Pretty Cute for a Red-Head(Part 11: The Second Test: To The Tower!)

Gaara's POV

My siblings and I had arrived at the tower rather quickly it seemed. No other teams were there until much later. The next team to arrive seemed familiar to me in a way I was uncertain of. The slow realization crept up in me that this was the team Ami had saved from my sand.

Ami… What was with her? How was she doing this to me? She scorned me in front of all the others, treating me just as everyone else had. I thought maybe I'd finally found someone who understood but it turns out she's just a hypocritical bitch. This sort of treatment I was used to though. Why was it bothering me so much now?

What I was feeling was foreign to me. I had to ask someone else. Looking around the room I spotted the perfect candidate. She was obvious shy and easily frightened. I walked over to the pale, dark haired girl and she already began to cower. Either this was going to be really easy or she was going to be too afraid of me to even say anything.

"You, I need to talk to you," I said as I cornered her. "M-m-me?" she barely managed to stutter out. My patience would grow thin quickly if she kept up her cowering. Under normal circumstances I would bask in someone fearing me to suck an extent but I needed her to at least able to talk.

"Yes, you. You know Ami, correct?" She nodded her answer to avoid her stutter. At least she realized how annoying stumbling through every response would be. "Well my question is about her. Does she have a special genjutsu in her arsenal? I noticed many of the boys around here seem infatuated by her." I growled, thinking of all their attempts to take her away the day of the festival.

The girl shook her head. "The b-biggest reason guys l-like her is because sh-she isn't obsessed with S-Sasuke." I looked at her in annoyed disbelief. "R-Really, she's about the o-only option they h-have. All the o-other girls are t-too focused on S-Sasuke and won't give anyone e-else the time of d-day."

Really? That was the only reason those boys liked her? It wasn't her looks, her demeanor, her utter acceptance of anyone? And then it hit me. I had let her become another Yashamaru. The answer crawled out from the depths of my mind. That was ridiculous. How could I have been so ignorant? It was clear how much of a weakness she had become. I had stopped chasing her over a few words and had even left the ones she'd defended alive. This could not be happening. I needed to end, no, not just end, crush this developing feeling. Love only myself. That was exactly what I planned to do.

Ami's POV

We took a few days to recover, seeing as how severe most of their injuries were. Now we only had one day left to get another scroll. "I'm going to go get some fresh drinking water," Sasuke said. "I'll come with you. I need to talk to you," I said as I followed him.

For a moment we just stood in silence before he bent over to fill the canister with water. "So? What did you want to talk about?" he asked. "Two things. First off, what the hell were you thinking?" I shouted. He looked at me as if he didn't know what I was talking about. "You know exactly what I'm talking about. Why didn't you allow Sakura to call for me when you guys obviously needed all the help you could get? If it weren't for other teams' involvement you three would all probably be dead."

"I needed to prove I could handle it. Besides, you were probably just out sucking face with Gaara," he snarled. I couldn't stop my gut reaction. I felt a sting in my palm and looked to see his hand touching a red mark on his face. The shock slowly left his face. "I deserved that. I'm sorry… I just don't understand how you could like someone like him," Sasuke snarled the end. He was pushing it again.

"Exactly what do you mean someone like him?" I shot back. "That's not what I meant. I mean how ruthless he is. He kills, just for the thrill of killing. You can smell the blood in his sand. It's disgusting," Sasuke said with appall. I sighed, knowing in a way he was right. Killing was wrong, especially when I couldn't help but think that most of the spilled blood wasn't even from enemy ninjas. Not that I hadn't had my share of civilian casualties, but I was trying to change. "But Sasuke, you don't understand…" I tried but I didn't know how to finish. "I'm trying to, I really am. It just makes no sense how you could like a guy like that but whenever I try to get close to you I get pushed away."

"Sasuke, you're comparing apples and oranges. You and Gaara are completely different. I can relate to what he's been through, and if you hadn't noticed at the party I can't get close to him either, so just drop it. Now, moving on, what the hell happened to you while I was gone?"

"You saw that, did you?" Sasuke asked hesitantly. "You mean how you almost ripped a guy's arms off? Yes, I did. Now tell me how you were doing that and what that strange aura was around you," I pressed. "While you were gone, that odd grass ninja attacked us. She came after me specifically. But then something changed… I knew she was dangerous, more than that even. But, then she tore off her face and became a totally different person. He was so strong… I couldn't beat him… But he gave me this power and left us alive."

