I imagined that most of you here would have come to this conclusion: in order to score points, I'll have to cheat. In other words this exam was created under the premise that you would all cheat." Ibiki explains.

I smirk to myself, I was able you answer the questions without cheating, along with Shika-kun and Sakura. I wonder what level these questions were at.

Ibiki continues to speak, "I had two Chunin in the group who knew all the answer from whom you could cheat from."

The two Chunin raise their hands.

Naruto began to laugh, "There's something wrong with you if you didn't notice! Right Hinata!"

I was inwardly fangirling, Naruto was speaking to Hinata! I need to get these two together, they look so cute together!

"However, those who just foolishly cheated were naturally disqualified." Ibiki says unwrapping the Hitaiate around his head that acted as a band aid so no one would see his scars. My eyes widen at the scars, they were more impressive in real life.

"Information, depending on the time and situation will be more valuable than life. And in a mission or on a battlefield you will have to risk your life to fight for it." Ibiki says. On his head were a collection of burn marks, punctures from where screws were used, and long slash marks. I wanted to be sick at the sight; I could only imagine the physical torture he went through. Remembering what happened to him made me sick, but I took a couple of deep breathe to calm myself down.

I felt a gaze on my, I look and saw it was Haku, he was looking at me worriedly, I smile at him reassuringly. Haku nodded his head at me and looked back to Ibiki.

Ibiki puts his Hitaiate back on, hiding the scars, "When information is gathered and the enemy or a third party finds out about it, that information is no longer guaranteed to be correct. Just remember this. To be given the wrong information can bring a catastrophic blow to your friends and town. That is why, out of necessity, we forced you guys to cheat in order to test your ability to collect information. We then filtered out whose ability were clearly lacking."

"But the last question doesn't make any sense." Temari says.

"However, this tenth question was the main issue of this first exam." Ibiki says.

We all looked at him confused; I was trying to looking confused as everyone else so not to alert attention to myself.

"What do you mean?" Sakura asks.

"I'll explain." Ibiki says, "The tenth question was to take on the question or not. Needless to say, it is a painful decision to make. Those who chose not to take on the question would be immediately failed along with their while squad. Those who chose to answer the question and got it wrong would be robbed of their chance to take the exam forever. It really is an unfair question."

Ibiki walked around the room, "Then, how about these two choices? Let's say you guys did become Chunin. The mission is to steal a secret document. You have no idea how many ninja the enemy has, their ability and other armament they may have. On top of that, there may be the pitfall of an enemy trap. Now the mission, will you take it? Or not take it?"

Ibiki looked at all of us, "The answer is no, there will be some missions that you cannot get away from. No matter how risky or dangerous they may be. Showing your courage to your teammate in a tight spot and the ability to get through hardships. This is the quality that is needed in a Chunin troop leader."

Was it me, or was it taking a while before Anko got here? I was starting to fall asleep.

"In a pinch, there are those who cannot risk their own fate and those who waver and give up their chances because they think they will have another chance. I believe that such fools who don't have strong determination have no right to become a Chunin." Ibiki says.

Falling... asleep...

"The first exam for the Chunin exam has been completed. I wish you well." Ibiki says with a small smile.

"All right!" Naruto cheers. "I did! I did it! Yeah!"

Suddenly, Anko crashed through the window with a banner that she hooked up to the ceiling using two kunai.

"W-what's going on?!" Naruto shouts in surprise.

"You guys!" Anko shouts to us, "This isn't the time to be celebrating! I'm the proctor for the second exam! Mitarashi Anko! Let's move into the next stage! Follow me!"

I grin excitedly, I love Anko. She's so cool!

Anko was met with silence.

Ibiki, who was blocked by the banner stepped away, "Read the atmosphere." Ibiki says with stoic look.

Anko just glared at Ibiki.

Anko looked at us all, "Seventy nine! Ibiki, you let twenty six teams slide by?! I guess the first exam this time around was too easy."

Ibiki smirked, "It seems like this time there are a lot of excellent candidates."

Anko returned the smirk, "It's fine. I'll drop more than half of them in the second exam."

A couple of people started to get nervous.

"I'm getting excited." Anko says with a grin. "I'll give you the details tomorrow. We'll be changing locations so get the information from your Jonin about the location and the time! That's it, you're dismissed!"

