Chapter 14 – Dog Eat Dog World
Naruto impatiently shifted his weight from leg to leg as his team stopped on a wide branch. Kiba had insisted that they pause for him to track scents and Sakura had backed his side of the discussion, agreeing that they shouldn't be wandering aimlessly without a lead. Which was true, Naruto grudgingly acknowledged. They had been navigating through the dense forest for almost an hour and had yet to encounter anyone.
Not that he was complaining – running into enemy forces so early wasn't something Naruto would waste any wishes on. Admittedly though, names like 'Forest of Death' coupled with 'survival' and 'elimination' had given him the impression that there would be relentless assaults on all fronts the moment they stepped into the grounds. Apparently not. They hadn't even been bothered by the supposedly hostile native inhabitants. The environment lived up to its name – no animals, no enemies, no hint of life. But when they struck, it would surely be a nightmare they would want to wake from.
"Naruto, stop moving around," Kiba murmured. He had an ear pressed against the bark, frowning in concentration. Akamaru was sniffing around on a lower branch.
"Sorry," the blonde said automatically. He didn't want to make an annoyance of himself so he stepped lightly behind Kiba, trying to restrain the grin when his crouched teammate scowled, and joined Sakura on the other end of the bough. "Scroll still good?" he asked casually.
"Yes." She shot him a glance. "You really should take it back, you know."
"Not unless you go out on a date with me when we get out of here," he responded brazenly.
Her elbow dug into his arm. "Not even if you could steal Anko's dango," she retorted. Her expression sobered. "You should be a little more serious, Naruto. If we're not careful we could end up as sitting ducks."
He knew that – of course he did. It was very easy to get ambushed in the shadows cloaking the trees. Naruto had confidence that Kiba and Akamaru would warn them sufficiently but also reserved space for the sense that they couldn't rely completely on this advantage. He knew Kurenai could mask her scent from the Inuzukas if she tried, and there was no telling if their opponents could as well. They had to be alert.
And he was. There had been a period of time right when the exam had commenced where Naruto had been so attentive and on guard that he constantly mistook oddly-figured trees as the other genins. He had been too alert then and he was currently trying to find a healthy balance between calm and accordingly focused.
Kiba rose to his feet, head tilted. Akamaru found his way onto their branch again and gave a submissive whine. Naruto and Sakura glanced at each other as the hooded boy frowned. "Is something wrong, Kiba?" Sakura asked in a low voice. Her hand was already hovering over her weapons pouch.
"Not here," Kiba told her, and her hand hesitantly went lax.
"Then what?"
"It's nearby, though. Not even a kilometre."
Naruto walked up to the taller boy's side. "What is?" he questioned.
Kiba shrugged as he knelt down to scratch Akamaru behind the ears. "Trouble. What else do you think?"
Anko had just finished constructing the Leaf insignia out of dango sticks when a petrified scream rose from the midst of the forest. She shook her head, bearing a small smile. Evidently, it had already started.
The Forest of Death was a harsh milieu to conquer and she imagined that the competing genins had already run into complications. There were numerous poisonous species that roamed the area, and accidentally identifying a plant's elements incorrectly could have fatal consequences. Anko had actually had a discussion with Kurenai and a handful of other jounins a few days prior. Some had commented that it was a cruel predicament for the young rookies. Too bad, Anko remembered saying. She had been through worse, hadn't she?
She absently rubbed the back of her neck. It was always the same. No matter how hard she scrubbed, how many hours she had spent in the shower, she could never rid herself of the feeling that putrid malevolence was lurking just beneath her skin.
To drive herself away from darker thoughts, Anko thought of Kurenai's brats. She hadn't spent much time with them but she had paid particular attention to them before the second exam had begun. She had almost laughed; to this day, she still wondered about Kurenai's decision to sponsor their participation in the exam. One more year wouldn't have hurt; the kids hadn't given the special jounin the impression that they were fully prepared. She would just have to wait and see. They had already surprised her once – there was no telling what Uzumaki Naruto's team would come up with.
"Mitarashi-san!" A distressed chuunin materialised in a puff of smoke. Anko recognised his face from somewhere.
"What, something come up already?" she sighed. Something always did. There were always problems somewhere, somehow. They would surface, and as Anko got up to follow the messenger, she found herself hoping that her darkest demons would remain sealed in the pits of her closed conscience. But then, things always went wrong.
In Kiba's opinion, looking for trouble was just… stupid. He could tell that Akamaru was disturbed, even as the puppy bounded along beside him. He had sensed something big, something sinister. Who would want to go looking for something like that?
Sighing, Kiba looked ahead at Naruto's back. This was the village pariah, after all. What else did you expect from Uzumaki Naruto?
Naruto suggested that they do some scouting. He had been restless for a while now, Kiba knew. He had the tingling feeling that crept steadily up his spine. He was quite certain that he had detected a faint hint of killer intent accompanied by the vague scent of blood. Akamaru had commented that the blood smelt familiar, but Kiba, his nose admittedly inferior to the puppy's, could not confirm the notion.
Yet a part of him had agreed to Naruto's reasoning; if they only slinked around in the shadows, afraid of conflict, they would never get a scroll in time. If they were going to pass this exam, the time to act would be now. It wasn't just a matter of finding and defeating a team; the scroll had to correspond with their Heaven scroll or they would not be entitled to pass. There were only a limited handful of Earth scrolls out there.
Behind him, Sakura paused longer than necessary on a branch, and with an increased burst of chakra, launched herself alongside Kiba. "We're not going to rush into battle, are we?" she asked. Kiba hoped she wasn't feeling the pressure already; he understood that bearing the scroll, a vital item that could determine their success, was a rather daunting task. But Sakura was up to it. Her teammates knew that she was stronger, both emotionally and physically, than she let on.
"I think we're just doing a quick scout at the moment. There's no point attacking without reason. Besides, Akamaru told me he can smell more than three people – there's a pretty good chance there are two teams ahead." Which meant that they were either of the same village and had decided to ally – or they were fighting.
Naruto turned his head back a little. "Hey, do you guys feel that creepy feeling?" It was making him shiver. Something, someone, was releasing an awful amount of killer intent.
"That's what I meant by 'trouble', Naruto," Kiba scoffed. "And a friendly reminder now that you can feel it too: we're going to stick to the stealthy side, alright?" Meaning they were not going to attempt to ambush or interrupt the group he and Akamaru had detected earlier. They were just going to investigate, that was all.
Suddenly Akamaru let out a sharp bark.
Kiba cursed and grabbed Sakura's elbow. "Down!" he hissed at her, and she hurriedly kicked off from a side trunk to assist their sudden descent.
"Naruto!" she shouted, trying to keep her voice low. The blonde boy had heard Akamaru's warning bark and had dropped down to the ground a short distance ahead of them. But instead of rejoining them, he was taking cover by a clump of unruly bushes, silently watching something his teammates could not see.
