Chapter 21

Naruto stared at the forms they had to sign. From what she could tell, ANDfrom what that snake ladyhad said, this exam would be very dangerous.

"It will be dangerous," muttered Sasuke, voicing her thoughts.. The three of them were standing in a corner, each staring at the papers in their hands.

"We might die.." added Sakura. Her voice was shaking.

"We aren't going to die." Stated Naruto confidently. "We didn't die during the Wave mission, and lets admit it, we were fresh gennin who barely knew anything. Not, we are trained a bit more, have experience . Sensei trained us. We aren't going to die, or lose to any of them!", her hand whipped around to point at the other groups of gennin. All of them seemed to be discussing the second exam and the rules.

The pinkette smiled. Sasuke just 'hn'-ed. All three signed their names in.

"Hey forehead!", came a shrill voice. There was a playful edge to it though.

It was Yamanaka Ino, waving at them. Sikamaru and Chouji weren't with her. Naruto looked around. Sure enough, as she predicted, the tall boy had found a spot and was currently lying on the grass, staring at the sky. Chouji was eating his chips beside him. It was evident by the way his hand shook slightly that he was worried. They all were. The Forest of Death looked scary. Even the name itself made them shiver. Only Gaara seemed almost..bored?

"Ino-pig!"

Sakura, as usual, was bickering with her friend/rival.

She looked over at Sasuke. He was surrounded by girls from other villages. Seems he had fangirls not only in Konoha. A snort escaped her. Luckily Sakura and Ino where busy, or Sasuke would really get strangled.

Suddenly a hand grabbed her shoulder and whirled her around. Prepared for an attack, Naruto's muscles tensed, ready to react and kick anytime.

There was no need. It was Neji.

"Oh..h-hey Neji."

She nearly hit herself on the head. Stuttering? Really? She was reduced to this state just because he kissed her?

"Naruto."

It was awkward! Way to awkward!

"I wanted to apologize for what happened earlier in the corridor. Even if it was a trick by those two chuunin, I had no right to act like that. I am sincerely sorry. I will never invade you privacy like that. It was disrespectful of me."

He wasn't looking at her.

The words hurt. She didn't want him to apologize for it! She had liked it! But..it seemed that he was disgusted. Well that was expected, she was a demon host, and there were so many other girls, much prettier then her and more womanly. Any boy would be disgusted, she thought bitterly. She couldn't look him in the eyes either, or raise her head. Her heart clenched horribly and she seemed to physically feel the blood oozing from it.

She wanted to cry. But she wouldn't. Never for that reason and never in front of him. Especially in front of him. She was strong. A kunoichi. The future Hokage.

"Yeah..", her voice trailed away in a whisper.

Well, at least now it would be easier, now that she knew positively he didn't like her or see her that way. She would act like always, and would hide the feelings deep inside. He will never know of them. It might ruin everything they have created. Above all he was her friend. And she wouldn't have let that friendship break, especially for something as stupid as her love.

Another painful stab.

She gripped her chest in pain.

Neji noticed and made a move to help her. She backed away. A few minutes later, she raised her head, her smile back in place.

"So, Neji, you used the Byakugan, didn't you?"

The sudden change of subject puzzled him, and her behavior as well. Was she in pain? That motion.. she really must be afraid of him. And the smile..it was melancholic..there was bitter pain in it. He didn't like this. Not one bit.

But she didn't say anything. He had known her for a long time, he knew how she acted in situations like these. She would just wait till she was ready to talk. In all the other cases that was what happened. But this time, he felt it was different. What was bothering her so much to cause indirect pain? And why was she keeping it away from him? They shared every small secret, everything. But this time…

He would wait and observe.

He wouldn't force her into an answer.

The 'yet' lingered in his mind as he watched her passively.

"Ys, I used it. You also did something, didn't you? I felt your chakra around me for a second."

Her smirk returned, and the fire in her eyes as well. He was glad.