NARUTO

I only made it so far out of the building before I felt someone grab my arm and drag me away. I look and saw that Sasuke was dragging me away, "What are you doing, Sasuke?" I ask in slightly shock.

"Sasuke-kun?" Sakura says seeing this and following, along with Naruto who was screaming at Sasuke to let me go.

We only stopped when we were at the Team Seven training grounds, Sasuke let go of me and stepped in front of us, "What's wrong with you?" Sasuke asks looking at me.

I look at him confused, "I think I should be asking you that question."

"Sasuke-kun, why did you bring us here?" Sakura asks looking at her beloved Sasuke.

"Yeah teme!" Naruto shouts.

Sasuke ignore them, "When Kabuto began speaking to us, and you didn't retaliate with a sarcastic comment like you usually do."

I look away nervously, was I really that obvious? I know I accidentally let one or two slide, but I mostly kept silent.

Naruto snaps his fingers, "I remember that! I was going to ask you, but we had to do the test."

Sakura looks at me, "Is something wrong, Akemi-chan?"

"What makes you think that anything is wrong?" I ask them.

I felt all three of their gazes on me, I sigh, "Fine."

Naruto and Sakura grin while Sasuke looks smug.

"I don't trust him." I say.

Sakura raises an eyebrow, "What do you mean? We've only just met him."

"And he was awesome!" Naruto shouts.

I look at the floor, how to I say this. I can't tell them the real truth, which I'm not from this universe; I'd sound like a mad woman. "I saw it with my Shīringu." I say after thinking for a moment.

"Saw what?" Sasuke questions me.

"On his Hitaiate, it has a Leaf symbol. But once I looked at it with my Shīringu, I saw the Sound symbol." I say looking at them.

Their eyes widen, "What?!" Naruto shouts in shock.

"But why would Kabuto-san lie?" Sakura asks looking confused.

I bit my lip, should I just go in for the kill?

"You know something else, don't you?" Sasuke demands to me.

I nod.

"What is it, Akemi-chan?" Naruto asks in concern.

"I think he's working for Orochimaru." I say after a few moments of silence.

Sakura's eye widen, "No way!"

"It's that the guy whose after your Shīringu?" Sasuke asks me.

I nod my head, "He is, and I'm afraid that Kabuto is working for him."

"That's crazy Akemi-chan." Sakura says shaking her head.

I sigh, this is what I was afraid of, that they'd think I was crazy, "Guys, just trust me. The Hokage told me to wary of people, along with Yukiko."

Naruto looks at me, "Are you sure?" He was being uncharacteristically serious, which I found slightly unnerving.

"Yes." I say.

Naruto nods, "Then I believe you."

My eyes widen, he believed me...

Sakura looks at him with an incredulous look, "You can't be serious Naruto."

"I believe you too." Sasuke says.

Sakura looks at Sasuke in shock, but then ends up nodding her head, "I'll believe you."

"I mean, when has she ever been wrong?" Naruto says with an easy grin throwing his arms back.

I smile at them, I didn't deserve them. Really I didn't.

"What do you want us to do then when he appears?" Sasuke asks me.

I shrug, "I think it would be best if we don't tell him any secrets, like what moves we can do."

"Got it!" Naruto says with a grin.

"Not like we would anyway." Sakura says.

"Hn." Sasuke says.

"Anyway, does anyone want to come to mine? I'm cooking dinner." I say with a large grin on my face.

Naruto waved his hand around, "Oh! Oh! Me!"

"I'll have to ask my parents." Sakura says looking unsure; she was also looking at Sasuke to see what he would say.

Sasuke looked reluctant but eventually nodded his head.

"Let's go!" I say leading the way.

After getting permission from Sakura's parents, we all headed to mine and Haku's. When we got there, I immediately started to cook; I had made Haku go out shopping this morning so the fridge was stocked to the brim. With both mine and Haku's steady flow of money coming in, and Sarutobi still giving me extra money, we were able to afford nice things, and a lot of food. Haku eats a LOT of food, competing with Naruto. You'd have never have thought that a sweet innocent fifteen year old boy would be able to devour eleven helpings of food and have room for three desserts.

To appease Naruto, I made homemade ramen.