What's he up to now? Kiba tapped Sakura's arm and jerked his head toward Naruto. Assuming he had good reason to remain so still and quiet, they had found their targets, and they approached carefully. Akamaru let out a low whine. "Six people. They're strong."
"Naruto?" Sakura breathed when they joined him. "What…?" Her voice trailed off as Naruto looked at her. His eyes were sharp, focused and serious.
It was fortunate that Akamaru had warned them. The trees thinned and petered out to reveal a clearing. Had Team Eight rushed on ahead, they would have launched themselves straight into a confrontation. And now that he could see what Naruto could, he could understand his friend's solemnity, and he was starting to wish he had not let the idiot convince him to come.
Kiba felt like strangling him for leading them to Sabaku no Gaara.
Akamaru was trembling. It was worse than the first time they had run into Gaara. The puppy flinched and instantly turned to hide in Kiba's jacket, where he cringed fearfully. What a welcoming committee, Kiba thought uneasily as he raised a hand in an attempt to soothe his terrified friend.
Gaara's team was not alone. Facing them was a team of genins from Rain. Their leader was a tall, intimidating man with stitches sealing shut a corner of his mouth and a scar that rivalled Morino Ibiki's running down the right side of his face. "It's very foolish of you to challenge us head-on like this," he told Gaara in a husky voice.
For some reason, Kiba did not think that Gaara would be cowed. He hadn't seen the redhead in battle but from their last meeting, he had been left with the feeling that the Sand genin wasn't a pushover. In fact, he wouldn't be surprised if he was the strongest of his team.
"That's enough talking. Let's do this… old man." As predicted, Gaara was not at all perturbed. In fact, he looked… eager. Frighteningly eager.
His teammate, Kankurou, seemed to have more rationale. He approached Gaara with the suggestion of figuring out which one of their opponents had the scroll, justifying that it would save them work. But Gaara wouldn't hear it. "Those who meet my eyes like that," he murmured, reaching over his shoulder to pull out the stopper on his gourd, "must die."
Akamaru continued to quiver. Sakura looked away from the scene, forcing herself to remain calm despite the overwhelming tension, and reached out to gently fondle the puppy's head. "What's wrong, Akamaru?" she asked softly. She sounded distracted; she had good reason to be.
In a flurry, the Rain leader pulled out umbrellas from straps on his back and flipped them open in one swift movement. "Then let's do this – here I come!"
Kiba knew that retreating would be the smartest thing to do. He knew he should be getting Naruto's attention, getting them as far away from this battle as possible. It wasn't safe – any idiot should know that by now. But he couldn't muster the will to find his voice. He could only watch what Akamaru had known would happen unfold before them. Naruto and Sakura were equally motionless, and their attention was similarly focused on the parasols hovering over the clearing.
"Ninpou: Joro Senbon!" the Rain ninja snapped, a gleam of triumph already seeping into his voice. He was confident in his technique. And he should be.
Team Eight's breath caught collectively as thousands of needles hailed down on Gaara. Kiba's eyes were wide. No one could have survived that… Sabaku no Gaara had undoubtedly been reduced to a pin cushion. Akamaru must have been warning them about the Rain guy, not Gaara…
"Is that all?" Kiba's blood was fluid ice as the monotonous voice reached his ears. Next to him, Sakura was caught between astonishment and terror. How could anyone have survived that?
"Crap," Naruto muttered. "Just look at that!" He was reaching over Sakura and tugging at Kiba's jacket but the latter didn't need the warning. He could well see it for himself.
Gaara was unscathed, the ground around him spiked with discarded needles. He was almost fully enveloped by an impenetrable shield of sand.
The sand. Kiba recoiled with Akamaru. The sand gave off the strong stench of blood.
Kiba was… impressed. The kid had constructed an effective shield in a matter of mere seconds – and out of sand. Just what did they teach genins in Suna? He wasn't even fazed by the otherwise lethal onslaught. Not even when his opponent cursed and tried again; a slab of hardened sand lazily rose from the ground and cut off access to its user.
The shield began to crumble and fall to the ground, pooling around Gaara's feet. He hadn't even moved from his original position. "A rain of senbon," he observed. "Very well then… I'll turn it into a rain of blood."
The hairs on the back of Kiba's neck stood on end as a horrible aura spread through the area.
The scarred Rain-nin flinched but quickly recovered and charged Gaara, his pride damaged. Just judging from the previous scene, Kiba knew he didn't stand a chance. If needles from every direction had failed to even scratch Gaara, what would taijutsu do?
The answer was nothing. Kiba and his teammates watched in transfixed horror as thick limbs of sand sprang from the ground and snatched at the attacking genin's body. Within seconds, he was encased in a bulging cocoon and suspended above his stupefied teammates, his visible face twisting in pain and shock. It didn't look like he could move.
Deprived of the chakra to sustain them, the umbrellas plummeted down to earth, spearing the dirt. Ironically, they ventured closer to Gaara than the Rain genin had managed. He was well and truly afraid now, the increasing trepidation causing his pupils to dilate so that they were wild.
"Get… get me out of here!" he screamed down to his teammates. But they took a step back, mouths open yet devoid of words.
Gaara walked over and shook open one of the fallen umbrellas. He held it over himself. "I can cover your mouth and kill you… but that's just too pitiful." He held out an arm and slowly drew his fingers into a forceful fist. "Sabaku kyuu!"
"Oh God…" Sakura whispered, appalled.
The sand coffin exploded spectacularly and sprayed blood everywhere.
Kiba wrapped his arms around the bundle in his jacket that was Akamaru and squeezed his eyes tightly shut. He couldn't help but feel that he was drenched in crimson as well – the smell of blood was pungent and searing. There was no doubt that the man was dead.
Slowly, Gaara lowered the blood-spattered parasol and tossed it aside. "There was no pain," he told the remaining Rain genin. "It happened too quickly for him to be in pain. It will be the same for you."
The message: there was to be no survivors.
Kiba opened his eyes and looked toward Kankurou and Temari, the murderer's teammates. They were simply standing there, watching this bloodshed like it was just an unfortunate sport. The face-painted boy even had the nerve to look irritated and at ill-ease. Remembering Kankurou's anxiety and quick change of attitude upon Gaara's arrival the other day, Kiba realised that Gaara commanded fear to its limits. He was no ordinary genin.
"W-wait!" The shorter of the dead man's teammates tripped over his own words. He placed a Heaven scroll on the ground and rolled it toward the Sand trio. "Here – we'll give you our scroll. P-Please let us go…!"
Gaara's response was to raise both his arms, palms facing the opposition. It was Scarface all over again. Sakura had shut her eyes and was trying to control her agitated breathing, having long since released the calm demeanour she had been trying to keep up. She was afraid. Kiba wanted to comfort her, rub her back and tell her that he'd never let that happen to them.
