The Forest of Death

Disclaimer:How many times do I have to tell you that I do NOT own Naruto? :)

The remaining genin for the Chunin exams gathered around at the venue for the second part of the exams. It was a large forest with large trees and profound vegetation, surrounding it was a large fence with more than sixteen gates; standing firmly on the center of the forest was a tall tower designed to look like a castle.

"All right maggots," Anko said, cutting everyone's thoughts and turning their attention to her, "Welcome to the forest of death!"

"Th-the forest…of d-death?" Naruto echoed nervously.

"Yes, now if you would gladly shut up, I would like to explain the objective of the second part of the exams." Anko said, plainly.

When she didn't hear a peep out of anyone anymore, she began to explain. "Listen up, maggots, I will only say this once," she said in a deadly tone.

She held up two scrolls, a white one and a dark brown one, "Each team will get either one of these scrolls—the heaven or the earth," she began, "the objective of the test is for you to find the other scroll by gaining it from another team. Is that part clear?"

She could see almost everyone nod.

"So," Sakura said, "After this test, only half of the teams standing here or even less are gonna make it through to final test."

"That's right," said Anko, "but don't forget this isa forest. Who knows what else you'll find in there?"

"Wild animals," said Sasuke, nonchalantly, "There's a big chance that there would be creatures trying to attack you as well."

"That too," said Anko, "Plus, there are a few rules and disqualifications."

"What do you mean?" asked Ino.

"The first rule is that you are not allowed to open the scroll that you have," she replied, "You're only allowed to open it once you have accessed the other scroll and you have reached the tower."

"You can also get disqualified if one of your teammates is not able to make it to the castle with you. For instance, your teammate get slaughtered or killed or something…you fail this exam too."

A few people grimaced.

Then, Anko brought out a piece of paper and said, "One more thing. Before you begin this exam, I expect you to sign this sheet of paper."

"What is it?" Naruto asked.

"Oh," Anko said, nervously, "It's just a waiver, you know…just in case you…die or something. I'm not gonna be held responsible or anything…"

Everyone sweatdropped.

She then distributed the waivers to everyone. "So, wait here and sign," she said, "I'll give you guys a signal when it's time to receive your scrolls. After that, choose a gate. This is where you will enter the forest."

Naruto and the others got their waivers and Anko left to make preparations.

Team Seven was currently sitting down behind some rocks and reading over the waiver that Anko had given them. Well, Sasuke and Sakura were while Naruto lazily rolled around on the grass.

"Hey, aren't you guys a little nervous for this?" Naruto asked them.

Sasuke and Sakura looked at each other then back at Naruto.

"What do you mean?" asked Sakura.

"Well," Naruto said, "We might get killed and stuff so…"

"Relax, would you, dobe?" Sasuke said, "It's not like it's thathard anyway."

"True," said Sakura, "All we have to do is take the other scroll from some other team, right?"

"Y-yeah..." Naruto said. Damn it! How could they stay so cool like that?

"All right, maggots," Anko's loud voice was heard, "You are now allowed to go behind the curtain and receive your scroll."

"Yes!" Naruto yelled as he stood up.

Sasuke and Sakura stood up as well.

Naruto brought his hand down in front of Sasuke and Sakura and said, "Go Team Seven!"

His two teammates just looked down at his hand, confused.

"What?" Sakura asked.

"You just put your hand there, you know," Naruto said, completely failing to explain.

"Oh," said Sakura as she placed her hand on Naruto's. This little action made Naruto blush like a madman.

"Tch," Sasuke looked away and placed his hand on top of Sakura's (probably to hide his blush).

"Let's go team Seven!" Naruto cried out again which made Sakura raise an eyebrow and Sasuke smirk.

"Oh yeah! We got a heaven scroll!" Naruto said out loud, as he looked down at the scroll Sakura was holding.

"Not so loud, you dobe," Sasuke said, "They might hear us."

"Oops!" Naruto whispered, "Sorry…"

They made their way to their gate, they had picked a random one…or Naruto picked a random one, gate twelve.

Each of them was anxiously waiting for the gates to fly open any minute.

GRRRRRRR.

"What the heck was that?" Sakura asked.

"My stomach…" Naruto said faintly. "I'm so hungry! I could just die!" He then turned a little pale.

"Don't die, you dobe," Sasuke said, "We still need to pass these exams."

Naruto crossed his arms and pouted at Sasuke's lack of compassion.

