Chapter 14: Ambush outside the tower

Naruto, sasuke and sakura continued as normal to made their way towards the tower, but halfway through their journey they realised they didn't know where on earth they were going, they came across a stream with red and white carp jumping up and down occasionally in it,

"Food!" Naruto cried.

"At last!" whispered both sasuke and sakura.

"I'll get some firewood, sasuke and naruto you can deal with the fish" sakura gushed and immediately skipped away to gather the wood to start the fire.

"Naruto" said sasuke.

"Oh yeah, shadow clone jutsu!" naruto cried, immediately a lot of shadow clones appeared around them, naruto instructed them to get undressed down to their boxers and immediately one after another they went diving into the river, the real naruto joined in and went underwater to grab fish and chuck them into the air. Sasuke with his great aim threw a kunai through the fish's necks, hooking them to a nearby tree, immediately killing them.

They spent 15 minutes doing this, until they had enough for two fishes each. Naruto came soaking out of the water and shook off, sasuke immediately started to set about cleaning and cooking the fish. Sakura had started the fire and they all sat together to watch the fish start to slowly cook.

"I'm going to get more wood" sasuke said after a while "Naruto! If they are done, before I return don't eat all the fishes got it!" Naruto nodded although his eyes never left the biggest fish on the spitfire.

(15 minutes later, sasuke has been gone for a long time)

"Hey naruto" whispered sakura, naruto stopped staring at the fish and looked at sakura waiting for her to continue. Sakura took out the scroll in her bag and continued.

"We have one day left to find the tower, why don't we open the scroll? Maybe it has some information on how to get to the tower".

"What! No way sakura, sasuke will kill me, plus we don't have any idea what will come out of it!" cried naruto anxiously.

"Do you always do what sasuke tells you to do? Don't you think that sometimes even he can get it wrong" asked sakura.

"Well, yeah, but, no sasuke had the look about him when he told us not to open it" naruto stuttered.

"What look?" asked sakura confused. Naruto did a passable imitation of sasuke's serious face and repeated the exact words he had heard his friend say the day before.

"You've got to be kidding me" sakura said.

"No, I'm not going to do it!" naruto said and wrapped his arms together and turned his back on sakura stubbornly.

"I'll go out on a date with you" sakura blurted out.

"WHAT!" said naruto blushing furiously, sakura had a coy look on her face, her eyes were flirtatious and naruto seriously couldn't resist.

"OK! But let me get my kunai" naruto said and he took a kunai from out of his kunai holster. Sakura gulped and placed a finger over the opening of the scroll, very slowly, naruto and sakura began to open it. Slowly, slowly, the lock that held the scroll together was unlocked but just as sakura was about to pull it open, a hand firmly stopped her.

(Meanwhile)

Sasuke was walking back towards the place where sakura and naruto was watching the fish. Suddenly he saw a mysterious figure crouching beside naruto and sakura, the stranger was holding onto sakura's hand firmly. Dropping his firewood to the ground he cried.

"STAY AWAY FROM THEM!"

(a while later)

"You guys did what!" squawked sasuke, as moments later he realised that the stranger, who was in fact kabuto, was trying to stop sakura from creating the biggest mistake of her life.

"I'm so sorry sasuke, she promised you know" naruto began to mumble placing his hands at the side of his pelvis and moving his hips back and forth to emphasise a point. "No man can resist that you know", he bowed his head in guilt, sakura mimicked him as well.

"I'm so disappointed in both of you, rules are set for a reason!" sasuke scolded as the two in front of him just scuffled their feet.

"Anyway shouldn't you guys be at the tower by now?" asked kabuto.

"Well you're one to talk, haven't you been to this contest seven times already? What are YOU still doing out here?" asked naruto suspiciously. He didn't know why but he felt suspicious about this veteran genin every time he saw him.

"I wonder if he's using us to get ahead" naruto thought to himself "I don't care if he's older and faster, any smart moves and his dead!"