It wasn't until the screams of the Rain nins tore through the air that he finally found strength in his limbs to move. Kiba scrambled backward, keeping low. "We have to get the hell out of here! We're dead if they find us… Sakura! Naruto!" Akamaru was already a mess.
Naruto stared at him, unable to comprehend the words. It took him a moment to pull himself together. He was visibly shaking as he rose and touched Sakura's shoulder. He was trying so hard to keep his cool and not lose his head. "Kiba's right. Come on, Saku-"
"I haven't had enough."
They froze. Too late. Much too late. Akamaru buried himself as deeply in his master's jacket as he could. Kiba slowly turned around.
Sand was snaking towards them.
When he had been eight, Naruto picked his first fight. There had been the occasional incidents where some older kids would give him a shove or two simply because he was too loud, too bright, too cheerful – trying too much to be their friend. But it was the first time Naruto himself had made the first move, the first time he had retaliated.
After trying to join their soccer game and failing, he had started to argue with the other boys. Naruto had long since forgotten the trigger – he just knew that he had drawn his fist back and punched the leader. Without thinking, without realising what he was doing. He had just known that he was angry, that he was being treated unfairly for reasons he had no inkling of. His arm had moved on its own. He had been too shocked to defend himself against his punishment. He was Naruto, the kid who grinned a lot and took everything at his own pace – not the boy who went around punching people.
It was reflex, Iruka had told him afterwards after breaking up the fight. Things just happened like that; they unravelled by themselves – all you needed to do was give it a push.
Now, for Naruto, all the 'push' he needed was the evident tremor of apprehension in Kiba's voice and Sakura's trembling frame against him. The pink-haired girl was struggling to get a hold of herself, trying to remain strong. She was so scared… was the dangerous sand slithering towards them the cause of her fear?
His heart thumped against his chest as Naruto gathered chakra in his coils and moulded them. He had been doing so much work with his chakra control that the process of shaping the energy was almost second nature to him. But Naruto felt it was more than that. It was fuelled by desperation, by the burning desire to defend everyone, to keep his friends alive. No one was dying on his watch.
With a growl, he unleashed a fully-fledged chakra shield. The dense barrier of chakra rose around Naruto and his team, rotating at a powerful velocity. He wasn't quite sure if he had repelled the sand or if some had managed to penetrate their defence. He really didn't care anymore. Someone was trying to kill them, trying to hurt his friends – his precious people.
Naruto sprang out of the bushes without second thought, his lips pulled back in a feral snarl. A wave of sand swept him back, pushing back his fist before it could make contact. He flipped backwards and found himself lowering into a crouch, muscles drawn taut.
"Get away from us!" he shouted. He seemed to have surprised them. Had they not expected him to attack? Temari was frowning and Kankurou was reaching over his shoulder for the bandaged parcel he carried with him. Gaara hadn't moved. But he did stare straight into Naruto's eyes. His dark-ringed eyes were narrowed.
Something had grabbed his arm. Naruto snapped his head around, expecting to see tendrils of sand coiling up his jacket – but it was only Sakura. She recoiled a little at his reaction, but now he was no longer looking into Gaara's terrifying gaze. Sakura's green eyes wavered, and they pierced deep into Naruto's consciousness.
Another hand fell on his shoulder. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" Kiba muttered. His eyes were fixed on the Sand genins.
What was he doing? Naruto looked over at Gaara, then at the bloody smudges on the dirt. He shuddered. He had been about to start a fight with a heartless killer, not some Academy bully. Slowly, his resolve ebbed away.
By insisting to come here, he had gotten them into this mess. Scouting had seemed like a good idea at the time, to get a good bearing on how things were to be done, how strong their opponents were. They had certainly achieved the latter. Naruto had let his instincts get the better of him. It was his responsibility to get his team out of here. Alive.
Kankurou was the first to recover. He relaxed as if they weren't a threat. They probably weren't. "Heh, it's you three." He paused on Sakura; there was a hint of bitterness in his eyes.
Kiba stepped forward, taking initiative. "Alright, look, my team was just at the wrong place at the wrong time. You've got your scrolls. There's nothing to gain from fighting us. Our teams can just both walk away-"
"You." Gaara's voice cut sharply through Kiba's. But he wasn't talking to Kiba. He was talking to Naruto. Their eyes met.
"You and I are the same."
Naruto's brow furrowed. The same? "What do you mean?" He wondered if it was a distraction for Kankurou or Temari to attack them. Somehow it didn't feel like it, though he was still grateful when Sakura stepped a small way aside so that she would not become an obstacle when Naruto needed to move to haste. They were all tensed, prepared.
"We are the same," Gaara repeated. His teal eyes bored into Naruto's. "We are the special ones."
"What is he talking about, Naruto?" Sakura whispered.
"I don't know." Yet it felt like he should know. Looking at Gaara… the redhead was so certain of his claim. How were they the same? They were different. The petrified screams of the Rain team echoed in his head and Naruto clenched his fist. They were not the same. How could they be?
Temari was starting to look worried. "Gaara," she began, but Kankurou stopped her with a pointed look. With slight hesitation, she fell back. Why were they so afraid of their own teammate? What were they hiding?
Suddenly, Naruto realised that Gaara's teammates were not alongside him like Kiba and Sakura were. They were hovering behind him, as if getting too close would get them mistaken for prey. They weren't ready to protect him, they were ready to protect themselves.
Gaara was alone.
But why?
"We are the same."
Naruto's eyes were wide, staring in disbelief. You're kidding me. There were people like him out in the world. Had they been mistreated and sneered upon and rejected and been in so much pain? How was it humanely possible? His teeth ground together painfully.
He was looking at another jinchuuriki. Just like himself.
"I will kill you to prove my existence," Gaara went on tonelessly. "Let's fight."
By now his affinity to sand was obvious, and a predictable column of the substance rose behind him, towering high above both teams. Naruto raised his head as the perilous shadow engulfed him. Was his tailed beast the reason behind Gaara's insatiable thirst for blood? If he had not come across Old Man Hokage, Iruka and Team Eight, would Naruto be a replica of the Sand nin?
The sand lurched forward, cascading neatly over Gaara. Various vines coiled around each other in a race to reach their target first. Naruto rapidly concentrated chakra to his feet in preparation to throw himself out of the way.
But before he could, the rearing head of the threat exploded in a soggy mess that spattered against Naruto's clothes. His reflexively thrown up arms spared his face from grime.
The disrupted sand was still poised to strike, though it was ravaged at the tip. Sakura had stepped forward from her original position, a thick shimmering strand of water wound around her clenched hand. It didn't come across as an overwhelming shock that she still maintained an edge over her teammates in chakra control, and Naruto thought she was showing this off rather well.