Sakura felt a little pity for Naruto and reached into her weapon pouch. She brought out a delicious-looking rice ball and handed it to Naruto. "Here," she said.

Naruto stared at the rice ball for a minute and blinked, "For me?"

Sakura raised her eyebrow and nodded.

Naruto took it and wrapped his arms around Sakura in a bear hug. "Thank you, thank you, Sakura-chan!" he said, grateful.

"Na…ruto…" Sakura struggled through Naruto's arms.

Sasuke noticed this and glared at Naruto, "She can't breathe dobe. Put her down!"

"Whoops, sorry!" said Naruto again.

Naruto looked at the rice ball Sakura gave him, "It looks delicious! Where did you get this?"

"I made it," Sakura answered, nonchalantly.

Sasuke and Naruto looked at Sakura in surprise. She can cook?

"You- you can cook?" asked Naruto.

"I don't know," she said, "Try it and find out."

Naruto stared at it for a while and took a bite. Suddenly, his eyes widened and he started drooling. "This is the best rice ball I have ever tasted!" he cried out and hugged it to his chest.

Sasuke raised a brow and crossed his arms, "It's probably because you're hungry, dobe."

"No really," Naruto said, "try it, teme!"

He then shoved a piece into Sasuke's mouth.

Sasuke started chewing and it's like a sensation in his mouth, his eyes widened in complete and utter shock. "It's…pretty good."

"Just pretty good?" Naruto cried out, "It's the best rice ball in the world!"

Sasuke silently agreed to his knucklehead teammate, but chose not to say anything.

"Th-thanks," Sakura said.

The ninjas who were guarding the gate started to unlock it while Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura took their ready positions.

"Ready?" Anko's voice could be heard throughout the whole forest, "Go!"

And this was when every ninja entered the forest of death.

Team Seven was going at a rather slow pace while entering the forest.

"Ah," Naruto said as he rubbed his stomach, "That rice ball sure was filling."

They sprinted a few feet before Naruto began to twitch unexpectedly, this did not go unnoticed by Sasuke or Sakura.

"What's wrong, Naruto?" Sakura asked him.

Naruto laughed nervously, "I kinda need to go."

Sasuke and Sakura sweatdropped as Naruto positioned himself in front of a bush—right in front of Sakura!

Sakura turned around and shut her eyes in disgust, "Ew! Gross, Naruto!"

Sasuke kicked Naruto into a nearby tree, "Not in front of a girl, you dobe!"

"Ahhh!" said Naruto as he was flung into the tree.

After a few minutes, Naruto emerged from the trees finished with 'business'.

"Hey guys!" Naruto said, "That sure was refreshing."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes at him and looked at Sakura, who nodded.

Together, they each shot a kunai at this 'Naruto'.

This Naruto was able to dodge the two kunais without any difficulty. "What the heck?" he said, "Are you guys crazy? You could've killed me!"

"Where's Naruto?" Sasuke asked him, his voice deadly.

"What are you talking about?" it replied, "I'm Naruto."

Sakura shot him a glare, "Wrong answer." She said.

This Naruto just acted all confused.

"Tch," Sasuke said, "Why is your weapon pouch on your left leg then? You doknow that Naruto is right-handed."

Once Sasuke said this, Sakura used this as a distraction as she agilely took position behind the 'Naruto' and ran a kunai through his torso.

"Where's the real Naruto?" she asked him.

The ninja gasped from the wound and transformed back into a Rain ninja.

He tried to run but Sasuke and Sakura chased after him and they were right on his tail.

Sakura sensed Naruto's chakra somewhere in the bushes.

"Sasuke," she said.

Sasuke immediately understood and nodded.

While Sakura set off to free Naruto, Sasuke kept chasing the Rain ninja.

"Where are the others?" as usual, Sasuke cut to the chase, swiftly chasing the Rain ninja as he said this.

"I came here alone," said the ninja, gasping for breath as it began to disappear, "Big mistake."

He was gone.

Sasuke knew it was pointless to chase after him now and made his way to his teammates.

Sakura found Naruto all tied-up in ropes somewhere behind the bushes.

Naruto was trying to squirm himself free when he spotted Sakura. "Sakura-chan! Thank goodness! Help me!"

Sakura sweat-dropped and leapt over to Naruto. She promptly cut off all the ropes with her kunai and helped Naruto up to his feet.