"That power is dangerous and that man is dangerous too. Sasuke, how could you have been so foolish? You really think someone like that would give you a power with no catch? As soon as we get out of here we're telling Kakashi-sensei."

"But, why? I can handle this," he retorted. "No, we are telling him that's final. Now we better get back to camp before our teammates do something stupid."

Sasuke grumbled a bit but followed me back to camp, water in tow. As we parted the bushes we came to see that my slight jest of them doing something stupid had become a reality. Naruto and Sakura were peering at the scroll with Kabuto crouched down with his hand on the scroll, preventing Naruto from opening it. Sasuke ran over, assuming Kabuto was trying to take the scroll, but the situation was quickly resolved.

"You idiots!" I yelled, my eyes glowing red with fury. "If it wasn't for Kabuto we would have failed thanks to that imbecilic plan. And I don't like relying on others." Naruto and Sakura looked apologetic for what they'd done when Sasuke hatched a plan of his own to win this test.
"Kabuto, fight me!" He shouted. Kabuto turned to him with a slight smirk. "You don't really mean that. If you really wanted to fight me for my scrolls you would've pounced while I wasn't expecting it. That is how a ninja acts. But I like your attitude, so I'll help you guys out. But let's move before that fire draws any enemies to us."

I did not really fully trust Kabuto, but after he saved our squad he was unlikely to try anything at this point in the test. And with the clock running down we needed all the help we could get. "Alright, so have you guys thought of the conditions you're heading into and what the best plan to get a scroll is?" We all shook our heads to show we hadn't thought of a solid plan yet.

"Well something to take into consideration is that the remaining teams at this point will be heading towards the tower." Kabuto explained. Sakura chimed in with a plan formed on what he said. "Taking that into consideration it makes the most sense to set up a trap near the tower to ambush those heading for the tower."

"That's one third of the plan. You also have to realize you aren't the only team thinking that. Others with be ready and waiting to pounce on any last opportunity." Naruto added this time, excitement ringing in his voice. "So there will be a bunch of groups set up already waiting to pounce on us too. Being at a disadvantage really gets me pumped!"

"That's two thirds of the plan. Have any of you come up with the last piece?" Again, we all shook our heads. "The third thing to be aware of is Collectors, those who when a challenge like this arises gather as many scrolls as they can, either as bargaining chips, extras for squads of the same village, or just to eliminate competition."

I let out a slight chuckle as Sasuke piped up. "Well, this explains why you helped us. You're afraid, aren't you? You didn't want to try to make it to the tower all by yourself so you teamed up with us." Kabuto smirked as he nodded.

Suddenly a rustling noise caught all of our ears. "There!" Naruto shouted as he threw a kunai in the direction of the noise. We all looked to see a gigantic centipede stuck to a tree, Naruto's kunai fatally piercing it's head. "Naruto, from here on think more about your actions. Attacking and yelling without thinking is basically announcing our location to the entire forest." Naruto gulped as we continued on.

"Ugh, I can't take this!" Sakura exclaimed. "It does seem like we are getting any closer to the tower." I added. Kabuto pointed to something. "That might explain why." Looking over we all saw the same giant centipede from earlier.

"Great… So we've been walking in circles. Do you think it's enemy genjutsu?" I asked. Kabuto nodded. "They'll probably make they're move soon now that we've realized that." We all prepared for an enemy to strike at any moment.

A strange gurgling noise started and what looked to be clones of a rain ninja started appearing out of the ground. "It seems it's time to get down to business then. Let's beat these guys, get the scroll and get to the tower. I'm ready to finish this damned test." I said as my shadow lifted up, standing next to me like a solid silhouette.

After Naruto started attacking it was quickly ascertained that this was still a genjutsu. "Fine! I'll just have to beat them all to a pulp at once to reveal where the real enemy is!" Naruto shouted as he used his multiple shadow clone jutsu. Quickly following the plan he turned a few of his clones into copies of Kabuto, Sakura, Sasuke, my shadow and I.

The rain ninja lifted their genjutsu, looking down at Naruto and what they thought to be the rest of us. I let out a cold laugh as shock spread on their faces. "Now it's our turn. Thanks for weeding these pests out for us Naruto." I said as I used their shadows to grab them and hold them in place. After that we quickly knocked them out and searched for their scroll.

"Score! It's a Heaven Scroll! Now let's get to that tower." Naruto said excitedly. "I couldn't agree more, Naruto." I said as we all headed to the tower, this time making actual progress. As we arrived we said our last thanks to Kabuto and walked through a set of doors into the tower. 'I guess he's an alright guy after all.'