"Well..yup. I copied everything off you, you even helped me! I kind of used this!", she pointed at her bracelet, grinning.

He raised an eyebrow." The seal on it doesn't help you copy in any way, it just allows me to feel the disturbances in your chakra."

"Well, remember I told you about a seal I learned from the notebook? I even used to copy a jutsu from you know where.."

He nodded. She had told him of this long ago. The seal helped copy the instructions for the Hiraishin no Jutsu. But as far as she told him, the seal could only be used in direct contact.

Her smirking face made something click in his mind. His eyes widened.

"Did you modify it?", he asked, disbelievingly.

She just nodded, her blonde, low ponytail flying with her.

"You….are amazing, Naruto. Congratulations on creating your own, very first seal."

She laughed, beaming at the praise. When Neji said it, it had much more meaning to her. He was proud of her, and she was very glad for that. At least she channeled some feelings in him. This was enough for her. She wouldn't demand more, she couldn't. She was glad that she was rewarded with that kiss. She would cherish the memory of it. This was something no one could take away from her. She wouldn't forget it. Never.

"Don't forget to write it down", he muttered, watching her amusedly. He loved seeing her blush. The urge to hug her grew inside him with every minute. He needed to get out of there and fast before he did something unforgivable again.

"Yosh, I will put it in the notebook you gave me! I already have so many ideas there! When I am done, you are going to be really impressed, I promise you that, dattebayo!"

"I will wait then."

She didn't know that this statement was meant not only as a response to her declaration. It was almost a silent plea. She didn't see it.

They heard the proctor yell through a megaphone. It was time to hand in the papers and get the scrolls.

"Naruto,", he said in a low, serious voice, putting both hands on her shoulders." Be careful out there"

She nodded, expression mirroring his. "You too, don't you dare die one me." She repeated the words he himself had used a few weeks ago.

"Don't worry, I don't plan to die till I see you become Hokage."

With a last smirk, he was gone.

Naruto smiled softly and ran off to catch Sasuke and Sakura.

After shrugging and rubbing the back of her head at their questioning gazes, the three entered the tent and exchanged the papers for the scroll. It was a Heaven scroll.

Sasuke, quickly taking it, hid it in his pocket. The trio went to their assigned entrance. It was blocked by wires. The gloom coming off the forest was sickening.

The chuunin above them received the signal and with a handseal, opened the gates. Team 7 sprinted ahead.

Before they could go deeper, Naruto stopped them.

"Teme, give me the scroll for a moment, I have an idea"

Glaring at her, the boy complied. Naruto quickly took it and placed it on the ground. Taking of a smaller scroll from her holster, she unsealed it with a simple 'kai'. Several other scrolls rolled off. Sasuke and Sakura watched in annoyance and hidden interest.

Ignoring the looks, the blonde took out a medium sized scroll and unsealing ink and a brush, started drawing a seal on it. She had only seen it on the intermediate fuuninjutsu scrolls but never tried it, since it was nothing special.

Well, it seemed special enough for this occasion. She just hoped her memory wouldn't fail her.

As she drew the last stroke, she placed the Haven scroll over it and muttered a "Jufukufuin". With a pop, a duplicate of the scroll appeared, much to the shock of her teammates. Naruto smirked and threw the original to Sasuke, while pocketing the fake one herself. After that she resealed her items and clapped her hands together.

"So, what's the plan?"

"I say we just go straight to the tower and fight whoever comes our way.", replied Sasuke, a bit jealous and angry that the blonde could do such things.

Sakura was still gaping, but her brain recalled what the girl had said during the introduction. She clamed down enough to understand what Naruto was asking now.

"Wouldn't it be better to travel unseen and just lay down traps at the entrance of the tower?", she suggested.

"Many would think of that. How about we just follow a team and ambush them?", Naruto thought out loud, looking up and picking on her lower lip as usual.

"Until they ambush us." stated the Uchiha, frowning."Let's just keep moving for now, we will decide on the way. Staying in one place won't be good."