Haku had come home and Naruto welcomed him with a hug. This was actually a common occurrence. Naruto came and ate at ours quite a bit now, says he loves my cooking. So Haku was used to Naruto hugging him when he got through the door. Sakura blushed when she saw Haku; I knew she wouldn't be able to resist his charms for long. Sasuke glared at Haku. But once swift knock to the head stopped him. To also make him happy, I slipped in a few extra tomatoes in his food, which worked like a charm; I think I even saw a smile. No probably not, probably just the ramen fumes.

Even Kakashi joined us, however, he didn't eat. Which I was kind of disappointed by, but didn't argue with.

Sakura agued with me saying that she could eat that much, since I had given them a large bowl each, but I soon convinced her. Naruto had no trouble wolfing down his ramen asking for seconds. Even Sasuke asked for seconds. In the end, Naruto and Haku had about six bowls each, and Sasuke had three. I had two and Sakura managed one and a half, which Haku and Naruto devoured.

I made sure they all left safely, sending a Clone with them. I yawned at the sink; I and Haku had a system. I would wash and he would dry.

"You tired?" Haku says drying a bowl.

I nodded, "Yep."

Haku smiles, "Who'd thought, my imouto taking the Chunin Exams."

I blush slightly, but smile nonetheless, Haku was the best Onii-chan I could ask for, "Well you're going to take taking the Jonin exams soon, aren't you?" I ask him.

Haku nodded his head, "I am, but I'm a little nervous."

"But you're amazing Haku!" I say washing another bowl.

Haku blushes lightly at the compliment, "Thank you, imouto."

"So Onii-chan." I say, "Do you know if any of my team were caught cheating?"

Haku stops to think, "I think Naruto was caught once, but that was it."

I smile, "Typical Naruto-kun."

"Akemi." Haku says. I stop washing, he had just said my name, and with his tone Haku was being serious. I look at my Onii-chan.

"Yes, Onii-chan?" I say.

"Be careful." Haku says softly.

I grin cheekily, "I'll be fine." This may be a lie; I don't even know if we'll survive the forest of death. I need to make sure Sasuke doesn't get the curse mark, but I don't know the outcome. I could get seriously injured doing so.

"You've been practising, haven't you?" Haku asks me.

I nod my head, "Of course." I had been focusing on my sealing and my healing. Healing will definitely come handy in the second part of the exam. But maybe I should put some pills that replenish my chakra. Yeah that would be a good idea, but I won't use them unless I'm desperate, I don't want to suffer any side effects.

Let's just hope I'm ready.

NARUTO

The next day had arrived and we stood outside the forest of death. Kakashi had given us the location and the time. Looking at the forest made me shiver of what was to come.

Naruto stood there looking at the forest with a thoughtful look.

Sakura looked down right scared, "There's something kind of creepy about this place." Sakura says.

"You have no idea." I mutter to myself.

Anko, who stood in front of all of us, grinned, "This place is called the Forest of Death, you'll soon realise why."

Naruto huffed and parroted what Anko had just said in ridiculous pose, I couldn't help but laugh at the sight.

"That kind of threat won't work on me one bit! I'm not scared." Naruto says with a determined look.

Anko smiled innocently at Naruto, "Really? You've got lot of energy." Anko quickly threw a kunai at Naruto, just grazing his cheek. Naruto stood there is shock, feeling the sting of the cut on his face. Anko flashed and appeared behind Naruto, "A kid like you dies at the very beginning, draped with the red blood I like." Anko says in a creepy voice.

"You're acting like a paedophile." I say flatly.

Anko turns her head and glares at me, but I just grin at her.

Suddenly, Anko turns around with another kunai in hand, the Grass Ninja, aka Orochimaru stood behind her holding Anko's kunai knife with her tongue. My eyes widen, I didn't even see Orochimaru appear. This made me anxious and tense. Sasuke sends me a look, which I ignore.

"I'm just returning your kunai knife." The Grass Ninja/Orochimaru says with his tongue still out of his mouth. You know I don't know whether to refer to him as a she because he's in a female's body, oh well.

Naruto's eyes popped out at the sight of the tongue.

"That's freakin' creepy." I say looking at the tongue.

Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura nod their heads.

Anko grins at the Grass Ninja, "Thank you for taking the trouble. But don't stand behind me, thirsty for blood, if you don't want a quick death." Anko says taking the kunai from the Grass Ninja's tongue.

"Well, it's in my nature to act up at the sight of red blood. And my precious hair got cut, so I got excited." The Grass Ninja/Orochimaru says.