"We were just making our way towards it, me and my team, but I saw you guys opening the scroll and I just couldn't let you get disqualified" Kabuto said looking embarrassed.

"Thank you, we owe you a lot kabuto!" sakura said and sasuke nodded in approval.

"Then why didn't you get to the tower on the first day?" asked naruto looking accusingly at the grey haired man.

"Naruto quit interrogating him, without him we would have been disqualified and out of the exams!" scolded sasuke defensively siding with kabuto.

"It's really okay, it does sound fishy in a way, but we wanted to see how the other teams were doing before we headed for the tower you know, I really want as many leaf genins to qualify" kabuto explained.

"Why, is there more danger ahead?" asked sasuke.

"More? Why did you get into a fight already?" asked kabuto.

"Never mind, just answer the question please" said sasuke.

" You see, if you had travelled non stop and been halfway towards the tower by day three, then everything would have been swell, but you guys have left it late and many teams are still without scrolls" kabuto said.

"So what? They have lost haven't they? They should give up" said sakura.

"Please, do you seriously think there are rules in this exercise? There are none, it's a survival exam! It's eat or be eaten, so because of this, any teams without their scroll, their first priority is to surround and ambush any late comers coming into the tower by hiding around the tower, that way they reckon because most teams will be exhausted, it will be easier to acquire a scroll and still get through the exam. The second type of ninjas you need to be wary of are called scroll collectors".

"Scroll collectors?" asked sakura petrified.

"That's right and these guys are deadly, they are more powerful ninjas from their village that like to take scrolls off other competiting genins, in order to supply their own, with scrolls, in order to get them through the exam" Kabuto said.

"So you reckon that these scroll collectors will be hiding out waiting for us?" asked sasuke.

"There's no doubt about it, it's a certainty. But because I'm a nice guy I'll come with you to help you through it" Kabuto answered.

"That's all fun and chirpers, but what do YOU get out of this?" asked naruto, still being suspicious.

"Absolutely nothing, I expect no favours, I have both of my scrolls already so I'm not trying to acquire another set" sighed kabuto and produced two scrolls out of his bag, naruto gasped and decided to cool down, but he knew he would return to this subject later on.

"So let's get going then" sasuke said and he led the way. Kabuto hesitated for a while and nodded in understanding.

"Let's go to the tower!" cried naruto and they collected their belongings and immediately set off to complete the rest of their journey.

(A few hours later))

They travelled for hours, then rested, then started travelling again. Darkness caught them though but it was okay for they had reached an old ruined tower set in front of a massive full moon, they were currently on a cliff ledge looking downwards into the valley where the tower stood, the entrance was blocked by the tall foliage of trees that created a forest around the tower so the genins couldn't see the entrance.

"Come on then guys, let's get going" said naruto and they began to walk down, they were all tense, they were walking for about 15 minutes when naruto cried out in warning, he threw a kunai into a shadowy figure that was attached to a tree. Sakura screamed when they saw it was a massive centipede that had been crawling up the tree at the time. It was now dead.

"Naruto please, will you stop throwing kunais around, it could alert the collectors" kabuto scolded.

"I'm sorry I really thought it was somebody seriously!" begged naruto but sasuke and sakura walked passed him head shaking from side to side in contempt.

(3 hours later)

They had been walking for three hours now, naruto felt so tired that he thought he was hallucinating because the tower they were supposed to be walking towards was not getting a tiny bit nearer.

"Is it just me or doesn't that tower look like its getting any closer?" asked naruto he was sweating profusely and his legs felt like lead.

"Yes and guess what it definitely isn't, look" sasuke said and pointed sideways, sakura and naruto both gasped but kabuto and sasuke remained looking unfazed when they saw that they were at the tree where the dead centipede was.

"But that's impossible, are we walking in circles?" asked naruto.

"No it's a genjutsu" sasuke and kabuto said together. They became very still and pulled out their kunais waiting for an unseen attack. Sasuke had all his senses activated; he heard the leaves flowing through the trees and something else.