The two girls agreed. The trio sat off, hopping from tree to tree.

A few minutes later Naruto declared she needed to have a pee. Sakura was about to yell at her for being so unladylike again, but a look from Sasuke stopped her. There were being followed. Sasuke decided to leave it to the blonde. His eyes locked ahead. The darkness and the vile atmosphere around the trees was unnerving. There might be a more powerful opponent ahead.

"Hurry up dobe", he commented. Naruto nodded, smirking and turned around, speeding off to her left.

It didn't take long for her to find the pursuer. He himself had appeared in front of her with a cocky smirk on his face.

"Hah, I got the easy prey. A silly small girl, it will be easy to take ya down!"

He had an Amegakure hitai-ate on.

Naruto crouched, slipping into her taijutsu stance.

"Bring it on, bastard!"

A few minutes later, Naruto joined them.

"I dealt with them. So Sasuke-kun, what do we do next? What do you say, Sakura-san?"

She found a kunai thrown at her from both gennin.

"What? Why…"

"You suck at henge", said Sasuke, eyes narrowing. Where is the real Naruto?

"That's right. Maybe you have got the physical alikeness down to the last hair, but you indeed suck. Naruto never called Sasuke by 'kun' or me by 'san'.

Sakura was also glaring, kunai ready. Their senses were alert, ready to move anytime.

A sickening laugher erupted from the pseudo Naruto as she vanished in a poof of smoke to reveal a Kusagakure ninja. A female. The one that handed Miatarashi Anko her kunai with the weird long tongue.

"You truly are as they say, a genius, Uchiha Sasuke. Good, very good!"

"Sasuke-kun..she seems really strong..", whispered Sakura.

The raven haired boy agreed with her. This girl gave off a very powerful aura, and a dangerous one. But there was the issue of Naruto. They couldn't just leave her. No matter how much he wanted to test himself against this girl, he knew his limits, and he was sane enough to understand that sometimes you needed to retreat.

But where was the dobe?

"Ah, you are a coward I see, show me the power, Sasuke-kun, show me the famous Sharingan! Or was the youngest of the Uchiha survivors a weak coward? , Itachi would be really disappointed. He is far stronger then you, Sasuke-kun~"

The girl released some KI. It sent the gennin to their knees, shaking like crazy. Sasuke felt his bones on fire, fear crawling up his chest. This was nothing like the killing intent of Zabuza. This ..whatever it was..was literally choking them. He felt something sharp rush at him and implant in his brain. His mouth was wide open, but he couldn't scream, his voice chords seemed to have been cut off. His eyes were bulging, the pupil contracting in a mad pace. He heard a dry sob. Willing his neck to move, he looked at Sakura sideways. She was staring at the ground, shaking like a single leaf in winter. There were tears in her eyes. She didn't blink, seemingly having lost or forgotten the ability to do so, hey eyes were wide and empty, devoid of every emotion but one - fear.

No..he needed to do something, anything..he was the man of the team, and his team needed him now. He wasn't weak!

He saw the kunai's sail through the air, directed at both of them. If he didn't do anything and fast, they were both going to die.

Butt he killing intent was so potent that he couldn't move, he couldn't think, his mind had gone blank.

Dimly he registered a kunai in his own hand. Without thinking much, he stabbed himself in the foot. The feeling of upcoming insufferable death disappeared, his mind cleared, focusing once again. Grabbing Sakura, he jumped away, securely putting her limp and frozen form on a higher branch.

"Kukuku..Seems little Sasuke –kun isn't that much of a coward. Now fight me! And show me your power, mastery of the Sharingan! Itachi's Sharingan was very strong and developed.. .are you scared again?", the woman taunted, smirking and patting the huge purple bow hugging her torso.

Sasuke snapped. Flashes of his nii san going through his mind, he gritted his teeth. His coal eyes bled red. Two black tomoes swirled in circles. The Kusa girl just smiled and opened her arms in a welcome.

