Really sorry for the super long wait, I had an essay and then a bunch of things came up and I went on vacation for a few days. There will probably be another long wait somewhere in May.


Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.


Tatsuo, Mai, and Kakashi raced inside the Forest of Death. Mai glanced at Tatsuo and Haruki.

"We should find a source of water, can you smell any streams or rivers?"

Tatsuo shook his head. "It's too near the gates right now, it's not safe, dummy." Kakashi gulped and leaned away from the pair as Mai's temper rose. She cracked her knuckles and walked menacingly towards Tatsuo.

"What...did...you...call...me?" Mai said threatenly. Haruki whined and backed away. Tatsuo was still oblivious of the danger, he stuck his tongue out at Mai.

"I said dummy, dummy. Do you have hearing problems too in addition to being dumb?"

A second later Tatsuo was on the ground rolling in pain, with a bump swelling painfully on his head. Mai glared at Tatsuo.

"I didn't mean finding shelter right now. I wanted to find a stream if there was one nearby, then follow it deeper into the Forest of Death, which would save lots of time."

"Oh…" Tatsuo grinned sheepishly and sniffed the air. Soon, with Haruki's help, they located a stream and started going deeper into the Forest of Death. Each step they took, the trees got more huge and twisted, and the sun's rays slowly dimmed until little light shone through the canopy. Growls and rustles sounded from the bushes as they ran past, making the forest ominous and scary. They stopped to rest twice, but other than that, they didn't stop moving. The first day was the most important, you had to find shelter and a water source fast, or else you just had to stay alert all night and bear the thirst. That made you more tired and vulnerable, easy pickings for the other genin teams.

Finally, when it was about 4:00, they found a shallow cave located near the foot of a mountain. Vines covered the entrance of the cave, hiding it from sight. It wasn't perfect, but it would have to do. At least it was near the stream.

"Finally, I'm so tired." Tatsuo said as he flopped down onto the cave floor. Kakashi sat down beside him with a weary sigh. Four hours of running while on high alert was tiring for anyone. Mai set a few genjutsus that would mask any sounds or scents coming from inside the cave and made the cave seem like it wasn't there. After she was done with that Mai walked over and joined them.

"Let's look at the scroll now, we'll want to find it before the other team who has number 7 does." Kakashi said. Tatsuo groaned.

"Why right now? I'm tired."

Mai shot him an angry glare, and he shut up immediately. She took out the scroll and rolled it open.

In a place, where it's not cold but no flowers grow,

it's not a lake, sea, stream, pond, ocean, or river, but water is your greatest foe.

Beware, things are not as they seem,

one wrong step, and you are forever silenced; no one will hear your screams.

In this place, there lives a giant beast,

if it bites you, poison will run through your veins until death is what worries you the least.

It has no fur, arms, or legs,

what you seek lies in its eggs.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Mai exclaimed. Kakashi had no clue either. The first four lines seemed to be describing a place while the last four lines described an animal. Apparently the medal is in the animal's eggs, or is there even an animal at all? Maybe it was a metaphor, but then, maybe it was literally meaning an animal. They pondered this for the next hour, but nothing came to mind.

'Where it's not cold, but no flowers grow...a desert? But there's no water in a desert. And one wrong step and you are forever silenced...maybe if you accidentally step in the water and drown? But what has water that isn't a lake or an ocean?' Kakashi frowned as he thought about all the biomes that he knew about, but nothing came to mind. He looked at the next four lines.

'So basically this beast can poison you and lays eggs. It also has no fur, arms, or legs, what is that supposed to be? Lots of things are giant in the Forest of Death, I think I saw a giant rabbit once. Uh, what do I do? Father would probably tell me to use my head already.' Kakashi felt a pang of guilt when he thought about his father. Because he had been so busy training for the chunin exams, he had barely seen Sakumo in the past few weeks except for that time before Hanami's funeral. Kakashi hadn't even told Sakumo about the chunin exams yet, though he knew he would find out sooner or later. He knew that his father wouldn't want him to attend, but he wanted to. Kakashi wanted to help win the war, and staying back at the village doing D-Rank missions wasn't helping enough.

Eventually, Tatsuo groaned and sat back.

"I give up, this is too hard." Haruki sighed and laid her muzzle on her paws. Mai let out a frustrated yell.

"Ahh, this is impossible. Why is this so hard?"

