Chapter 12: Through Fire and Flames

It was right before dawn, when the night is the darkest.

The storm had stopped around midnight and now fog was hanging over the jungle like it had one the first day of the second exam. It was cold, even the ground had slightly frozen in the night. The rain water was the same: Trees, rocks and the ground were covered in a shining coat of ice that would probably melt when morning finally came.

Sarada looked up. Not a star in the skies. She couldn't even see the moon. The storm clouds were still hanging over the area. They would be gone soon. But for now, the group used the darkness as a cover to find their way, undetected by anyone else. The girl led the way, the glow of her eyes being dimmed by the blue wind shield of her glasses.

They walked from the smallest volcano, to the sides of the lake in the middle of the island always under the cover of the trees. In the east, they had set their target: The only light source available right now, the active volcano.

The night before, they had been discussing, what to do. After passing the level IV test, they now had 31 points. Just two points were missing to get them through the second exam. But even if they did get these two points, there was no way to say for sure that they would advance to the next level. There was only one way to be sure.

Their last reward had been a transparent film, fitting onto their map. It showed them all the tests that had been available from the very beginning. It matched mostly with their own marks. It had all the level tests marked, but not only. There were five very individual signs too.

The sign for Iwagakure, was layered above the cliffs in the north-west; the beach wore the crest of Sunagakure; In the middle of the northern jungle was the sign for Kumogakure placed; the fog sign for Kirigakure, right above the lake; and the leave of Konoha, marked the biggest of the three volcanos eastern of the lake.

With this information, it had been pretty clear on what their next move would be. If they passed this one test, they would be save.

The moment Bolt had woken up and declared that he was perfectly fine, they had set out on their journey.

The group climbed the mountain. The stone was warm, despite the cold night. It was evidence for the great power just beneath their feet. The ground was rambling, slightly shaking. Bolt fell once or twice. His sense of balance was a little damaged and he was stumbling over his feet. Sarada caught him once, but the second time she just rolled her eyes.

At about half of the mountain, they found an entrance to a cave. After one last look at each other, they entered. The cave was one long tunnel. There was no light and they walked steeple down. On the far end of the tunnel, they could see something glowing. At first it was nothing but a glimmer in the dark. But the closer they got, the lighter it became.

Maybe ten minutes of walking steadily downwards, they reached the end of the tunnel. Torches light up the place instead of magma, even though the mountain had been glowing red in the distance. The cave though was hot, the ground wacky. On the far end, they spotted a small stone post. Above it on the wall, had the Konoha crest been engraved.

Sarada thought it was odd. But there was nothing they could have done. She had sweaty hands and her face was slightly red from the heat already. Bolt was the first to reach the stone post.

"This is my father's test. Let's see what we got, shall we?" He picked up a scroll of parchment. It looked like a declaration. His friends came closer too and Bolt began to read to them:

"Competitors! This is your chance to a free ticket straight into the third part of the chunin exams- seriously, dad!" Bolt sighed annoyed.

"Go on," Shizumasa urged him. He just hoped no one else had the same idea as them.

"Yeah… sorry… third part of the chunin exams! This test is going to examine your power, leadership qualities and, especially your teamwork. Once you activated this test, there is no way out, but by victory or death – are you truly sure, that you want to try your luck?" Bolt looked at his friends with huge eyes, imitating his father's most epic pose. But again, his teammates just rolled their eyes. He continued, "if you now have decided to take on this test, here is your task: Unite the toad family. May the will of fire be with you! Signed: Naruto Uzumaki…."

"Unite the what," Sarada walked behind Bolt and read the last sentence, "Unite the toad family? I knew that your father has a thing with frogs… but that he would really… you know…"

"That's the only clue we have?" Shizumasa folded his arms in front of his chest. He had his white hair up in a tight braid, so that he wouldn't burn it accidentally.

"Who cares… let's just start." Bolt threw away the paper. There was another Konoha sign on the stone post where the scroll had been. Like the other times, Bolt placed his hand on the sign and pushed. It sunk in a little, but else, nothing happened.

"Maybe it's stuck…" Bolt nudged at it, but only got the post to wobble a little.