Gaara's frightening eyes narrowed. "This is between me and him."
"There are teams for a reason," Sakura parried in a voice firm with fortitude.
Naruto heard Akamaru's rumbling growl. Kiba had managed to coax the puppy out of his jacket and both had their canines bared. They said nothing but their ferocity spoke volumes that Naruto appreciated: You'll have to get through all of us first. They were facing down dangerous adversaries that were well capable of snapping all the bones in their bodies with a flick of his wrist, and Kiba seemed to be on the verge of giving them a coarse 'read between the lines' gesture with his hands.
Kami, he loved his team.
"You really think you can take us?" Kankurou was once again tugging at the straps that bound the mysterious bundle to his back. He was smirking at Sakura. His dark eyes held the gleam of a hunter. That made Sakura the prey. A low growl erupted from the back of Naruto's throat and he fought to keep himself in check. He did inch a little closer to his friend, though.
"I don't need you, Kankurou," Gaara said flatly. "This is my fight."
For the first time, the face-painted boy looked displeased with his teammate's command. "Gaara, let me-"
"Neither of you should be bothering," Temari cut through. "We have our scroll and risking more time here is pointless. Let's just get out of here already." She looked uneasy; Naruto took notice that she didn't seem to be as intent on violence as her companions. Perhaps there was a fair distinction between males and females.
"You think I will lose?"
"No, Gaara. But we agreed to finish this exam quickly. I don't want to spend longer than necessary in this place." Temari gave Kankurou a sharp look. To Team Eight's surprise, the tall boy took a small step back. "I expected you to take my side," she glared.
Kankurou's gaze slid over to Naruto's team again. The blonde stared back, hard. Finally, the Sand genin relented. He picked up the discarded Heaven scroll. "Gaara, Temari's right. Let it go – they're just a bunch of brats."
Gaara was not keen on submission. "You are both cowards."
Now Kankurou was getting heated. It was curious how quickly he changed tracks. "I want to beat up those guys too – but enough is enough, Gaara. Believe it or not, this forest isn't the safest place. You might be alright but Temari and I don't want to spend any longer here. Let's get out of here, alright?"
"Only the weak seek escape."
"Damn it, Gaara!" Kankurou seized his teammate's sash. "Listen to your brother every once in a while, will you?"
"I have never thought of you two as my siblings."
Naruto shared an incredulous look with Kiba and Sakura. What a way to settle family disputes. Their company seemed to have forgotten that they were still in the clearing.
"Gaara, please. Let's not lose ourselves," Temari appealed. "You can't pass this exam without us." She glanced at Naruto. "He isn't worth the time."
Gaara remained silent. The sand shifted precariously, almost making Naruto jump. His chakra was surging in readiness and he was like an elastic band about to snap.
After a while, Gaara's eyes flickered back to Naruto. The blonde tried to see emotion in the dull orbs; it took an unsurprising amount of effort. It was sad… Gaara didn't even seem like a human. Naruto felt sad. The other boy could only be around his own age. He didn't think Gaara had even had anyone to play with; he'd had no one to reject him from a game and tussle with him. If the redhead had been even half as frightening as he was, any other child's first instinct would have been to flee, not to stay around and bully him.
If he wasn't trying to kill them, Naruto might have felt a certain kinship with Gaara. He wanted to understand how the Sand Village had treated him, how he had lived his childhood. Somehow, discovering that he was a jinchuuriki had softened Naruto's view of him.
"That's too bad, Gaara," he said. His quiet tone drew the attention to him. "I think I know where you're coming from now… but if you try to hurt my team, I'll fight you to the death."
The two held an intense gaze until Temari interrupted them. "Gaara," she persisted.
Her brother did not look away but Naruto was aware that the other boy now held a slight gleam of interest in his eyes. It was almost like Sabaku no Gaara was… scrutinising him.
"What is your name?"
"Uzumaki Naruto." He couldn't help but add, "Remember it." It took some restraint to resist from launching into his well-practiced Hokage declaration. Naruto hadn't realised that it was so well drilled into his habits, and the corner of his lips tugged into a small smile when he saw Sakura and Kiba noticeably turn their heads in his direction.
"Uzumaki." Gaara was testing out the sound of the name. "I will see you at the tower."
Although Kankurou and Temari did not move a muscle, Team Eight could see sparks of relief flickering in their eyes.
Naruto nodded. "We'll get going, then." It sounded like his team was expected to pass the second exam.
No, that wasn't it, Naruto realised as his team escaped into the foliage. They weren't expected – they were being ordered.
They had fled in the opposite direction of Gaara's team, but it took Naruto a while to realise that his friends were following him. Together, they kept the same pace and stuck close together, but they still let him precede them by half a step. And he was the one who had gotten them in that crisis in the first place. His lips pressed tighter together. He was definitely going to ask Kurenai's opinion on leadership when they got back.
Over their footsteps and the pounding of blood in his ears, Naruto could hear Sakura's breaths coming in hard gasps but he doubted it was her endurance. She and Kiba were more unnerved than he was. Instantaneously he decided that they had come far enough. His team didn't seem to care when he slowed and sat down in the middle of nowhere.
The silence was almost to be expected. After what they had just witnessed, even Naruto didn't feel like cracking jokes. Sakura had Akamaru cradled to her chest and was pacifying the puppy. Naruto was surprised; her voice sounded quite strong. He supposed that, as shinobi, they were required to overcome their fears in an instant. That had been one hell of a way to get them started.
It was Kiba's voice that eventually punctured the wordless atmosphere. "Well… crap." His laugh was a little shaky.
"You're such a poet, Kiba," Sakura murmured. It sounded to Naruto like his friends wanted to distract their thoughts, and he agreed with their resolve.
"That was freaky, huh?" Kiba again.
Naruto glanced at the taller boy. "He didn't have eyebrows," he said, smiling.
"Really? I didn't notice."
"Yeah, bet you were too busy finding a tree to pee behind."
"Hey, you looked like you were doing it right in your pants!"
"Was not!"
"Did you see his tattoo?" Sakura spoke up, and both boys turned to see that she was looking at them.
Kiba thought about it. "The one on his forehead? The red one?" At a nod from Sakura, he shrugged. "I think it was a kanji character, but I didn't see what it said."
"Love." Hearing the word in his own voice only made Gaara even more of a mystery to Naruto.
Sakura glanced at him. "You saw it?"
"I'm pretty sure I got it right. I went up pretty close." Neither of his teammates wanted to question that.
There was another lapse of silence, this time more companionable. Akamaru seemed to have recovered a little and was licking Sakura's hand. She seemed to be deep in thought. "Naruto," she began suddenly, then fell short. He waited, but she didn't continue.
"Back there… Gaara said you were the same as him." The words came from Kiba, but Naruto could tell that it could well have been Sakura's.