Kakashi sighed and was about to go back to studying the scroll when Haruki suddenly sat up and whined anxiously. Tatsuo was instantly on alert and sniffed the air. His eyes went wide.

"There's a team outside right now. I think they've detected the genjutsu."

Kakashi and Mai stood quietly, hands hovering over their weapon pouches. "Tatsuo, use your Fang Over Fang and try to hit one of them, Mai and I will cover you." Kakashi whispered. For once, Tatsuo didn't question his order. He glanced at Haruki and they charged outside, Kakashi and Mai followed closely.

"Fang Over Fang!" The two swirling drills smashed into the ground where the enemy team was standing a second ago. There were two girls and one boy on the enemy team, all of them looked to be a few years older than Mai and Tatsuo. The girls looked to be twins, both having straight brown hair pulled into a ponytail and dark green eyes. Kakashi recognized the boy, it was Monki Sarutobi, son of the Third Hokage and brother to Asuma Sarutobi. He looked similar to Asuma, with short black hair and brown eyes.

"Scatter! We were found out!" One of the girls, Twin 1, shouted. Her twin, Twin 2, immediately threw some kunai at Tatsuo, but they were all deflected by the swirling action of Tatsuo's Fang Over Fang. Kakashi quickly launched an attack of his own. 'Boar, Ram, Snake, Horse, Dragon!'

"Lightning Release: Electromagnetic Murder!" This was a new jutsu that Minato had taught him, and though Kakashi didn't have enough chakra to make it fatal yet, it was still powerful enough to paralyzed a genin for a few seconds. A bolt of bright blue lightning shot from his outstretched hand and hit Twin 2. She fell to the ground, limbs twitching uncontrollably. Mai seized the chance and put her opposing thumbs and index fingers together.

"Mind Trans-!" Unfortunately, there wasn't enough time to start the jutsu before Monki pulled her away. Mai quickly ended the jutsu so she wouldn't be disabled for the several minutes. Kakashi tensed as Monki went through some hand signs. He made a ring with his thumb and index finger and took a deep breath.

"Fire Release: Fireball Jutsu!" A huge ball of flames shot towards Kakashi and Mai. They quickly dodged to the right, avoiding the blazing hot attack, but had no time prepare themselves as Twin 1 threw a bunch of kunais at them. They deflected it easily, and the kunais landed around them. However, a hissing sound soon filled the air.

"Explosive tags!" Kakashi shouted. He only had enough time to bring up his arms to shield his head before they went off. He braced himself for the pain, but it never came. Instead, something crashed into him and threw him backwards. A soft whine told Kakashi who it was.

"Thank you, Haruki." The black dog growled in acknowledgment before running off to her owner. Kakashi glanced towards Mai, and was glad to see that she was fine. However, Tatsuo, who had pushed Mai out of the way, was not so fine. Mai had been closer to the tag than Kakashi had been, so Tatsuo was not able to escape the blast entirely. His right arm and side was badly burned.

"We're from the same village! Why are you trying to kill us?" Mai shouted furiously. Twin 1 smirked, twirling a kunai on her finger.

"This isn't just a friendly competition among comrades. It's a test to determine who is good enough to make chunin. Whoever makes chunin will be able to fight in the war."

"You would attempt to kill your own comrades just to fight in the war? Why would you want to fight in the war anyway?" Kakashi accused. Twin 2 laughed mockingly.

"It isn't just about fighting. It's about earning respect through winning fights and becoming a hero." She said. Tatsuo snarled in anger.

"You're both disgusting people! Don't you care about your comrades at all? Hundreds of people are dying, and all you care about is your own reputation?!" Tatsuo shouted, gritting his teeth against the pain from his burns. Haruki was beside him, gently licking her partner's wounds. The twins flushed in anger at Tatsuo words, their gazes switching from mocking to downright murderous.

"How dare you insult me? You…" Twin 1 began angrily. She started forward, hands already running through seals. Kakashi tensed, they were at a disadvantage here, with Tatsuo down and the opposing team being more experienced than they were. But it didn't mean that they had no chance of winning, they still had one more trick up their sleeve: Mai's Mind Transfer Jutsu.

"Wait!" Monki held up an arm to stop her from attacking. Unlike his teammates, Monki looked almost sympathetic towards them.

"What?" Twin 1 said impatiently.

"They're no match for us, so why should we waste our time to deal with them?" Monki turned to Kakashi, Mai, and Tatsuo and held out a hand. "Give us your medals and scroll and we'll let you go unharmed."