"Get away from there." Sarada made the boys retreat a few steps and pulled up her sleeves, "are you ready?"

The guys nodded. They had no clue what was coming until-

"SHANAROOOOOOOOOOOO!"

With one loud scream, Sarada punched the post. With her superhuman strength, she simply pushed it into the ground.

"Oh my… did you know-"

"Yeah but… but she hasn't used it in long…" The boys were simply astounded.

Right after the post had disappeared into the ground, the whole ground was shaking. The group ran back into the tunnel they had come from, only to see, that the small room they had stood in had disappeared. Shizumasa just saw the last bits and pieces of the former stone ground fall into the hot magma in the depth. The fluid stone light up the insides of the volcano. In the far distance above, they could still see the stars. The insides of the volcano, were rough stone, ledges and different minerals were shining in the red light.

"So…. Unite the toads huh," Sarada looked around. The environment had just gotten a lot more dangerous. And she had almost started to think, they had just said these tests were especially hard, to scare them off. But it was probably true. If they wouldn't be careful, they would simply die in the magma. And Sarada didn't like the idea of dying like this. She adjusted her new sporty glasses and took in a deep breath of the warm air.

"Hey do you see this guys?" Bolt pointed down into the magma. A single, golden statue stood there on solid stone ground, "that's a toad, isn't it?"

"Yeah… and over there is another one," Shizumasa pointed into the air: on the other side of the crater, higher above, they spotted another toad. This one seemed smaller

"It seems like these little statues are all around in the volcano. Let's collect them all in that place down there…. Bolt?" Sarada turned around. The blonde dobe nodded.

He knelt down and shot around ten thick chains from his hands. These crushed into the volcanos opposite side and the small platform where the big toad was placed. When Bolt anchored the chains from his hands into the tunnel walls, they were connecting everything in the volcano. There shouldn't be any more problems getting around.

Bolt jumped onto one chain and slid down to the big toad. It looked like massive gold and was at least 50 cm high. He couldn't move it. How hard he nudged at it and tried to get it off the ground, it didn't even shake. After finding no clues there, he looked around.

On the ground around the toad, he found four small dark spots. It was as if something heavy had stood there, but been taken away.

"Guys! We need at least 4 other toad figurines! They must be around here somewhere!"

"I'll search down there," Shizumasa slid down and landed next to Bolt, "you guys are better with chakra climbing." Bolt nodded.

Sarada was already busy. She had taken the direct route with one of the chains, over to the other side and was climbing the stone wall. It was steep and the wall was slightly hanging over, since the volcano got slimmer to the top. She gritted her teeth. It was already hard to climb a straight wall right up, but this was ridiculous: a hanging over wall, it was hot –so she was sweating like crazy and would slip and fall if she couldn't use chakra. It took her some time, but Sarada managed it to get to the toad.

It was a female toad, seemingly wearing lipstick and an apron. The girl tried to lift it up, but it was too heavy. She tried to push it over, but when the figurine moved just a little bit, Sarada almost fell. She caught herself in the last moment, trying not to look down. She knew what was down there and she knew how it would end, if she would fall…

It took her some minutes, but Sarada actually managed to push the toad onto two chains and downwards. The figurine then rolled down, like on a marble run. Once it had reached the very ground, Shizumasa tried to figure out where to correctly place the toad.

He had just figured it out, when he felt a rumbling. The ground shook a little and with him the statues. The magma had suddenly started to form small waves.

"Guys..? Please be quick! I don't think this test is all about figurines! There is probably a time limit too!"

"Got it!" Bolt answered and pushed another toad down his chain-marble-run. He then jumped to the other side, where Sarada was working on the third golden toad. Together they pushed it down.

Shizumasa had the put the first three toads onto their supposed positions.

"Just one missing," Bolt commented and avoided a splash of magma.

"This is too easy… Time limit, ok. But just putting these figurines down here, is much too-"

"Don't you dare to say it!" Bolt covered Sarada's mouth with his hand, "it's like with a perfect game! You don't spoil it by saying it by its name! And if you say the 'e' word, I'm sure that this test will just turn into the opposite…"

Sarada grabbed his hand and angrily pushed it away, "don't tell me how this works! All I'm saying is, that this is not what a 'kage'-test is supposed to be! Especially not your dad's test! Come on! You expected something different too!"

