Hello everybody! It's xXAkatsuki Black RoseXx finally back with the newest Chapter of Dance of An Eternal Lotus! I'm sorry for the wait but with a new school and all I've really just been trying to keep up this year and thankfully this weekend I had nothing important to do! Though I would really like to say thankyou for those who have stuck to this fanfic, you really are the ones that keep this on my mind and remind me that I MUST write! Alright, now as always the people who review and all those nice things:

Reviewers: 030artastic, Freehawk, Emma-Chanz, Sybil Corvax,

Favoriters: Wajak, GirlInTheMask, Emma-Chanz, Planetside, Mekon-chan

Alerters: My Kind of Paradise, Emma-Chanz, Wunmiii, Mekon-chan, duckmasta2020

Now without further delay, here's chapter twenty of Dance of An Eternal Lotus!

Chapter 20

"What the heck was that!"

Tanjiro was angry, no, furious! His steps were loud and raging as he walked back and forth in the large hollow under a tree. Raising a hand he took a deep breath as he ran his fingers through his brown hair. "We could have won!" the genin snapped angrily before turning his head. Pointing to the side, he glared. "Yet you had to pull us away!" Tanjiro yelled. "What were you thinking?!"

Sullen green eyes looked to the fuming shinobi for a moment before Azami looked down to Kado. The male was laying out a blanket she had brought with a lightly soaked cloth on his head. Currently, Kado's arm was resting on her legs as she gently dabbed at the kunai wound that was there. The poison wasn't extremely dangerous, but Azami knew he'd have problems moving since the toxin affected the motion sensory part of his brain.

"Are you even listening?!"

"I am," Azami sighed in sadness as she turned her attention to Tanjiro. "I know it seemed like a bad idea, but we weren't going to make it!" Biting on her lower lip, the teen turned her head to the side. "One thing about being a shinobi is knowing when you're beat and being smart about making a retreat," Azami stated. "At least then you can leave with something."

A wry laugh came from Tanjiro's lips and he shook his head. "We left with nothing Azami!" he retorted. "They have the scroll and it's already the afternoon, I highly doubt we'll be able to recover an Earth and Heaven scroll in that time!" Brown eyes glared at the kunoichi. "We've failed!"

"How dare you!" Azami yelled which made her teammate look at her in surprise. Taking a deep breath, she focused back on Kado and gently ran her fingers through his hair; a small smile appeared on her lips as he shifted slightly. "We got away with our lives, that's what is important," she stated as she took out a roll of bandages and tenderly started to wrap Kado's arm. "Without that, we'd be nowhere."

"That's not the-"

"-Tanjiro, just shut it," Azami commanded as she looked to her teammate to see him staring back at her. His chest was heaving slightly and his hands were shaking, the kunoichi couldn't help but let the expression on her face soften. "Listen, I know you're angry, but don't let that overtake you," she murmured. "We still have a chance, we just have to think out a strategy." Sighing, Azami looked back down at Kado as she continued her work. "I'm sorry I did that alright, but in the situation I thought it as the best choice."

Silence filled the area as Tanjiro kept his eyes on the kunoichi, an inner struggle could be seen in his eyes. Though as his clenched hand loosened and he let out a breath, it was clear to see he had decided to let it go. "So," Tanjiro paused as he looked at the entrance to the bottom of the tree, "what's this plan of yours?"

Azami couldn't help but smile, it seemed her teammate had decided to come to his senses. Moving Kado's bandage arm from her grasp, the teen stood up and walked towards Tanjiro. "This will involve a bit of defense and offense," she explained as she stopped in front of the male. Her green orbs stared into his dark ones, "but we need to be able to rely on each other," she added. Raising a hand, Azami held it out. "For this one time, do you think you can trust me Tanjiro?" she questioned.

Brown eyes looked down at the hand in front of them before looking back at the face of the female. "Trust her, huh?" Tanjiro thought to himself before turning his head to the right in the direction of Kado. For a moment his face was expressionless though soon his right hand moved. Grasping Azami's, the genin shook his hand slightly. "Deal," Tanjiro murmured.