He lowered his head. He could tell them Gaara was a jinchuuriki. He could tell them. Not just of Gaara, but of himself. There was little insecurity now, after bonding so firmly with them. There was no denying that he was afraid of how they would react, and yet… Naruto felt he was… almost…
No, he wasn't ready. He just… wasn't. It wasn't the right time, not during the Chuunin Exam, not in a place like this.
"Maybe he was talking about our height." Naruto thought his laugh was pretty convincing – it had been better than Kiba's, for sure. Then why were his friends looking at him like that? They knew he was lying – of course they did. But it was as if… they were trying to see more of him. For a fleeting, heart-stopping second, Naruto suspected they knew. But they couldn't. No way.
"Don't ever let anyone take your title of Biggest Idiot, you hear me, Naruto?" Kiba finally retorted.
Naruto was almost guilty when his heart unclenched. "Loud and clear, Kiba. Loud and clear." After the Exam, possibly. He just… couldn't tell them now.
To alleviate his tension, Naruto told his teammates that he was going to do a quick reconnaissance on the area, and after promising that he would not drag a pseudo-Gaara back with him, he left.
The trees were sparser in this area, Naruto noticed. He remembered that they had passed a river a while back, but after the encounter with Gaara he wasn't sure where they were anymore. Far from their original gate, he assumed. He jumped up for one of the low branches of an ancient oak tree. It was wide enough to hold his body.
Uzumaki Naruto wasn't one to sit down and think. It wasn't in his nature. He thought he could glimpse a little of his friends on the ground. Always trust your teammates, Kurenai had taught them. Naruto trusted them with his life. He was a little more confident about confiding in Kiba and Sakura than he had been months prior. He was almost ready to invite them to Ichiraku's and tell them.
Hey guys, I've got something to tell you… I have a demon sealed in me.
Yeah, right.
Naruto sighed and tucked his hands behind his head, closing his eyes. I wish I was normal.
He stayed like that for a while longer, and then got up to do what he had said he would. Although it was extremely likely that another team could be nearby and decide to ambush him, Naruto wasn't being nearly as cautious as he knew he should be. Still, he didn't venture very far, and soon found his way back to his friends.
Sakura and Kiba were talking in low voices when he returned. They were discussing strategies and working out parameters they could operate in. For some reason Naruto was grinning. They could almost pretend that they weren't in a pass or fail, life or death situation, and that in five minutes Kurenai-sensei was going to 'ambush' them. In fact, that was how he was starting to think of it. It was much better than the alternative and it heartened him; they had done this before and succeeded. There was no reason why they could not pass this exam.
They already knew that there were only twelve pairs of scrolls left. Gaara's team would probably be at the tower by now. The aim of the second exam was to cut the numbers down by half. The odds looked grim.
"Not just that," Sakura said, looking at Naruto and Kiba. "If anyone loses their scroll, or if their scroll is destroyed, that automatically makes one of the other scrolls useless." In other words, another team would not make it.
It was a rough estimate that only two hours had passed since the start of the exam. They had plenty of time. At least, that was what they told themselves.
"We need to find ourselves an Earth scroll," Naruto told his team, getting to his feet. "No time to be sitting around, guys!"
Translation: it was time to put the events of the past hour behind them.
With a short burst of chakra, Naruto was in the trees. "Last one is a rotten egg!"
The Forest of Death was larger than Sakura had imagined. They had been wandering about for a while now. The light that seeped through the canopy told them it was nearing dusk, and despite their efforts Team Eight had yet to come across another team.
"Maybe it's too early," Naruto encouraged. "I bet everyone will start coming out at night."
"Like bats?" Sakura suggested.
"Yeah! Like those flying mouses!"
"Mice, baka."
It started to get progressively darker. The forest seemed eerie in the dark. Sakura had once been afraid of the dark. She had been afraid of many things. Not anymore, she hoped.
Naruto stopped and frowned. "I hear something."
Sakura tilted her head. Kiba must have picked up the sound already. He had. "It sounds like someone peeing."
She hit him.
It was the river.
"Safe to drink?" Sakura dipped a finger in her water, watching as the disturbance broke into ripples. They had stopped for half-hour breaks every now and then, but no one had been prepared for five days in the wilderness. If they were going to have meals, it wasn't going to be coming out of a packet.
"Guess so. I don't think anyone would want to poison the river."
Naruto was already at the water's edge, uncapping his canteen. "Hey, how about a swim, guys? The water's pretty nice!"
Accustomed to cleansing herself at least once a day, Sakura almost agreed. Then her face heated rather quickly as she realised what the prospect meant. "Naruto, you… you pervert!"
"What? I… oh." She had to admit; he was getting better at recognising the signs. Paling, Naruto stood up, waving his hands in front of him. "Sakura, I can ex-"
Sakura should have known that something was wrong if Kiba was not sniggering.
"Hey Naru-" But the Inuzuka did not finish his warning before a barrage of kunai slammed Naruto against the trunk of a tree.
There was no time to check if their teammate had been injured. Kiba and Sakura rounded in the direction the assault had come from. "My fault. Akamaru and I weren't paying attention." Kiba murmured, leaning forward into a crouch.
"It's fine." Sakura tried not to think of Naruto. He would be alright. This was Naruto they were talking about.
Akamaru barked, hackles raised. Shuriken sliced between the two genin. Cursing, Kiba leapt back. They needed to see their opponent and determine numbers. Right now. His hands rapidly flashed into handseals. "Goukakyuu no Jutsu!"
The roiling sphere of flame ignited the leaves of the trees, disseminating quickly. Kiba carefully contained the technique so it would not burn down kilometres of woodland. There was no sign of the assailant.
Without warning, two kunai shot out of the trees to the left of the fire Kiba had created. Armed with her own kunai, Sakura was prepared – but she did not expect the attack to sail over her head and thud into the trees on either side of Naruto's. It was very off mark. Through her confusion she was relieved to see the blonde squirming against his binds.
Sakura darted to free her teammate – but the presence she felt beside her was not Kiba, and she realised this in time to avoid the leg that lashed at the empty space her head had once occupied. Sakura flipped back, landing on the water.
Breathing out slowly, she flexed her fingers. A stream of water rose from the river and coiled around her hand.
Two snarling Kibas were poised behind their opponent. There was only one foe in sight.
The Water Whip felt placid under her control. "Where's the rest of your team, Tenten?" Sakura asked evenly.
Tenten smiled. "I thought you'd know, Sakura. Girls are better than boys."
Naruto praised his luck. It was unfair that he had been the first one to be picked off. The kunai had caught on the fabric of his jacket and hadn't broken his skin. It was either luck or skill of the person who had wielded them. His judgement leaned more towards the latter when he identified Tenten. Yet at the same time he understood that it meant she was no pushover.
Either way she was wrong if she thought she could keep him from the fray for long. He wasn't keen on shredding his clothing but that was what needle and thread was for. It seemed Yasumagi Shinji should expect a visit.