"Of course but why not take it as it is and-"

"You two! Shut up and lend me a hand! This is serious!"

Bolt and Sarada had gotten into each other's face. She had him by his collar and Bolt was threatening her with his fists. Meanwhile, Shizumasa had walked to the other side of the platform they stood on. He had spotted the last and smallest of the frogs. It kind of suddenly plopped up in the middle of the magma.

He had wanted to say something to his friends to get their help, but just before he could, something huge swam by the golden toad in the magma. All he could see was a black, spiked back with flaming red prongs

"What is it," Sarada left Bolt simply where he was and joined a backing away Shizumasa, "oh there is the last toad! Bolt, could you do a lasso?" The blonde guy grumbled, but let another chain sprout from his hand. Though, just before he could launch it into the magma, a swirl appeared and sucked the toad into the magma again.

"Darn it! What-"

But he didn't even get the chance to finish it, because suddenly something emerged from the magma:

A huge black worm, with red prongs on his back and flaming fins. It screamed an ear scratching scream and some magma drops fell down from it onto the small group.

The kids were astonished. How were they supposed to fight this thing?

Sarada noticed the toad a second later. It was caught within some of the worm's whiskers, it used to intimidate them.

Shizumasa drew his sword, Bolt opened his hand in front of himself and Sarada activated her sharingan.

"Careful it's going to attack," she yelled.

The monster screamed again and dived. The group jumped away and onto the walls, just as it rumbled over the platform and around the toads. It dived again into the magma.

"We need to get higher! Quickly!" Shizumasa jumped onto the chains and tried to run up, back to the tunnel. Bolt and Sarada clung onto the wall.

"We are coming," the blonde dobe shouted.

Just then the worm approached again. It surfaced and went straight after Shizumasa. While doing so, it ripped the chains out of the walls, getting tangled within them. It roared.

"Bolt! Go help Shizumasa, "Sarada yelled and pointed at the white haired boy. He had fallen together with the chains and was now more or less chained to the worm. "I will go after the last toad and put it down!"

"Ay!" Bolt pushed himself off the wall and onto the worm. The thing felt him land on its body and tried to wiggle him off – but Bolt stuck to it like a pimple. It could do anything, as long as it didn't dive again. There was no one who ever survived a bath in hot magma… But that's what Sarada was there for.

She followed Bolt and caught some of the worm's whiskers. Each of them was black and thick like a tree branch. With her strength, Sarada pulled on the whiskers and made the worm rear up. It screamed and howled. Pulling its whiskers seemed to be painful. The thing finally recognized Sarada on its back and tried to shake her of. It wiggled even harder and started to swim in quick round around the platform in the middle of the magma.

Sarada pulled on the whiskers and made it go up a little, to give Bolt time to get Shizumasa.

The white haired boy had finally turned around, from on his back, onto his hands and feet. When Bolt reached him, he was already clinging tightly onto the worms back, while still being held down by the chains.

"Are you ok?" Bolt had to scream over the wild worm roars, "I'm going to dispel the chains in a second! But only if you can grip onto it! Do not fall off!"

"Just get going! We need to put the last figurine down," Shizumasa yelled back and tightened his grip.

Bolt dissolved the chains. It had just been some bits and pieces, but enough to support Shizumasa and slow down the worm. Later one was quick to catch on. The lesser weight on its back was a blessing – though not for the kids.

The thing reared up again, trying to now get the three of them down. It didn't succeed. Bolt and Shizumasa slowly made their way up the back of the monster, towards Sarada. They tried avoiding the hot magma splashing everywhere around them, by walking in the middle of its back.

"Sarada! Keep your pet under control," Bolt screamed at the girl, after it almost dove straight into the fluid stone.

"Oh I'm sorry that I'm no trained worm rider!"

"You should be! Now where is that golden toadie?!"

But Shizumasa already had it. He waited for the perfect moment, jumped of the worms back and onto the platform. There, he sat down the small toad – thank god this one wasn't too heavy. The toad family was complete.