At that moment, Sasuke came in and sat down next to them.

"Where's the rain ninja, Sasuke?" Sakura asked.

Naruto looked from Sasuke to Sakura, "What rain ninja?"

"Gone," he replied bluntly, ignoring Naruto.

"Gone? What do you mean?" Naruto asked again.

Sakura just shrugged.

Naruto crossed his arms and gave up.

"Anyways, we need a password," Sasuke said.

"What kind of password, teme?" Naruto asked.

"One that only the three of us know," he replied.

"Okay…so, what is it?" Naruto asked again.

"The question will be," Sasuke said, slowly and surely, "When does a ninja strike?"

"And…?" Sakura prompted.

"Listen carefully, 'cause I will only say this once." said Sasuke.

"The answer mustbe 'A ninja strikes when the time is right. When an enemy sleeps and drops his guard, when his weapons lay forgotten in the stillness of the night...that is the moment for a ninja to strike.' Got it?"

"Got it," Sakura said, almost immediately.

No surprise there,thought Sasuke, what about…

"Can you repeat the password?" Naruto asked while trying to process what Sasuke had just said.

"No," Sasuke said, "I said I'll only say it once."

"Well," said Naruto, "I was kinda thinking it was just gonna be a passwordnot a pass-speech."

"If you've got a problem with it then—"

Sasuke was cut off by a huge explosion directed to them. Each one had jumped off in their own direction and had lost sight of one another.

Sakura spotted Sasuke behind a bush and started running to him.

"Sasuke," she said, calling his attention.

She wasn't surprised when Sasuke raised a kunai in defense.

"Wait. Don't come any closer. First, answer this question: when does a ninja strike?"

"Oh," said Sakura calmly, "A ninja strikes when the time is right. When the enemy sleeps and drops his guard, when his weapons lay forgotten in the stillness of the night, that is the moment for a ninja to strike."

Sasuke dropped his weapon and calmed down, "Good."

Suddenly, they heard a rustle from the bushes and from it, emerged Naruto.

"Hey guys!" he said, almost too enthusiastically.

"Wait, don't come any closer!" Sakura said, "When does a ninja strike?"

"Oh yeah!" Naruto cried out, "A ninja strikes when the time is right. When the enemy sleeps and drops his guard, when his weapons lay forgotten in the stillness of the night, that is the moment for a ninja to strike."

Sakura's eyes narrowed and Sasuke shot a kunai at him, who flawlessly dodged the weapon.

Sakura leapt over to where 'Naruto' was and held a kunai to his throat, "Do you reallythink our Naruto can memorize something like that?"

"I gotta say," Sasuke cut off, "Your transformation is much better than that last one. Just give us your scroll and we might take it easy on you."

Sasuke was surprised when the ninja chuckled.

"So...you saw through my guise..." the ninja said. Her voice velvety, yet deadly at the same time. There was something about it that makes you flinch whenever a word is uttered.

The imposter had transformed back into her natural form in the blink of an eye. It was a kunoichi from the Grass Village with long black hair, deep circles under her eyes, and a wide mouth with thin lips. The weirdest thing about her is that she had an abnormally long, slimy tongue.

She smiled, lustfully and then with all her strength, elbowed Sakura's stomach.

Sakura was flung into one of the horizontally bended branches. She hit her back brutally and then she fell on the ground, supporting herself with her palms.

"Sakura!" Sasuke cried out and ran to where his teammate was.

When he reached her though, Sakura had already positioned herself on her knees, glaring at the ninja before them.

The ninja chuckled, and the sound his voice made Sasuke and Sakura grimace, "You poor, pathetic little children. Hmm, thought you'd put up much more of a fight..."

And when Sakura and Sasuke looked it to her eyes...

...they became MORTIFIED.

In her eyes, they saw the next few minutes of the fight...

...they saw...

...THEIR OWN DEATH.

"Her eyes," Sasuke said to himself, "Filled with so much bloodlust. I practically saw my own death in them."

This was when he found out that he had no strength to move a single joint in his body.

Why? Why can't I move?He thought.

Little by little, he tried to look over to where Sakura was.

She was trembling.

"Sa-sakura," he said trying to move his head just enough to look at her.

"Y-yes, Sasuke?" she said, attempting the same thing.

"W-what do we d-do?" Sasuke replied, finding it harder to move by the second.

Sakura thought long and hard. I'm absolutely terrified,Sakura thought, how do I overcome fear?