"What other colour blood is there." I mutter to myself. The Grass Ninja seemed to hear me and whipped its head to me and glared. I froze for a minute, but then gained my composure and glared back; I will not be intimidated by a freaking snake paedophile.

The Grass Ninja seemed surprised but didn't say anything. The Grass Ninja backed away from Anko, "I'm sorry."

Anko smirked, "Evidently, we've got a lot of hot blooded kids this time. This will be fun."

Naruto gave Anko a side glare while holding his cheek.

I wondered how this exam was going to go. I had already informed the Hokage who Orochimaru would be disguising himself as. I know Anko was informed because of the very subtle glances she was giving the Grass Ninja, even before she did the... tongue thing. Luckily, the Hokage gave me some extra 'tools' if we did come across him.

Anko stood in front of us all again, "Well, before we start the second exam, I have to pass this out to you." Anko reaches into her jacket and takes out the consent forms, "It's a consent form. Before you take part in this test, you have to sign these."

"Why?" Naruto asks.

"From here on out, corpses are going to come out, I have to get your consent for that! Or it will be my responsibility!" Anko says with a dismissive tone and laughs at the end.

Sakura looks around with an uneasy expression on her face.

"Well, I'm going to start the explanation for the second exam." Anko says. "In a word, the limits of your survival will be challenged." Anko begins to hand out the forms to Naruto, who passes it to me, and I pass it to Sasuke, and so on.

"First, I'll give you a step-by-step instruction on the terrain of this Training Field." Anko says pulling out a scroll, "The Training Field is surrounded by forty-four locked entrance gates. There are rivers and a forest and a tower in the middle. It's about ten kilometres from the tower to the gates. It is in a confined area, you will go through a certain survival program. The contents of which are anything goes scroll battle!"

Anko shows us two scrolls, the heaven and earth scroll.

"Huh? Scrolls?" Shikamaru says.

Anko nods her head, "I want you to fight for two scrolls, the Heaven and Earth scroll. Altogether twenty-six teams got through the first round. Half of them will get the Heaven scroll and the other half will get the Earth scroll. I will hand one scroll to each team. To put it simply, that's what you're vying for."

"And the conditions to pass?" Sasuke asks Anko.

"Three of you bring the Heaven and Earth scrolls to the tower in the centre." Anko answers.

Sakura looks uncertain, "That means that of the thirteen teams, half of them will fail for sure."

"Except it had to be in time," Anko says, "For this exam the time limit is one hundred and twenty hours. Do it exactly in five days!"

"Five days!" Ino shouts.

"What do we do about food?!" Choji shouts in horror.

Anko smirks, "Be self sufficient! It's a treasure trove in the wilderness. There's more than enough for food."

"However," Kabuto says, "It's teaming with fierce people eating animals, poisonous bugs, poisonous weeds and much more."

"No way..." Choji says in despair.

"Fool, that's why it's called survival," Ino says in a scolding tone.

Neji speaks up, "Besides, it's improbable that forty people, thirteen teams will pass."

"The interval for activity gets longer with each passing day while time for recovery gets shorter, seems pretty gruelling!" Lee says with a grin.

Sasuke sighs, "On top of that, you're surrounded by nothing but enemies, even falling asleep will be a problem."

"You are all depressing as hell!" I shout out, they're making me feel depressed, and that's one emotion I do not want to feel!

"So, can you quit in the middle of it?" Shikamaru asks.

I grin, that is so Shika-kun.

"According to the rules, you cannot give up in the middle of it! I want you to spend five days in the forest." Anko says with a pleasant smile.

"Just as a thought, troublesome." Shikamaru says with sigh.

"Moving on, conditions of disqualification," Anko says moving on, "Number one, if all three members of the team can't make it to the tower with the Heaven and Earth scrolls within the time limit. Number two, if a team loses a member or a member becomes incapacitated. There's that and this is a supplement. Absolutely so not look at the contents of the scrolls until you have reached the tower!"

"What happens if we look half-way through?" Naruto asks a little nervous.

Anko grins at Naruto, "When you look at it you'll find out."

"Huh?" Naruto says.

Anko continues, "There are times when a Chunin must deal with super secret text. This is to test your reliability. That's all the explanation! I'll exchange your three consent forms for the scrolls in the hut over there. After that, pick your entrance and all the gates with open simultaneously!"