Tenten appeared to be very adept at taijutsu, Naruto observed as he began to strain. She was keeping both Sakura and two Inuzukas at bay. He would even up the odds. With a tearing sound, his left arm was free.
The sizzling sound stopped him.
Now he knew what those two kunai had been for.
In an explosion of debris and splintered bark, the two neighbouring trees on either side of Naruto began to groan and collapse. Right over him.
They fought kunai to kunai, and then switched to hand to hand. Sakura stabbed her leg at Tenten's ankle only to have it kicked away. She let the other girl unbalance her and throw her over her shoulder, but used her own momentum as she landed to toss Tenten into the air. With a growl from Kiba, two grey figures gyrating at ferocious speeds surged after the airborne girl.
Sakura's eyes widened as the Tenten twisted and whipped out a lengthy scroll. An incredible amount of sharp weapons hailed down on the pair. Kiba tried to pierce the dense rain, but gashes began to open in the folds of his clothes, spilling blood.
Gathering more water in her hand, Sakura launched another Water Whip at Tenten. She rolled to the side as shuriken whistled toward her, and spun around with another attack, this time aiming for the scroll. It was impossible for Tenten to physically carry such a large mass of weapons – seriously, a scythe? Sakura hoped that the water would render the scroll ineffective or at least hinder the speed at which she launched the projectiles.
Her aim was true, but so was Tenten's. Sakura winced as several thin wounds marked her arms and cheek. It was the water current from her whip that spared her from being impaled; it slowed down Tenten's attacks, giving her just enough time to weave between them.
It was another stroke to the second exam. Each and every team was a foe, even if they were of the same village. It was a mutual understanding. That was why they hadn't wasted any words. Sakura did not think Tenten would go as far as to mortally wound them – but she didn't have to. She only needed the scroll…
The scroll!
Sakura checked on it as she reached inside her pouch for another kunai. Safe. A breath of relief escaped her. She wondered if Tenten had her team's scroll… where was her team, anyway?
Kiba had engaged Tenten in direct combat now. While they couldn't assume that Tenten used limited ninjutsu, the older girl was visibly proficient in taijutsu. She danced beyond his reach, but Sakura still saw her wince when Kiba's claws raked her forearm.
Although he was distinctly male and felt a little indignant at Tenten's last comment, Kiba could not deny that their fellow Konoha genin knew what she was doing. She had successfully evaded his Gatsuuga in tandem with Sakura's Water Whip. But she couldn't be unbeatable. It was two against one.
He swept up a roundhouse kick, and snapped his elbow back as Tenten ducked and slipped in for a jab at his exposed ribs. Her breath left her in a rewarding 'whoosh'. She reeled back, wiping her mouth, before lowering into another stance. Sakura dove in once again.
Where the hell was Naruto?
His leg had only narrowly avoided getting crushed. Naruto landed hard on his back and skidded along the ground. Sawdust clogged his lungs with each breath, so he stumbled out of the dusty smog, coughing. He couldn't see the others. The trees had closed his passage, and after he had freed himself Naruto had had to rebound off one of the falling trees to escape. Close shave, he thought dourly.
The carcasses of the trees were strewn across his path. Shoving chakra to his soles, Naruto cleared the obstacle in a single leap. He was rewarded with a clear view of the fight unravelling beside the river. A kunai slipped into his hand. The prospect of fighting against a friendly acquaintance didn't quite appeal to him, but no one said he had to like it.
Naruto sprinted toward the commotion, adrenaline jittering. Before he had gotten halfway, however, he was blindsided by a whirling fist. He saw it coming from his peripheral vision and attempted to twist in midair, but it still cracked painfully against his temple. As he fell, Naruto blindly swiped his blade through the air, though he made no contact. He rolled with the impact, absorbing the blow.
Tenten nimbly eluded another of Kiba's Tsuuga attacks. Her face lit up. "Neji!"
"You're back early." The stoic Hyuuga had not taken his pale eyes off Naruto.
Judging from their tone, neither of the two had been expecting the other. "Is Lee around here as well?" Naruto asked, casting around.
"You talk too much."
Neji's outline blurred, and Naruto hastily jerked his head back as a palm jabbed at his face. He grabbed his opponent's wrist as it passed, his other hand slicing down with the kunai. Neji sidestepped, still bound by Naruto's grip. The blonde leaned into his opponent's unstable guard, knee raised. Chakra burst from Neji's open palm, forcing him to let go and propelling him backward.
It was plain that Neji had the upper hand in experience. The dark-haired boy's strikes were precise and drawn tight. He seemed to be slightly faster than Naruto, but it wasn't a speed the younger genin couldn't handle. He could push himself further if he needed it. He hoped he would not have to release his weights. Slowly, he began to retaliate.
Naruto wasn't quite sure when they had moved away from their teammates. He could still hear the dull thuds and metallic clangs but the trees obscured them from his vision. Glancing over, he wondered if it was Neji's intention.
The other boy seemed unfazed. "Who has the scroll?"
"Me," Naruto replied, not missing a beat.
Neji's eyes narrowed. "That was idiotic of you. I'll take it from you now."
He snorted. "What happened to fighting over it?"
"You are a waste of my time."
Naruto was sick of the holier-than-thou attitude. Growling, he gathered chakra. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Scores of clones took form around them. Lowering his hands, Naruto smiled coldly. "How about now? Am I still a waste of your time?"
Neji calmly accepted the new development. "We shall see."
He was promptly screened from view as Naruto's clones pounced on him, charging, shooting off trees, clambering over each other. Naruto had only summoned thirty or so clones to test the waters, but his opponent was already well outnumbered. Serves the jerk right, he mused triumphantly.
Then spaces between the clones began to glow. Neji's voice rose above the cries of surprise. "Hakkeshou Kaiten!"
Bearing witness to the sight before him, Naruto was grateful that he had hung back. A bright sphere of chakra had rose up around Neji, forcefully repelling everything it came in contact with. Clones were tossed mercilessly into the air and into trees, where they dissipated. There was no point of penetration. It was a very effective defence, Naruto had to admit.
It also looked like his chakra shield. He wasn't quite sure how his variation looked from the outside but Naruto thought the form looked rather familiar. In fact, he hadn't thought of using the chakra shield in battle like this. Kurenai-sensei had basically forbidden him from using it without her permission. Perhaps she thought he wasn't ready to handle it. Neji's technique looked much more potent than his.
Still, that didn't mean Naruto was prepared to give up.
Shuriken was flung at Neji the moment he was visible. It was almost expected that he would throw up his impenetrable defence, so Naruto was faintly surprised when his impaled opponent was revealed to have been a log of wood.