"Like we ever will! We're no match for you? You're no match for us! Just because you're older doesn't mean you're better!" Tatsuo shouted defiantly.

"Yeah, like we're ever going to give up! You just wait! We're going to beat you up! Even if we gave you our scroll, you're too dumb to figure out what the answer is!" Mai yelled from beside him. Kakashi grinned under his mask, he knew that Tatsuo and Mai would never give up. They were one of the most stubbornest people he had ever met, second to only Obito and Kushina.

"See Monki? They're just arrogant brats. Let's teach them a lesson." Twin 2 said. "And for your information, we already figured out our answer. We got the medal so easily, all we had to do was push that tiger into a swamp and watch it drown while we took the scroll from it's back." Monki sighed regretfully and shrugged. Twin 2 smiled evilly and started to make seals, but Kakashi wasn't paying attention. 'I got it! The answer to the riddle!' Kakashi was snapped out of his musing when Twin 2 had finished preparing for her jutsu.

"Water Release: Raging Waves!" Water gushed out from Twin 2's mouth, and Kakashi narrowly avoided the powerful waves. Tatsuo started throwing shurikens at Twin 1 as fast as he could with his right hand while Mai and Haruki also ran towards Twin 2. Kakashi almost reached Twin 2 when he saw Twin 1 raise both of her hands.

"Lightning Release: Thunderbolt!" Jets of blue lightning enveloped her arms and raced down her body to the water she was standing in. Kakashi and Mai quickly jumped up so they were not touching the water anymore. Luckily Tatsuo was lying on a small hill, so the water did not reach him, but Haruki didn't jump fast enough, and the lightning hit her.

"Haruki!" Tatsuo shouted. Haruki whined in pain as her body convulsed and fell into the water. Kakashi hastily ran over to her and picked her up. He was only able to touch her because his chakra nature was lightning, which automatically makes the effect of most electric shocks smaller. Kakashi laid Haruki down next to Tatsuo and quickly returned into the fight. Tatsuo waited until the electricity on Haruki's fur disappeared before gently petting her. His expression turned furious.

"You're going down no matter what! Nobody hurts Haruki and gets away with it!" Tatsuo grabbed a bunch of kunais from his weapon pouch and threw them at Twin 1. An idea suddenly came to Kakashi, and he also started to throw kunais at Twin 1, though with something extra attached to them. He made sure that his throws were accurate. If he could make this work, it might turn the fight to their favor. Kakashi made sure to attack Twin 2 as well, just in case she decided to attack them while they were focusing on Twin 1. Mai was currently engaged in a fight against Monki, though Kakashi knew she wouldn't last long against the more experienced genin.

"Mai! Get ready to use your jutsu!" Kakashi shouted to her. All of his kunais were exactly where he wanted them to be, Kakashi just hoped this would work. He quickly threw some kunais with explosive tags tied to them, making Monki jump away. Twin 2 tensed, preparing for whatever Mai's jutsu is, when they all heard Twin 1 gasp in shock. Earlier, Kakashi had tied strings of wire to the kunais and shurikens, and he had slowly created a net of wires around Twin 1. Twin 1 had tried to move forward, but her leg snagged on a wire and she almost tripped. When she tried to lift her head, a wire on top blocked her.

"You sneaky brats! Wait till I get out of this!" Twin 1 reached down to her weapon pouch with some difficulty and managed to take out a kunai, though her hands were badly cut from the wires.

"Mind Transfer Jutsu!" Mai said, her hands in a box shape. Twin 1 paled, she knew how powerful of a jutsu this was. She quickly cut the wires, paying no heed to the fact that the wires could cut her severely if she was not careful. It all came down to who was faster. If Twin 1 was able to dodge Mai's jutsu, Mai would be unconscious for several minutes, giving the opposing team plenty of time to end the fight. And with Mai, Tatsuo, and Haruki down, and Kakashi being the only one who could fight properly, the fight wasn't going to be much of a challenge for them.

Mai collapsed the same instance Twin 1 cut herself loose and leaped away. Twin 1 closed her eyes briefly when she leaped away, but Kakashi couldn't tell whether it was because of the jutsu or if it was just a reflex.

"Did it work?" Tatsuo asked. Kakashi held his breath as Twin 1 slowly opened her eyes. A smug smile appeared on her face.

"Nope. The jutsu missed. I told you they were just little kids."

Kakashi's heart sank. They had no chance to win now.