Grabbing hold on his kunai, the boy flew at the girl in a flurry of taijutsu kicks and punches. None landed a blow. She kept dodging. To Sakura, who had come to her senses and was watching the fight unfold with fear in her eyes, it looked like chase between a cat and a mouse. The girl was toying with her Sasuke!

"My, my, you are weak..", he laughed.

Sasuke, landing on a spare branch, used it an anchor and flew back at her, Sharingan blazing. There was ninja wire in his free hand.

He circled around the girl, delivering punches and roundhouse kicks. The wire went around with him. She girl, having enough of the display, punched the boy in the gut, making liquid come out of his mouth and he flew back in pain. Her laugh was cut off, when Sasuke, twirled around in midair and grabbing the strings with both hands, pulled on them, hard.

They cut into her skin, tying her up lib to limb. The Uchiha ,kunai in his mouth, jumped to the opposite branch and pulled again. The impact slammed the girl on the brick of the tree. The boy smirked and quickly forming handseals, thought "Katon, Ryuka no justu!" . The fire dragon sailed through the wired and burned the girl along with most of the tree. The shuriken, hidden in the flames implanted in the target with a SQUELCH.

Sasuke smirked. Sakura wasn't so calm however, something felt wrong about the Kusa girl from the very beginning.

"Kukuku…that was pretty interesting. Did you make that justu just now? Sasuke kun-we are s alike…"

The voice was a baritone, but the slithering sound of it didn't change.

What the hell was going on?

The smoke finally cleared and the two gennin were met with a sickening sight. The right half of her face was peeled off, melted parts of the skin dripping on the ground. The mask, or whatever it was revealed a single, yellow eye with a slit for the pupil. There were purple lines around the ye and going down to his nose.

The man was smirking.

"Let's play more, Sasuke kun! You want the Earth scroll, right? "

With that, much to Sasuke's and Sakuras utmost horror, he swallowed the scroll.

"Now, fight me if you want to get it…"

Sasuke thought of the situation, analyzing it.

"If..i give you our Heaven scroll..you let us, me and my teammates go."

The man laughed that weird laugh again, making Sakura want to gag.

"Sasuke-teme!", screamed a voice.

The raven haired boy and the pinkette simultaneously thought...Naruto

"What the heck are you doing, teme! Can't you see he is just toying with you? It doesn't matter if he gets our scroll or not! He came here for a reason! Can't you tell by the way he fought and his chakra levels, heck his level of evillity…I don't care if it not a word, ttebayo! He isn't a gennin, or even a chuunin for that matter!", she ranted, landing on the same branch as Sasuke and the Kusa-nin. Her clothes all were torn and dirty to a degree that the orange was hardly seen. Her blue eyes were narrowed at her teammate.

"Ah, you survived my snake summon? How curious, Kukuku, who are you?"

Snake summon?, thought Sakura, her mind going overdrive, slowly piecing the puzzle together.

Naruto glared heatedly.

"That thing swallowed me whole, dattebayo! I had to cut my way through!"

Sasuke was just rotten to his spot, for once, not knowing what to do.

"What's the matter with you, teme! This isn't you! The Sasuke I know isn't a coward, and thinks with his head!"

"Kuchiyose no jutsu!"

Sasuke's retort, which was never really going to leave his mouth was cut short as the trio stared. An enormous snake appeared in a cloud of smoke.

Their eyes widened. Juts who was that Kusa-nin? Sasuke had to admit hat the dobe was right. This level was far to advanced for a gennin.

He stared at Naruto, who nodded. They cast a glance at Sakura, she nodded as well.

They had to try and fight. They had no choice now.

er, small chapter i know. was the fight scene ok? i m not sure if i remember it correctly but since its a fanfic, and there will be some changes, like sakura figthting as well, just deal with it. hope you guys enjoyed it. next update tmrwo most likely. i have so many things planned t this fanfic, i want to finish it while i can. i have my diploma work on my neck here too lol.

review please.