Neji did not stay in hiding for long. He struck out from behind, his hand glowing with chakra. One of the clones that had survived the first attack by standing back saw the peril and gave a yell of warning. He was close enough to grab the original by the vest and toss him out of harm's way, but was too slow to dodge Neji's attack.
Face to face, both genins exchanged blows. Neji had a very firm guard that frustrated Naruto. His footwork was defined and he effortlessly turned away Naruto's fists with his movements. Even when he managed to slam his elbow against Neji's chest and throw the latter back, it quickly became clear to Naruto that if he was going to emerge victorious, it would not be through taijutsu.
Leaping back and tossing his kunai, Naruto's hands were forming handseals the moment they were free. Neji simply stepped out of the blade's trajectory, but his opponent had finished his preparations. A large fireball rapidly ate into the surrounding trees, flaring with intense heat. Neji could feel the perspiration gathering at his pores as he took off.
He had never seen a genin produce a Katon jutsu of such sheer bulk and raw power. Although it didn't extend very far, it took adequate chakra reserves to keep a jutsu of such capacity aflame. Neji's eyes flickered. It seemed he had underestimated Uzumaki Naruto.
It was Naruto's turn to launch an unannounced assault. Clones dropped from the canopy, wielding kunai. Neji evaded and made short work of them. But the original was nowhere to be seen. The Hyuuga shifted his stance, casting around.
His sandal nudged against something. Looking down, he saw that it was a kunai one of the clone's had been using. Something went off in Neji's head.
Too late. The blade disappeared in smoke as a fist rocketed upward. Neji's eyes widened. He had no time to dodge. No, he had to retaliate.
"Byakugan!"
Naruto had little warning. His opponent's hand clamped down on the head of the kunai-disguised clone and, using it as leverage, chambered a back kick into Naruto's chest. Sent rolling into the dirt, Naruto tried to make sense of the situation. He thought he'd planned it so beautifully. Even if Neji could have dodged the clone's attack, he wouldn't have been able to block Naruto's. And yet he had struck out with perfect precision, as if he had known exactly where Naruto had been. It was impossible, not unless he had eyes in the back of his head…
Neji straightened. There was certainly something different about his eyes. Veins traced boldly around them, sharpening the pupils.
"That's a cool jutsu." Naruto got to his feet, catching his breath. "Why didn't you use it before?"
"For someone like you, I didn't think I would need it."
He was aware that he was being insulted. "Well, I made you, didn't I? Now let's get this over with. No holding back."
His opponent was not keen. "This fight is over."
"Nani?"
"You don't have the scroll."
Naruto faltered. "How did you…?"
"The girl has it," Neji said.
He knew. And before Naruto could understand how he had found out, Neji was already heading back to the other fight. Sakura was in trouble. Naruto skidded into his path, arms outstretched. "Stop right there," he growled. "You can't just walk away from our fight like that."
Neji's eyes, returned to normal now, barely even acknowledged him. "We both have a Heaven scroll. This is meaningless." His voice was firm, and Naruto didn't need to doubt the authenticity of his words.
His team had gotten off lightly. Naruto quickly ran his eyes over his teammates, noticing minor injuries. His fist clenched. They had agreed not to involve themselves if it was not necessary. Neji's withdrawal was benefitting them. But now Naruto felt undermined. The Hyuuga boy had looked down on him like a worthless pebble.
It was true that Neji had experience on his side, but Naruto had superior stamina. He would eventually be able to whittle down his opponent's defences. However, considering that they had days to go and chakra deprivation would complicate their progress, Naruto held himself in check. His eyes were reproachful as Neji broke up the fight between their teammates. He wanted to fight Neji and show him that he was more. But now wasn't the time.
Tenten looked a little winded, though Naruto's friends looked weary as well. She sighed in exasperation when Neji spoke to her. "You don't think you could have checked that earlier, Neji? You could have saved me the trouble."
"It doesn't matter now." Naruto thought Neji was looking at him, but with those eyes he couldn't be sure.
"Lee is late."
"We'll find him now. Let's go, Tenten."
Kiba stepped forward as the two turned away. "Wait a minute! You're just going to walk away like that? You picked a fight with us and now you're just going to leave?" He was incredulous.
"It was only coincidence that we ran into each other," Tenten said, looking over her shoulder. "My team had arranged to meet here after half an hour. I came back a little earlier and saw you." She shrugged. "It was either ambush you or get discovered and ambushed."
Sakura caught Kiba's arm. "She's right, Kiba. Let's just let them leave."
Then and there, as he watched them walk away, Naruto decided that he definitely did not like Hyuuga Neji.
No one questioned Sakura's choice of equipment when she produced a small first aid kit from one of her pockets. They had gotten away with a small collection of scrapes and bruises, so the roll of bandages was thankfully unneeded. Naruto helped to rub ointment on Kiba's wounds while Sakura tended to Akamaru. The small dog was mostly uninjured, having been ordered by Kiba to sit out after he had seen that their jutsu was ineffective against Tenten's.
Sakura gently applied a plaster to Akamaru's snout, smiling. "Now you look less like a huggable plush toy," she declared, lifting him from her lap.
"Oi, he's a ferocious nin-dog," Kiba corrected. "Aren't you, boy?" He directed this to Akamaru.
Akamaru barked and rose proudly, but when Sakura tickled him under the chin what sounded suspiciously like purring rumbled from the puppy.
"I'm going to ignore that," his master said pointedly. He glanced at Naruto. "What about you? Hurt anywhere?"
Naruto blinked. "Me?" He had been a little sore previously but now he had practically forgotten his pains. His tenant had likely seen to it. "I'm alright. Useful vest, this thing."
"You know, it's pretty strange. I can't remember the last time you needed medical attention," Kiba remarked.
"Hey, don't go around jinxing it."
By the time they had treated their injuries, another issue arose. Food. Naruto had been trying to ignore his hunger for a while now. There was no room for argument – they could not continue on empty stomachs.
In fear of their battles – especially Naruto's giant fireball – attracting other teams, they had moved on, keeping by the river. The crystalline serpent was still sprawled beside them. Food usually came in the form of a steaming bowl of ramen, but when Naruto saw fish swimming by in the water, he decided he didn't mind a seafood meal.
Kiba and even Sakura were not keen on lighting a fire; in the darkness it would draw attention to them like moths. But they eventually agreed with Naruto's suggestion. "Being too careful isn't always a good thing," Kiba said slowly, grinning.
Akamaru was in the mood to jump into the water to startle fish downstream. Naruto and Kiba were waiting further down, targeting their prey. The duty of lighting a campfire had fallen on Sakura. It was logical; she had the best chakra control and was least likely to cause an unwelcome bushfire.
The boys were mucking around. They were splashing around and scaring away the fish. Sakura knew that she should be berating them for being silly but the light-hearted atmosphere was… relaxing. It almost felt like they were on a simple mission.