'We failed.'


The Sandaime Hokage sat in his office, his hair growing whiter by the second. Konoha was losing the war, slowly and surely. The Hidden Rock had allied with the Hidden Cloud to fight against the leaf village. The Hidden Mist was still attacking every village except for its own. He also had a meeting with the Kazekage later this week, which the result could range from forming an alliance that would hopefully help them win the war to getting himself assassinated. And also add the fact that the chunin exams were made easier to pass so more soldiers, no, children, could be sent out to fight, and die, in the war because Konoha needed more soldiers. No, the Third Hokage was not happy.

Most of Konoha's forces were at the border between the Hidden Grass and the Land of Fire. The Hidden Rock was slowly but surely pushing them back. The Three Sannin were currently hunting down Hiruko, the betrayal of their friend had hit them hard. He had also been sending Minato to help turn the tide of many battles and skirmishes, but he never sent Minato too far away. The Third Hokage made sure he could always return within a day. If the village was attacked, it would take more than the Third Hokage, the Nine Tails Jinchuriki, and a bunch of genins to defend it.

The Third Hokage turned back to the map, trying to decide where to target next, when the constant stream of voices outside his office had suddenly stopped. After a moment, he heard his assistant's voice.

"Shimura-sama, the Hokage is currently busy!"

"This is urgent." Came the reply. The Third Hokage sighed, 'Not now, Danzo.' He then raised his voice to the people outside could hear.

"It's fine. Let him come in." He said. The Third Hokage waited until the door was closed and Danzo was in his office before speaking.

"What?"

"The Hidden Rock had succeeded in pushing us back several miles into the Land of Fire. Furthermore, most of the spies we sent have been found out and killed." Danzo's calm voice said, as if none of that mattered. The Third Hokage clenched his hands into fists and puffed on his pipe. If this continued, Konoha would lose the war.

"As soon as the Three Sannin are finished hunting down Hiruko, send them there. Also send Minato Namikaze to help push back the line. We must hold the line, no matter what." The Third Hokage paused to take a few deep puffs from his pipe, then continued. "As for the spies, are there any professional spies in our village?"

"No, but I could train some in a week if you'll give me permission to reform R-"

"No!" The Third Hokage said sharply. "Root is an inhumane and cruel thing."

"Do we have any choice?" Danzo countered. "The village's safety against the insignificant emotions of several people, which is more important?"

The Third Hokage's mouth tightened on the pipe. Everything Danzo said was true, but should he agree? He stood up and turned around to look down at the streets below through the window. Even though it was wartime, children still played happily on the streets. If they lost the war, the children's parents would probably be slaughtered, and those who had some potential to be ninjas would be brainwashed to forget their loyalty to Konoha while the others who didn't have any potential would be killed. Did he want that? With a heavy feeling in his heart, he spoke.

"Very well, Danzo. You have permission to rebuild Root. Dismissed." The Sandaime Hokage could almost hear the sound of children shouting at him, accusing him of letting them go through the rigorous and cruel training of Root, but he tuned them out. He had a war to win, and he was going to succeed, no matter what prices he had to pay.


Minato walked toward the Hatake Compound with Kushina beside him. Minato wasn't sure whether Sakumo knew that Kakashi was currently in Stage 2 of the chunin exams, so he felt like it was his responsibility to tell his student's father. When he told Kushina about his idea, she had decided to come along to cheer Sakumo up. Sakumo probably didn't know though, or else he would have already been barging into the Hokage's office demanding the nomination to be cancelled. Because if there was one thing that Minato was a hundred percent sure of about Sakumo, it was that he loved Kakashi. He knew just as well as anyone else that chunin could be sent out on battlefields, and one who was the genius son of the legendary White Fang would be targeted by enemy shinobi, trying to eliminate Kakashi before he grew up and became powerful. If Minato was honest with himself, he was secretly hoping that Kakashi would fail Stage 1 of the chunin exams, but that was not going to happen. The Third Hokage had gone out of his way to find the genin team that would work the best with Kakashi so he would be safe, but that also gave him a bigger chance of passing the exams.

They reached the Hatake Compound after a few minutes. The entire front yard was completely silent, giving the whole area an eerie feeling. Minato hesitated in front of the front door, not that willing to knock, but Kushina felt no such nervousness. She marched straight up to the door and knocked, smiling friendly.

"Hey! Sakumo! You in there? This is Kushina. Minato's also here with me!" There was no answer. Kushina expression turned into a furious one and started to kick the door.

