Chapter Fourteen: The Second Exam - Day Two

Their first night in the forest passed by without incident. All was quiet, save for the distant, on-and-off screaming from other genin. Their campsite was well hidden and there were no attacks on them during the night. But that didn't stop them from sleeping in shifts; better to be cautious than be picked off by an enemy.

Mamoru located a team that had the scroll they needed; a different group of genin from Kusagakure. They all agreed to start tailing them the next morning and attack when their guard was down. They also took the time to come up with a decent strategy; Mamoru would attack first with one of his wind style jutsu, Asuka would trap them with fire-style and Hana would follow up with earth-style.

When morning came, they set out to search for their targets. They spent three uneventful hours tailing the group before they stopped to rest. That was their chance to attack.

Mamoru was up first. He jumped from his perch in the trees and into the bushes below. The rustling of the leaves startled the Kusa genin and they began to search frantically for the source of the sound. They had no such luck. Their panicked state gave Mamoru the perfect opportunity to strike.

His hands moved quickly as he formed his hand signs and whispered the name of his jutsu.

"Wind-style: Great Breakthrough!"

The air around them began to swirl violently and it stung and sliced away at their skin. The wind gained strength until it was almost as powerful as a typhoon. The force of the wind knocked the Kusa genin to the ground, which meant it was Asuka's turn to attack.

'Fire-style: Flame Wall!'

She expelled the flames from her mouth and they formed a wall that surrounded their targets with inescapable flames. The Kusa genin ran about frantically in a vain attempt to escape. But they were trapped.

Hana was absolutely loving how the scene was playing out before her. She was grinning madly as she watched the Kusa genin scramble around like headless chickens. She couldn't help but laugh; it was all quite humorous to her.

Maybe Orochimaru's antics were rubbing off on her a bit too much.

But she couldn't just sit back and watch, oh, no.

She had a job to do.

"Earth-style: Earth and Stone Bamboo Shoot!"

The ground began to quake beneath their feet and all three Kusa genin stopped dead in their tracks. Giant earthen spike emerged from the ground and aimed themselves at the three, but Hana didn't send them flying just yet. Instead, she called she called out to them.

"Unless you wanna get hurt, surrender your scroll to us. We know you have the one we need." she called.

The lone female answered her call.

"No way! If you want our scroll then you'll have to come get it yourself! We're not surrendering!"

Hana sighed; that wasn't exactly the answer that she was looking for. But if that's the way things had to be, then so be it.

She made a motion with her hand and the spike crashed down into the earth. The Kusa genin somehow managed to dodge them all and took up fighting stances once they were back on their feet.

Hana, Mamoru and Asuka all leapt into the circle of flames to confront their targets face to face.

"I'm gonna give you one last chance to hand over your scroll. Things will get real ugly if you don't" Hana stated.

It was only fair to give them a second chance and make their choice to fight or run. In her mind it was the polite thing to do, even though she already knew what their answer would be.

"We're not just gonna hand it over! You're gonna have to fight us for it!"

Hana sighed again. This wasn't going to be as easy as she had hoped.

"Alright then, if that's the way it's gonna be…"

She raised her hand slowly, keeping her eyes on the Kusa genin and smirking upon seeing the fear in their eyes.

"Striking Shadow Snakes!"

A mass of dark green, writhing serpents emerged from the long sleeve of her shirt and launched themselves towards the three. Only two were able to avoid being ensnared by the snakes. He struggled to free himself and that agitated them.

"I'd advise against struggling. Struggling makes them mad, and if they get mad they'll bite." Hana warned.

But he didn't listen. He kept thrashing about, trying to make the serpents release him. Just like Hana said, some of the snakes became angry and bit him on his arms and legs. He cried out in agony as the creatures sunk their fangs into his flesh and injected their venom into his bloodstream. Luckily it wouldn't kill him; just leave his paralyzed for a couple of days.

Hana called the serpents back and they dropped the kid and let him hit the ground.

"I warned you."

The female team member rushed over to her teammate's side and then glared at Hana.

"What did you do to him?!" she shouted.

"Relax, he's just paralyzed. He'll be back to normal in a couple of days." Hana replied with a wave of her hand.

Then, out of nowhere, Hana found herself on the ground with a sore jaw and a split lip.

"Nice hit. I wasn't expecting that." she muttered.

Hana got back on her feet and rushed towards the other girl. She struck her in the chest with her knee and delivered a kick to the same place right after. As the other girl staggered back, she was thrown into the air and kicked in the stomach several times before being thrown to the ground.

The other girl lost consciousness upon impact with the ground. That was two down; only one more to go.

The last one was scared, terrified even, and it showed on his face. Hana could see him trembling as she approached him.

He reached around and fumbled for something in his bag before pulling out their scroll and holding it out towards Hana.

"H-Here! Just take it and leave us alone!" he shouted.

Hana was taken aback for a moment. He was willingly giving up and not putting up a fight. Was he really that freaked out?

Hana was wary of this. For all she knew, this could very well be a trap. She stood a safe distance away, with her hand gripped tightly around the hilt of her wakizashi and her eyes locked on him.

"You're planning on just giving it to us?" she questioned.

"Yes! J-Just take it and go!" he replied.

She raised an eyebrow at him; she wasn't buying it. Something was up.

"Do forgive me, but I'm having a hard time believing you. After all that, you're just gonna hand over your scroll without a fight?"

Fed up, he threw the scroll and it landed at Hana's feet.

"Just take the damn scroll! We've suffered enough damage already, and I have to make sure that my teammates aren't attacked while they're knocked out."

From what he said, it seemed like he was more concerned about the safety of his friends than passing the exam. On the other hand, he could be trying to save his own hide and keep from getting knocked out. Either way, he seemed sincere about giving up.

She was cautious in picking up the scroll, still wary of the situation. Sure, he looked scared, but appearances could be deceiving. She kept her eyes on him, waiting for him to make a move. But he didn't.

She put the scroll away; the encounter was over, but the uneasy feeling didn't go away. She was on edge for a while, even after they had returned to their campsite. Something wasn't sitting right with her.

Both Asuka and Mamoru noticed this and they started to worry. Seeing Hana on edge like this wasn't a good sign.

"Something bothering you?" Asuka asked.

Hana only spared Asuka a passing glance.

"Something doesn't feel right…" she muttered.

"What do you mean?"

Hana looked around for a moment, making sure that no one else could hear her.

"I feel like we're being watched."

It felt like there were multiple sets of eyes focussed on them, watching their every move. It gave Hana chills.

"It's more than one person, too. I don't know how many, but there's at least three."

Asuka didn't sense what Hana did. She couldn't feel the eyes watching them. But she would try to be supportive of her teammate and not argue.

"Okay, something clearly does have you stressed out. Why don't you go down to the river and get some water; your canteen is probably close to empty." she said.

She wasn't sure how getting water would help her relax, but she would give it a shot. Anything to get her mind off of things. She took her canteen and left the rest of her belongings behind; including her wakizashi. She followed the sound of running water until she reached a break in the foliage where the river was. Hana sat down on the bank of the river and refilled her canteen.

It was quiet and oddly peaceful here. It was strange, considering the fact that there were dozens of genin fighting all around the forest. But she took advantage of the silence and let her guard down for a moment, a mistake that she would soon regret.

Suddenly, the silence was broken by the sound of rustling leaves and snapping twigs. Hana froze in place out of fear. Her heart started to beat wildly and her breathing became fast and shallow.

Someone was coming towards her, and they had very ill intentions.