The enemy ninja had already fired two kunais at them, if they didn't find out a way to dodge them soon, they would be dead.

Sakura forced her arm to extend out to retrieve her kunai on the forest floor, then brought it up to her side and...

"Arrgghh!" cried Sasuke in pain.

She stabbed Sasuke's leg, hoping that the pain would win over his fear.

Sasuke stood up, realizing only now that he could move freely again.

Without hesitation, Sasuke scooped Sakura into his arms, bridal-style and carried her away to take cover.

Sakura recovered almost immediately. "I'm so sorry, Sasuke!" she whispered worriedly, "It was the only—"

"You did what you had to," Sasuke said, trying to reassure her, "It's okay."

And Sakura did something that made Sasuke unable to breathe…

…she smiled.

It was the most genuine smile that Sasuke had ever seen.

There it is…her smile. I remember promising that I'll see that smile again…does she remember me too?

His thoughts were cut off because Sakura suddenly yelled out, "Sasuke, look out!"

A giant snake had arrived and lashed at the two with its fangs.

Sasuke jumped away to dodge, and Sakura had leapt skilfully onto another branch.

Who was it after? Sakura thought, as she observed the snake carefully.

She was appalled when the snake headed for Sasuke.

Sasuke! Why is it after Sasuke? Sakura asked herself.

Sasuke studied the snake, and he saw the same eyes that had terrified him only a few moments ago as it slithered towards him.

"No!" he cried out, "Stay away!" He threw shuriken at the snake's throat, killing him almost immediately.

The snake fell to the ground—dead.

Sakura jumped to the scene. "You did it," she told him.

They were about to walk away when a strange form started to emerge from the beast's back.

Spoke to soon, Sakura. Sasuke thought.

Slowly but sinisterly, it formed the body of the grass ninja that they had fought a while ago.

Sakura wasn't surprised that she slithered towards Sasuke again.

"Sakura, get out of here!" Sasuke yelled as he shoved Sakura away.

Sakura (thankfully) landed on her feet and said to Sasuke, "I'm not leaving you!"

Sasuke didn't have a chance to respond, and instead used his fire jutsu at the ninja.

She took cover by diving under some misplaced branches.

Sakura threw shuriken at the ninja, attempting to imitate Sasuke when he slaughtered the snake a while ago.

But this ninja was thinner, and in contrast, nimbler. She dodged Sakura's attack with no problem whatsoever.

"Persistent little lady, are you?" The ninja said, "Well then, let me give you a little present."

The ninja did a couple of handsigns and suddenly the beast that she had emerged from was brought back to life, it slithered over to Sakura and confined her with his body.

Sakura struggled to move and get out. "Argh!" she cried out when the snake squeezed her even tighter.

"Sakura!" Sasuke cried and tried to make his way over to her, but he was stopped by the rain ninja.

"I'm your opponent, remember?" the rain ninja said.

Sasuke looked over to Sakura who said, "It's okay! I can handle this!"

Sasuke didn't underestimate his teammate's ability to fight, and so he took his fighting stance against the ninja.

Then, a voice from one of the branches above was heard, "Hey guys! Sorry I'm late."

"Naruto?" Sasuke asked.

"Naruto!" Sakura cried out, still struggling in the snake's clutches.

"What's that password again?" Naruto asked.

"Never mind the stupid password!" Sasuke cried out, annoyed.

Naruto looked over to Sakura and a worried expression immediately overcame his features, "Sakura! Wait, let me help you!"

He tried to leap over to her but another snake had crawled to Naruto and ensnared him too. "What the heck?" he cried.

The rain ninja chuckled as he stepped in front of Sasuke. "Those team mates of yours can't help now," he said.

Sasuke glanced over to his two team mates who were struggling to get out of the snake's entrapment.

"What do you want from us?" He asked.

And the rain ninja just laughed at him.

Next:Sakura's Hidden Blossoms

"...so, this is the nine-tailed fox container, huh...?"

"...what do I do now...?"

"...come on and fight little girl..."

"...who did this to you...?"

"...you're amazing, Sakura...!"

CHAPTER FOURTEEN: REVISED!

By: SasuSakuLove410

Sorry I've been taking so long, you guys! School's started and the first two weeks were already hectic! Nevertheless, I'm almost done revising the next few chapters and Kat11992 is almost done with the next chapter. :)