The tranquillity vanished when Akamaru suddenly sprang back onto dry ground and barked. Kiba groaned. "You're kidding me! How many more people are we going to run into in one day?"
A green blur streaked down from the trees high above them, landing lightly on the other side of the river. As she watched the figure look around, Sakura recognised him as Rock Lee.
Naruto had also come to the same realisation. "Hey! Lee!" he called. He was much more gracious toward the green-clad boy than he was toward Neji. The thought of Lee as an enemy hadn't even occurred to him until he heard Kiba sigh. On that thought, Naruto drew his wave in tight, but Lee was already leaping across the expanse of water that separated them.
"We meet again, Naruto-kun," Lee beamed. He turned to greet the blonde's teammates. Naruto noticed that his smile for Sakura was considerably brighter than his for Kiba's – but if the Inuzuka was disgruntled he didn't show it.
"Isn't it past your bedtime, Lee?" Naruto grinned.
The tall boy just smiled. "How are you doing in the exam? Have you found your scrolls?" Lee caught himself quickly when he saw Team Eight share wary glances. "I apologise. It is not my business, is it?"
"It's fine." It was Sakura who covered for them. "We haven't found our second scroll yet, no."
Lee nodded. They had not disclosed the nature of their scroll and he didn't seem to have intention to take it from them. The matter was left at that.
"Where did you come from anyway?" Kiba asked. He looked up from spearing the few fish they had caught onto sticks.
At this, Lee's eyes clouded over. He looked perturbed. "My team split up for individual investigation," he explained. "I came across… something that disturbed me."
"A ghost?" Naruto guessed.
His humour barely appealed to Lee. "Your classmate, Uchiha Sasuke's team," he said.
Sakura frowned. "Can you tell us what you saw, Lee-san?"
It didn't seem Lee could say no to Sakura. They invited him to sit with them. "When I arrived, Sasuke-kun's team was already in battle with another team. From Sound, I believe," Lee began. The flames cast an eerie glow on his face. "Sasuke had been unconscious. His teammates were fighting very hard but were being overwhelmed."
"Wait." Naruto looked at Lee. "What was wrong with Sasuke? Did he get knocked out early?"
"I do not know. It looked like his teammates had been taking care of him. I do not think that he was knocked out."
"No, me neither," Naruto agreed. "Anyway, what happened?"
"As I thought about intervening, Sasuke woke up," Lee said simply.
They waited.
"But he was… different."
"Different? How?" Kiba questioned. He absently flipped the fish over before they burned, but his attention was focused on Lee.
The other boy did not reply immediately.
"Lee?" Sakura prompted. "How was Sasuke?" She sounded concerned, but she had reason to be.
"He was giving off a very vile chakra." Somehow, although they had not been present, Lee's use of 'vile' seemed eerily fitting. "His speed and power was greatly increased. Where his teammates had been struggling, he defeated the Sound ninja in minutes." Lee paused. "I do not know Uchiha Sasuke very well, but I do know that he should not have that power."
The campsite was wreathed in silence as each person mulled over the news Lee had brought. Kiba had never particularly liked his Uchiha classmate; he attracted fangirls like no other boy at the Academy, and he was too detached. But that was not to say that he was beyond caring. Sasuke had obviously undergone an unknown change. However, as Kiba tried to sympathise, he was also grateful that his team had not been affected. Lee's description sounded horrific.
His glance sidled over to Sakura and Naruto. They were more involved with Sasuke than he was. Kiba wondered what they were thinking.
"We ran into your team," he said to Lee. "We fought – but don't worry, no one got killed." He grinned.
"That reminds me!" Lee shot to his feet so quickly that Naruto rose as well, his hand halfway to his weapons pouch. "I am late to meet my team. I have to go!"
"Yeah, you're late alright," Naruto said. "They said they were going to look for you but that was… almost an hour ago, I think."
"Tenten is going to be furious with me," Lee moaned. "I hope to see you at the tower, Naruto-kun. Goodbye!"
"See you later… wait. Lee!" Their ally had taken off at such a speed that Naruto sighed, thinking he had missed him.
But then a loud voice responded from… somewhere. "Naruto-kun?"
A grin lit up Naruto's face. "You'd better pass this exam, okay? I want to fight you!" He shouted the words to the air.
"Hai! If I fail, I shall run five hundred laps around Konoha… on my hands!" The rustle of leaves told Team Eight that Lee had left.
Naruto chuckled. He found that he liked the absurd boy. Rock Lee was weird incarnate, with his 'unique' fashion sense and stiff vocabulary. But he was decent. Better than Neji, anyway.
"This forest is dangerous," Sakura murmured from where she sat on the ground.
Naruto squatted down in front of her. "Cheer up, Sakura. It's not fun unless it's hard, right?"
Her finger poked him in the forehead protector, sending his rear into the dirt. "Out of my face, weirdo," she teased.
"You're so mean, Sakura-chan!" Naruto dusted his pants off. "Bit of a bumpy start today, huh? Let's kick butt tomorrow, guys!"
"You know what, Naruto?" Kiba asked.
"What?"
"Let's eat first."
Team Eight had marched into the Chuunin Exam without the Forest of Death in their calculations. This was new to them. It was… exhilarating. And Day One had gone up in fireworks.
A/N: Yeah, I'm late again. Really late. Sorry about that. Also, my spellcheck died on me during this chapter, so if there are more mistakes than usual, that's the reason - that, and I'm horrible with editing. I don't have the patience for it. I did try to comb through the chapter for mistakes and picked up a few, but if you see any I would appreciate it if you pointed it out to me.
No, Naruto's team didn't even run into Sasuke's in my version. No confrontation with Orochimaru or the Sound team. Why? I considered including them, but after some thought I came to the conclusion that it didn't really affect things if I cut them out. It would make a small difference later on (Orochimaru doesn't know about Naruto's demon, and Team Eight don't know about the Cursed Seal) but since I had already written the parts with Gaara and Neji, I didn't want to go overboard by squeezing too much in. I did try to make up for it with Gaara, but that was mostly canon stuff, I think.
Neji didn't use the Byakugan right from the start because he didn't think Naruto would push him that far. If he used Byakugan first he would have seen that their scroll was the same and there wouldn't have been a fight. I tried not to make it seem like Team Eight was much weaker; they did go through all that training after all.
Oh yes, Kyuubi. Naruto was close to telling his friends in this chapter. It might have worked, but it would have been messy to stage it right in the middle of the second exam. Don't worry, he will tell them. Not soon, but not years later. A few chapters - but don't wait for it. I'm notorious for stretching things out.
Just to finish off, I think my writing style has gradually changed. It's starting to get uncomfortable for me to write Precious People, and I'm afraid I'm not writing it as well as I would like. It feels a little rushed and chopped up in pieces. I'll see what I can do about it, but if the next chapter feels a little different, please bear with me.