"Good," Azami replied as she let go of the genin's hand. Just by the look in his eyes she could tell he wanted to win. Tanjiro wasn't one to admit defeat till he was dead or dying, or that's at least home Azami saw it. Smiling, Azami crossed her arms and closed her eyes. They're opponents had caught them off guard once, but it would not happen a second time. She'd make sure of that.

"Alright, this is what we'll do…"

"Hurry up Kana!" one of the Grass shinobi yelled back to his female teammate. A small smirk was on his face, this part of the exam had been easier than he thought it would be. With the Earth and Heaven scroll in their grasp, they were assured a part in the third exam. Turning his head, the male looked to his next teammate. "Ryu, since we're early we can rest a night, right?" he questioned.

"Yes we could Iwao, but I wouldn't recommend it," the other shinobi said. "I rather not have us get attacked."

Iwao let out a huff of air and rolled his eyes, jumping down from the tree he was in he looked to the others. "Please, the tower isn't that far away, I think we can rest," he stated. The male walked forward, "besides we're in a clearing, if someone wanted to attack we'd see them first!" Yet just as the male said that, his foot caught onto a thin wire and soon smoke filled the air. "Crap!" Iwao yelled as he twisted to get the wire off though as soon as he did a gust of wind seemed to come out of nowhere and blow him in the opposite direction. "Kana, Ryu!" he shouted looking for his teammates yet as if appearing out of the blue, Iwao's eyes connected with orbs shades darker than his own and the male found himself surrounded by water and sinking fast. A seemingly silent scream escaped his lips.

- - - - - -

Hearing the scream of her teammate, Kana whirled around trying to locate him. After the blast of wind she felt discombobulated and had wondered wildly trying to find the area is was in before. "Damn it Iwao, you couldn't just listen to Ryu could you?" she muttered as she jumped from branch to branch. "Idiot, I don't even know how you became a genin." Glancing down, Kana jumped to another branch though as she did something caught her eye. Standing near a tree there was a figure and her eyes widened as she realized it was one of the genin from before, Kado. Pivoting on her foot, Kana glared. "So, you've come back for another beating haven't you!" she yelled as she took out a kunai. "Well, I'll give it to you then!" Jumping from the branch, Kana launched forward with her weapon straight at Kado. She watched the male try to dodge, but she moved quick enough to stab him in a chest. A smirk graced her lips.

Poof!

"What!" Kana yelled in surprise as the substitute jutsu reveal a log in before she could react, a punch was delivered to her cheek sending her flying into a tree. Shaking her head, the kunoichi slowly got up and turned to her attacker. Her eyes narrowed, "you!" she yelled.

Azami took a breath as she stared at the other angry teen, things had worked out great. With the team split up, she and Tanjiro could take them out one by one with minimal difficulty, well hopefully. Getting into her fighting stance, Azami kept her eyes on her opponent. "You defeated us once but it won't happen again," she spoke coolly. "I want our scroll back!"

"Then take it!" Kana yelled as she gritted as she started to form hand-signs and the ground started to shake. "Earth Style: Ground Crater!" she yelled and soon the ground under her and Azami started to break up and as she saw her opponent's eyes widened, Kana launched forward and spun her body kicking Azami in the stomach. Yet the other kunoichi held her ground as she skidded back and made a sequence of hand-signs of her own.

"Earth Style: Serpent Vines!" Azami yelled as the deep rooted vines of the trees came form the now broken ground and wrapped around Kana before swinging the kunoichi into the ground. Taking a deep breath, Azami smiled as she watched her opponent struggle to get up, but as she started to hear and eerie creaking her eyes widened. Looking up, green eyes saw the trees starting to titter back in forth. "The ground is too broken to hold themselves up and with the roots stabilizing them as well that just means more trouble," Azami thought and as she first tree fell, the kunoichi quickly moved as the others followed. Back and forth she jumped to get out of the way of the falling lumber as it raised the dust from the ground and as soon as it began, it stopped. Coughing, Azami looked around her dusty surroundings while keeping alert. "Where did she go?" the kunoichi thought though before she could notice, Azami felt something wrap around her limbs and around her neck before she was pulled into the air. Struggling, the female managed to look to the side to see chakra wires wrapped around her and soon a laugh reached her lips. With the dust settling, she could see Kana who had chakra strings attached to her fingers and as she curled them, the wires around Azami became tighter.