We all look at the hut.

Anko sighs deeply, "Finally, just a word of advice. Don't die!"

We all went off them in teams. Our team signed forms and walked around a little. I see out of the corner of my eye that the hut was being covered with a tent, so people can't see what scroll you get or who has the scroll. I look at Naruto, his leg was twitching, "Go pee now." I order him.

Naruto nodded his head and went into a bush.

I sigh in relief; one thing I did want to avoid was being split up. We needed to stick together. If I got Naruto to go for a pee now, he wouldn't as soon as we entered the Forest and wouldn't be replaced for a Rain Ninja.

"Oi, Sasuke." I say getting his attention, "we need to stick together as a team."

Sasuke nodded his head, "All the other teams are our enemy."

"I'm back!" Naruto announced.

Sakura also came back at this point, "Who do you think should carry the scroll?" Sakura asks us.

"I'll do it." I say almost instantly.

"But I want to..." Naruto whined.

Sasuke scoffed, "You wouldn't be able to handle it, dobe."

"What did you say teme?!" Naruto shouts at him.

"Guys!" I say getting their attention, when they looked at me, I continued, "We need to act as a team! If we don't we'll be killed in seconds!"

"Then what do you think we should do?" Sakura asks.

"We sleep in shifts." I say.

Naruto looked confused, "What do you mean?"

"One of us will stay away while the others sleep, and after so many hours that person wakes a teammate so they can sleep while they watch. This continues throughout the night, so everyone on the team at least gets some sleep." I explain to the team.

They nod their heads, "Anything else?" Sasuke asks.

"Besides try and get a scroll as fast as we can, no not really." I say.

"Why as fast as we can? We have five days?" Naruto asks.

"There will be people who will wait near the tower to ambush tired ninja, if we late too long, we could risk an ambush." I say to Naruto.

Sakura's eyes widen, "Do you really think they'd do that?"

Sasuke nods his head, "Very likely."

"How do you know all this, Akemi-chan?" Naruto asks me.

I smile slightly, "Haku gave me some advice before leaving this morning."

Naruto grinned at the mention of Haku.

"The less time we spend in the forest the more time we have to relax in the tower." I say after some thought.

"That sounds nice." Sakura says with a sigh.

"What about our chakra?" Sasuke asks me. To be honest I'm surprised he asking me, I thought he would ignore my advice and go off on his own, but he's actually listening to me.

"I have chakra pills with me, but we only use them when we are desperate." I warn then, I didn't want them becoming dependent on those pills, but they are there just in case.

"You're healing-" Naruto says but I cover his mouth quickly and look around, luckily no one heard him.

"Why are you covering his mouth?" Sakura asks me.

Once I was satisfied that no one heard Naruto, I remove my hand. "You do not reveal skills! That's so important, reveal nothing!" I hiss at Naruto, I wasn't angry, I was alarmed and I really hoped no one heard.

"What's so bad?" Sasuke asks me.

I sigh and answer lowly, "Medics are usually the first to die so the others can't be healed."

Their eyes widen in alarm, Naruto especially when he realised that he could cause my death, "I'm so sorry Akemi-chan!" Naruto says.

I shake my head, "It's fine Naruto."

"It's about time for the scroll exchange!" A Chunin says moving the curtain slightly.

"Let's go." I say walking over with my team on tow. In the end, I ended up getting the scroll, curtsey of Sasuke saying that I would look after it better. Just like in the anime, we ended up getting the Heaven scroll; let's just hope we can find someone with an earth scroll before Orochimaru finds us.

"Teams who have taken a scroll stay with the representative and move to the gate! We will start in thirty minutes!" Anko shouts to us.

Just like in the anime, we were at gate number twelve.

"Okay! I won't lose!" Naruto says getting pumped, "I'll bring down anyone that comes near me!"

"Yeah!" Sakura says getting ready.

Sasuke just smirked.

"Just remember what I said." I say looking at the forest with a serious look. I wasn't kidding around anymore; I needed to be on high alert. The Hokage has ANBU stationed around the forest that I can call straight away. All I have to do is send a chakra signal into the ground and they will appear. I've also placed a tracker in Orochimaru, so I know where he is. With that I should be able to guide the team away from him.

"We now start the second test of the Chunin exam!" Anko shouts as the gates all open and we all rush in.