"Look!" screamed sakura, sasuke turned and saw a spiky brown haired ninja appearing from out of the ground, he was wearing some type of wetsuit similar to the first ninja that had attacked them when they had just entered the forest. Sasuke, Kabuto, sakura and naruto then realised they were surrounded by millions of the same ninja.

"Ok this is really starting to piss me off! Time to bust them down!" naruto cried and punched the nearest ninja beside him in the guts, he reckoned it was just a shadow clone but he was shocked when his fist went straight through his adversary without even touching him.

"What the hell?" cried naruto and sent another punch for good measure. But again his fists went through.

"Naruto wait! Stop using all your chakra!" Kabuto instructed "These guys, there's something weird about them".

"Oh how did you come up with that conclusion? Mr Smarty pants?" asked naruto sarcastically as he comically starting throwing a series of wild punches that didn't seem to trouble the victim of his attacks at all.

"I'll see what's going on" whispered sasuke from behind kabuto and he began to activate his sharingan, he was able to see chakra networks inside the clones before his vision began to wobble and the curse mark on his neck began to burn like acid. He yelped in pain and dropped to the ground.

"Sasuke!" cried sakura and naruto at the same time.

"Naruto, cover me God damn it!" cursed Kabuto as he tried to stab through the clones in front of him.

"Okay looks like one or two punches aren't affecting these guys at all, let's see how they handle a thousand clones!" cried naruto.

"Naruto" hissed sasuke but he didn't have the strength to speak. His lower lip was getting sore because he had bit down on it to stop himself crying in pain. Sakura stood comfortingly beside him looking worried. There came a cry as naruto released his shadow clones and instructed them to attack their enemies.

"It's useless, can't he get that through his thick skull?" asked kabuto as he came to the side to speak to sasuke.

"No he can't. That's naruto for you, he's more into action than thinking, listen I have an idea on how to stop them" sasuke whispered.

"How?" asked both kabuto and sakura.

"Those clones aren't real ninjas, they are being controlled by a hidden master, I think the ninja is waiting for us all to use up our chakra and then they will reveal themselves" sasuke explained.

"But that could take ages" sakura said.

"I know, I'll give a hidden signal for you all to hide when the time is right, until then we fight" sasuke said and he slowly began to stand "We follow naruto's knuckle headed idea until the time when we can strike". Kabuto and sakura nodded.

"Shadow clone jutsu!" sasuke said and immediately a few clones appeared at his side, kabuto and sakura mimicked him and they went straight into action. Naruto frantic grunts and roars scattered the birds who flew up into the pitch black sky where a full moon had risen.

Hours later, naruto, sasuke, kabuto and sakura had reached their limit, they fell to the ground in front of the puppet ninjas and they couldn't stand back up.

"Oh man, how could this have happened?" asked naruto to himself as his legs began to shake in fatigue.

"Ha-ha, time to break the jutsu then" said a echoing voice, suddenly the clones vanished and there appeared two ninjas, sasuke could tell these were the real ones straight away, they walked nonchalantly towards the genins, that crouched tired in the middle of the clearing, they were confident that their plan had not been sabotaged. The leader, the one in the middle raised his kunai.

"This is for my friend" said the ninja, he was about to use his kunai on sasuke when suddenly the genins in front of him vanished in a puff of smoke.

"What?" he gasped.

"You guys really thought we were a couple of idiots didn't you?" said a voice; the ninjas turned and saw themselves outnumbered by the real Kabuto, sasuke, naruto and sakura. They had one clone of themselves surrounding their enemies, a kunai pointing at their backs and throats in warning.

"Now give us your scrolls and you may live" sasuke said. The ninjas, wanting to spare their lives surrendered their scrolls willingly. Luckily it was an earth scroll, the exact scroll, team seven needed. Naruto looked suspiciously at kabuto, but the ninja's expression didn't flinch.

"Onto the tower then?" he said smiling innocuously. Team seven nodded and continued on their journey to the tall silhouette in the distance that was the tower.

As they neared the entrance a voice called.