"What was that about taking your scroll back?" Kana said with a smirk as she walked towards the other kunoichi, the dust had really worked to her advantage. With Azami temporarily distracted she managed to form the wires around the area with detection. "Face it girl, you don't have what it take," Kana said coolly. "You should have given up when we had taken your scroll the first time. The female curled her fingers in more and watched as Azami's breathing became shakier. "It's always best to quit if you know you can't do it," she murmured.

Silver hair clung to Azami's cheeks as she focused on staying conscious, she could feel the air leaving her body. Curling her fingers slightly, she managed to make her hands into fists. Her plan she had had worked against her, "I should have paid attention more!" the female scolded herself. "I feel so stupid!" Closing her eyes, Azami let her head fall forward and bit on her bottom lip. What could she do?

"Now, are you actually asking that?"

For a moment, Azami felt as if the wires around her disappeared from her body and opened her eyes. The area around her was black though there was a light shining on her from an unknown place. Looking forward, the female's eyes widened as she someone that surprised her; herself. Though…she seemed a little different. She stood with crossed arms and a smirk on her lips with a confident air. The thing that struck Azami most was her eyes, instead of their usual green there was a ring of silver lining the edging but she wasn't sure if it was because of the light or something else. Swallowing the dryness from her throat, Azami blinked.

"What's with you?" the other her asked with a tilt of the head. "Are you surprised to see yourself? I mean this is your mind." The female crossed her arms, "though that's not the important thing, you have a fit to win! You're still in the chuunin exams you know."

Azami bowed her head, "I know but everything just seems so useless," she muttered. "I'm not the greatest in ninjutsu or genjutsu, I'm even starting to feel like my taijutsu is falling behind." Azami bit on her bottom lip, "I just know-"

"What do you know?" the other Azami snapped making the actual girl pick her head up. "You don't really know what's going to happen to you? You don't even know the outcome of this fight, the battle is never decided until the first person falls." Walking over to her, the Azami smiled and gently placed her palm on her counterpart's cheek, "though what you do know is that you're smart. You made the choice to save your teammates and try again, you even came up with this plan." She smiled slightly, "if a shinobi has a great mind there is no doubt that they'll succeed."

Azami sighed, "but-"

"No buts!" Azami said, this time with a harsher tone. "Stop doubting yourself so much and go for it! Learn to stand on your own two feet and fight!" Silvery emerald eyes narrowed, "You want to be like your mother and sister right, you want to make your own decisions in life, right?!" A huff came from her, "then start here, right now," she concluded. "Kunoichi have made their way in this world and it's time you start doing the same. As yourself, I'm telling you it's time to make your mark."

For a few moments Azami remained silent as she let those words run through her head. The part of her that was so hesitant seemed to crumble slightly and soon she realized this really was her. What the other her had said was what she wanted, it was what she was feeling. Taking a breath, Azami looked at her conscious and soon gave a small nod which made the other smile. She had come this far and though a usually content person, that stubborn part of her wouldn't dare let her turn back.

Kana let out a sigh as she watched Azami hand limply from her wires, this was dull. She had thought the other kunoichi was going to put up more of a fight but it didn't seem like it. "Ah well," she muttered. "Just one less problem for me, now I just have to find the other two idiots." Undoing the wires from her fingers, Kana turned and started to walk. As soon as she found her teammates they would be on their way to the tower and then to the final exam, this really was like a walk in the park. Suddenly, Kana was brought out of her thoughts as she felt an immense chakra pattern from behind her and turning her head, her eyes widened as she saw the wires snap from around Azami and for a moment she thought the female was going to fall but as she simply floated down her eyes grew. "Wind chakra?" she thought with amazement.