"Congratulations," a loud voice sounded through the volcano, "you just passed my test!" A huge live video had appeared on the wall above the tunnel and Naruto Uzumaki was talking to them. He looked at the scenery in front of him for a second: Shizumasa as the only one on the platform with the golden toads, Sarada trying to control a magma worm and his son, trying not to fall of said worm. The hokage started laughing. "Wahahahahahha you look awesome!"

"Thanks a lot dad! Get us out of here!"

"Oh come on, you can do it yourself," the video hokage winked, "you just passed my test and-"

"Guys my bracelet says 'safe'! Let's get out of here! The ground is shaking again and if you'd ask me: this volcano is about to erupt!" Shizumasa didn't care that the hokage was talking to them. He jumped back onto the worm, just as the magma started to rise. There were bubbles, smoke and the rumbling from before had turned into a loud sound. It was like something huge was breaking apart just that second.

The boys clung onto the worm just behind Sarada.

"Get us out of here," Bolt screamed, panicking.

"Oh shut it bitch!" Sarada pulled harshly on the two whiskers she had in her hands and the worm reared once more.

The huge picture of Naruto was still laughing on the wall, when Sarada directed the worm into the wall, right above the hokage's head. The worm wiggled itself out of the mountain. Once they smelled fresh air, the kids simply left it where it was (a magma worm wouldn't have problems with lava, would it?), just in time before the volcano spit its contents into the morning sky.

End of Chapter 12

Hello again!

Dear readers! this is chapter 12! And we are almost done with the exam part 2. I am still working on chapter 13, that's why I'll post it tomorrow or on Saturday - depending, if I like it or not... Simply stay tune :D

Don't ask me what I thought while writing this chaptere... All I did was listen to some heavy metal (I can recommend 'Dragonfore - Through Fire and Flames' - the namegiving song)

I will tell you more with chapter 13, because it will have some big changes for our heroes!

See you soon again!

Your Usagi

Review Answers:

Thanks to you all who read the story until here, especially to the ones who are now following or/and have it favourited! You are awesome! Special thanks to the readers who leave a review - I am a person who needs feedback... otherwise I think people don't like my story... Well, here are your answers!

SoundlessWorld: Hey there again :D I don't think that slugs are that bad... I just hate them in my salad... I just love the way you are reading the story. You get most of the time exactly what I want to say, even if I don't write it openly. You read between the lines and that's awesome. Thank you so much. At first Shizumasa was really just ment to be the asshole, that got Bolt and Sarada together again, but he got stuck in my mind and so I gave him a better backgound story (but I developed the background months ago so ;) ) With this the second exam is concluded! Even though I couldn't bring in some of the things that I really wanted to do you soon!

Mithos: Hey hey! Danke für die Review! Jepp ich bin Deutsche, aber ich finde auf Englisch kann man sich viel besser ausdrücken :D Du hast schon Recht, wenn du sagst, dass Bolt etwas hardcore drauf ist für sein Alter. Aber du darfst nicht vergessen: Die Story basiert auf Naruto - dem Anime in dem die "coolen" Typen die ganze Zeit ins Frauenbad glotzen, sich in Frauen verwandeln und Pornobücher lesen... Bolt ist nicht so und es gibt einen guten Grund warum er sich so benimmt. Das kommt aber in ein paar Kapiteln raus, daher will ich nicht spoilern ;) (Bei der Wortwahl habe ich mich von Freunden in dem Alter inspirieren lassen... Es ist schlimm wie die teilweise reden...) Bitte bleib dran und lies weiter! Ich freue mich über jeden Leser :D Danke!

Sasukebiggestfan: Thanks for the review anyway! Hope you are alright :D Of course I was thinking about making a lemon. But this story is still just rated 'K'. So yes, I would like to, but I will have to find a way to include it, without having to set the rating on 'M'.. Thank you for the review and see you soon!

Rdk3: Thank you for the kind review! It would be natural if he would have taken the design from Obito's glasses. But they wouldn't suit Sarada... google 'cycling glasses' and you will find the type, I thought would suit her :) But you can imagine any type, if you want :) And I can say that much: There will be a parents X kids fight in the future! Thank you again and see you soon!