"Kabuto!" Sasuke, Naruto, Kabuto and sakura came to a halt and saw a masked guy wearing dark purple ninja attire approaching them; kabuto raised a hand in greeting to his comrade.

"Kabuto thanks for your help, we owe you one" said sasuke shaking hands with the grey haired teen.

"Anytime, I have to be heading through another entrance so I'll see you guys later on okay" Kabuto replied and he turned to make his leave. Sasuke, Naruto and sakura turned to look at the double doors in front of them.

"So we've made it" sasuke whispered. He opened the door and stepped into a big open space, it was a small meeting hall, with wooden floorboards, blank white walls with nothing on them except for a large plaque with some writing on it.

"Where is everyone?" asked sakura.

"Maybe they have to go to another room?" guessed naruto.

"What's this?" asked sasuke looking at a wall message that was the only thing that decorated the blank wall.

"Let's see it says, heaven + earth = power" said sakura

"What the hell does that mean?" asked naruto.

"I really don't know" sakura said "Is it some sort of riddle?"

"Maybe we have to find out what it means in order to pass through" Naruto said.

"Open the scroll" said sasuke, both sakura and naruto looked at him with shocked expressions, sasuke turned seriously to naruto and nodded.

"Are you sure sasuke?" began sakura but naruto had already taken the scroll from her and placed it on the floor, he opened the scroll and they saw a circle with symbols around it in the centre of the scroll.

"It's a summoning" observed sasuke and he bit his finger, before he placed his finger to the scroll however he looked at naruto and sakura "Stand back". They obediently stepped backwards and sasuke swiped his bleeding thumb over the scroll, suddenly a trial of smoke started to billow from the centre of the scroll, suddenly there was a huge explosion of smoke which nearly sent sasuke, naruto and sakura flying backwards. After they had stopped coughing, team seven looked up and were absolutely relieved to see Iruka sensei standing on top of the sealing mark in the middle of the scroll.

"Hi guys" said Iruka.

"Iruka sensei! What are you doing here?" cried naruto aghast "You're not going to hurt us for opening the scroll are you?"

"No I'm just here to tell you guys that you all pass, congratulations!" gushed Iruka smiling his pearly white teethed smile.

"YEAH!" Naruto cried jumping up and down in excitement.

"Naruto" said a stern voice, naruto stopped jumping around and looked at his teacher, and he was looking serious now.

"Listen naruto" began iruka.

"I know what you're going to say sensei, I'm a ninja I should be more serious, I am not a little naïve kid you know sensei, I know these things, you and old man hokage don't need to keep telling me" naruto protested.

"Naruto" whispered iruka, his eyes started to get wet in happiness but he daren't not cry and show favouritism.

"Can I ask you something sensei?" asked sakura.

"Yeah, go straight ahead?" said iruka.

"What does that plaque mean?" asked sakura.

"Oh of course, I forgot, the second reason why I came here was to explain what this message means, basically he means if you're strength lies in your body, you should aim to acquire knowledge through studying ninjutsu, genjutsu and other jutsus to improve your intelligence, and also, if your strength is in your intellect, you must learn to train your body so that you do not become a hindrance to your teammates because you don't have the stamina to keep up in a mission. Basically when heaven (your intelligence) + earth (your physical strength) combine you will receive much more power, power + wisdom is the goal to becoming a strong ninja".

"Oh" whispered team seven.

"But anyway I am so proud of you for reaching so far in such a tough competition, I wish you well on the other exam and remember to work together and not against each other, always work as a team" Iruka said and with that he vanished.

"Goodbye Iruka sensei, next time you see me I will be a chuunin!" cried naruto to nobody in particular.

"Well what do you do now?" asked naruto when iruka had vanished. There appeared a door at the other end of the room underneath the balcony in the far corner. The genins would have missed it if they hadn't been looking closely.

Sasuke looked at naruto and sakura who nodded, they crossed the room and sasuke opened the door into the main hall.

The exam was far from over.

THE END