"D-Don't count me out yet," Azami said as she slowly reopened her eyes, there was something different about them. That once hopeless gaze seemed to have disappeared and was replaced with one that was more calm and even calculating. "I'm not leaving here with those scrolls," the teen announced. "I will become a chuunin and if I have to fight my hardest, so be it!"

Kana's felt the wind get knocked out of her as Azami launched forward and punched her in the gut. "What's with her? She wasn't this way before!" she thought as she pivoted and kick the girl in the side hard but Azami stood her ground and instead grabbed her foot. A gasp came from Kana as her opponent with a powerful heave flung though before she hit the ground, Kana reached into her weapons pouch and threw three kunai at Azami.

"Don't stop," Azami thought as she felt two kunai hit her arm but she pulled them out quickly and ran forward while forming hand signs. "Earth Style: Spinning disc!" she yelled and running her hand along the soft ground, Azami's chakra bound to it forming it into small circle that soon grew as the chakra attracted it. Lifting it up, the female had a spinning disc of rock and dirt with sharp edges and allowing her body to twist she threw it at Kana.

"Idiot, you think that will be enough!" the kunoichi yelled as she jumped up to avoid the ninjutsu though as she looked forward her eyes went wind as she no longer saw Azami in front of her. At that moment, Kana felt something come crashing down on her shoulder making her slam into the ground. The wind had been knocked out of her lungs again but this time she couldn't catch her breath as five sharp pillars of rock came down. A scream came from the kunoichi's lips as she thought they were going to pierce through her but as a sound came but no pain, Kana's scared eyes reopened. "W-What?" she said confused.

Azami landed on the ground and looked at her opponent, the rock spears had went angled themselves different ways around Kana so if she tried to move she couldn't get herself loose. "To doubt your opponent's strength is a careless thing," she murmured as she walked over to the girl and reaching her hand between the spears, she grabbed the female's bag and brought it towards her. "Though…not realizing what you can do is also foolish." Emerald eyes looked at Kana as Azami straightened up and reaching into the pack she smiled as she felt a familiar object.

"So what? Are you saying you could have done this from the beginning?" Kana questioned as she watch Azami pull out the Heaven scroll, she clicked her tongue against her teeth in annoyance. "Though us gaining your scroll in the first place wasn't just a fluke, so how?"

Azami placed the bag back on the ground near Kana and held the scroll tightly in her hand as she thought. "I just needed a little push," she murmured. "Nothing else to it." Green eyes close, "to be better, I have to learn there are times when I'm going to stand alone and if I want to be at the top of my game, I'm going to have to learn to deal with it…even if it's tough."

"Azami!"

Emerald eyes looked up as Azami watched as Tanjiro came down and she smiled as she saw what he had in his hand, the earth scroll. "So one of the other teammates had it," she thought and soon gave a nod of approval. "Good, now all there's left to do is go pick up Kado and book it," she murmured.

Tanjiro gave a nod, "right," he answered though his mind seemed to be somewhere else. The male was focusing on his surroundings and then to the female that now laid trapped by the spikes of rock. "Did Azami really do all this?" he thought as he looked to the kunoichi on his team. In a way she seemed different, she didn't look down when she talked but instead kept eye level with him and didn't show a hint of being weary. What had happened to her?

"Tanjiro."

Coming out of his thoughts, the shinobi looked to Azami as she turned and started to walk. Yet after a few paces she stopped and turned her head back to him slightly. An emerald eye appeared out from under her silver hair and a serious but calm expression graced her features. Though Tanjiro wouldn't admit it now, in that battle Azami had grown. Taking a breath, the male moved forward following after his teammate as she tilted her head up. With some of the tress falling over she was able to see the clear blue sky.

"Lets go."

Whoa, long wasn't it? Though yes, Azami is starting to show some interesting things and maybe Tanjiro isn't as bad as everyone thinks? Now with their scrolls, how will the Kumogakure team fair in the next leg of the Exams, well...you'll just have to wait and see! I don't know when I will update again but hopefully it won't be as long as this one. Well that's all for now and till next time folks, I'm out!

xXAkatsuki Black RoseXx