"Sakumo! Open up right now or I'll kick the door open! Don't think I don't know you're in there! You're always in there these days!" Kushina yelled as her kicks grew more violent. Minato laughed nervously and gently pulled her away from the door before she kicked it down.

"Kushina, let's not kick the door down, okay? Just calm down-"

"Calm down? What do you mean by calm down? Am I not calm right now?" Kushina said as she crossed her arms with a menacing expression. Minato unconsciously took one step back.

"Well…"

Before Minato could say anything more, the door opened. And inside dark and foreboding doorway was Sakumo.

"H-Hatake-sama!" Minato said, startled.

"Hehe, hi there Sakumo. Nice to see you. I wasn't really going to kick down your door, ya know." Kushina said while guiltily scratching the back of her head. Minato waited for a response, but all Sakumo did was turn around and walk back inside, leaving the door open. Minato and Kushina exchanged a glance, then after a moment's hesitation, walked in after him.

The house was covered with dust and cobwebs. The blinds were all down, and no lights were on. Minato coughed as he stumbled into a pile of dust. Eyes watering, he looked into the kitchen, where Sakumo was sitting down.

"Sakumo?" Kushina said gently, sensing the sadness coming off from Sakumo. Sakumo didn't react. He looked as if he hadn't slept for more than a few hours in this entire month. More lines were also present on his face, making him look years older than he actually was. Minato frowned slightly and sat down across from Sakumo while Kushina made some tea. She set three cups down and sat beside Minato.

"Why are you here?" Sakumo's voice was gruff and raspy. His eyes shifted up and looked from Kushina to Minato. A flicker of unease appeared in his eyes. "Is it about Kakashi? Has something happened again?"

"Well, I don't know if you already know, but...Kakashi's attending the chunin exams. He's in Stage 2 right now." Minato said. Sakumo's expression went from resigned and tired to alarmed in a split second. Minato gulped and quickly said, "Kakashi's doing fine though, his teammates are also pretty nice to him and I'm sure there's going to be no danger since it's only Konoha attending…"

Minato trailed off. It was clear that Sakumo wasn't listening to him. He slammed his hand down on the table suddenly, making the tea spill from the cups. Sakumo stood up, and glowered at Minato with a furious expression.

"Why in the world would you nominate him? Was I wrong to trust you as Kakashi's sensei?" Sakumo shouted. Kushina gasped in outrage and stood up too, going eye to eye with Sakumo.

"How dare you accuse Minato of that? He would never do that to Kakashi dattebane!" Kushina yelled right back at him. Sakumo turned to look at Minato, looking every inch the powerful shinobi he is. Minato felt beads of sweat gather on his forehead, but he met Sakumo's gaze without flinching.

"I didn't want to. It was the last thing I wanted to do to Kakashi, but I had no choice." Minato said sincerely. Sakumo stared at him for a few moments more, trying to determine whether he was telling the truth or not, then he sighed and seemed to deflate as he sat down. Sakumo was silent for a long time before speaking again.

"I'm sorry for accusing you of that. Just tell me, how is Kakashi? He's been more distant lately, he barely stays in the house anymore."

"He's been training hard. He says he won't stop until he's as strong as you." Minato said cheerfully, but then his expression sobered. "If Kakashi does pass, you know he could be sent out to fight in the war."

"I know, that's why I want to ask a favor from both of you." Sakumo said. He looked at them seriously before saying.

"In the event that I am unable to, please protect Kakashi to the best of your ability." Sakumo's eyes bore into his and Kushina's.

After a moment's silence, Minato nodded and met Sakumo's eyes.

"With my life."

"Me too! Dattebane!" Kushina chimed in, though she then said angrily. "If only that old geezer would just let me go out and fight!"

Sakumo sighed in relief. He nodded in thanks, but Minato heard him murmur something that sounded suspiciously like "now I can rest assured." Minato was about to ask him about it, when Sakumo spoke again.

"When does the Third Stage of the chunin exams begin?" After telling Sakumo the date, Minato and Kushina were politely asked to leave him alone with his thoughts. Not willing to intrude anymore, Minato left with Kushina.

As Minato left the Hatake Compound that day, he felt as if something bad, no, horrible was about to happen. He wrote it off as Kakashi passing the chunin exams, which he couldn't do anything about. Little did he know, that was the last time he ever saw Konoha's White Fang alive.