Chapter Twenty Four: The Forest of Death
Konan held up two scrolls, one blue and one white. The white scroll had the Kanji for 'Heaven', and the blue one had the Kanji for 'Earth'. The Genin continuing onto the Second Exam were all gathered outside Training Ground Forty Four. The Forest of Death.
"Each team will be given one of these scrolls," Konan declared in a clear voice. Once everyone had gotten a look at the scrolls, Konan handed them to an aide. "Your objective is simple. Get the other type of scroll from another team – there are no rules about how to interact with one another. This forest is very durable, so do not hold back; if you do, there is no guarantee that you will come out of this Training Ground alive. Be wary, as the forest is rife with dangerous plants and animals that could severely injure if not outright kill you. Once you have collected one Heaven Scroll and one Earth Scroll, you have five days to make it to the Tower in the center... Do not unseal the scrolls before you reach the tower; that will be grounds for immediate disqualification. In addition to your objective of gathering both scrolls and making it to the tower, you must make it there with your full team or you will be disqualified."
Having explained the ground rules, Konan opened the floor to questions.
"Hey, Proctor… When you say we can 'interact' with the other teams any way we want, does that mean we can kill them?" A white-haired boy with sharklike teeth that many Genin recognized as having asked the former Proctor a question grinned enigmatically at the Second Proctor.
Konan kept her composure when that was asked. Certain Genin were bound to pose it at this Stage. Different countries, different ways of teaching students.
"Anything will go in this Stage. If you wish to kill, that will be your prerogative. However, be warned that rule, in turn, applies to other teams, and if they wish to come after you…" Konan trailed off, but only received a derisive snort from the white-haired Genin. Her eyes lingered on him for a moment longer before a Paper Clone of hers dispersed waivers among the Genin. "Having said that, the Hidden Leaf requires each Genin to sign a waiver before entering the Forest of Death. This way, all responsibility for deaths and injuries will fall on you. These are par for the course in shinobi life, but we as a village will not accept political responsibility for either scenario."
It sounded like a bureaucratic action to take, but there had been… incidents in the past. These waivers became an unsavory necessity.
A buxom blonde with a Hidden Cloud hitaite raised her hand. Konan nodded to acknowledge her.
"Will we be disqualified if we lose the scroll you give us?"
"Not immediately. From this point you will have five days, so I highly recommend you guard your scroll with your lives, if only to save yourselves the trouble from seeking out both scrolls. However, be equally cautious with your lives – for if you lose even one member, you will be disqualified."
'Gee, when you put it like that, Itachi's Exam was a cakewalk.' Shikamaru mentally snarked. Hinata seemed able to tell that Shikamaru was annoyed, so she patted his shoulder consolingly. He made the effort to grin for her sake, but it probably looked a little bitter.
When each member of Team Seven had signed their waivers, an examiner walked over and discreetly gave them a scroll. It had the Kanji for Earth. The examiner then took their waivers and led them over to a random gate. Pretty soon all of the Genin teams were in front of separate gates. Paper Clones of Konan were spread thinly to give the Genin her parting words, while her fellow examiners were charged with opening the gates when the timer started.
"I can do nothing else for you. From here on, your survival and wellbeing is in your hands. I wish you all luck, and may the best Genin be victorious." Having spoken her peace, Konan's Paper Clones, and even herself, dispersed into individual sheets of paper that each formed a different type of flying animal. All of which flew into the forest
The gates then opened, and the participants all stampeded inside.
"So what's the plan, Shikamaru?!" Naruto called over to his teammate as the three of them continued running toward what was presumably the center of the whole place. Shikamaru hadn't suggested they stop, so he must've had something in mind already.
"We establish base relatively close to the Tower." Shikamaru replied. "If we don't get there as soon as possible, others are gonna beat us to it and we'll have to fight our way through them even after getting the scroll we need. I don't know what shape we'll be in by the time we get that other scroll, but we can assume that no one is just going to hand it over, so we'll want to get through all of this with as few fights as possible. I'd prefer to confront a single team only, but that's just unrealistic in a free-for-all like this. We're up against twenty seven friggin' teams."
That little reminder sobered both Naruto and Hinata. Technically they couldn't even trust their own classmates. They were great friends, but no one had extended an olive branch during the First Exam, so it was more or less universally acknowledged that they wouldn't help one another out. They would demonstrate their individual growths. And the best way to do that, to "help" one another, was to treat each other like any other competitors.
The one perhaps instinctual exemption of abstaining from helping one another was, of course, if a team was on the verge of death. And given the extremity of this Second Exam – hell, given Training Ground Forty Four's moniker – the possibility of that was fairly high.
In the end, Shikamaru had them stop at the edge of the forest surrounding the clearing that housed the Tower. Hinata confirmed that there weren't any teams near them yet. The still somewhat lackadaisical Nara nodded to Naruto, who formed about a dozen Shadow Clones and then whipped out a storage scroll that he unsealed immediately. There was a cloud of smoke, and then Naruto's Clones got to work setting up a perimeter. Nothing lethal, but Naruto's supplies did consist of trip wires, tiny bells, and lots of stuff that would delay other teams enough for Team Seven to get the jump on them.
With Naruto's Clones and Hinata doubly keeping an eye out there to make sure they were secure for the time being, Shikamaru launched into a condensed strategic meeting. They'd prepared contingencies and general tactics that would work in just about any setting, but now it was time to factor in the layout of the land, the people they would possibly be fighting against, and the very real possibility that they might lose their Earth Scroll.
Yeah, this was going to be fun.
"Up ahead! They've got Hidden Stone headbands!" Neji notified Tenten and Lee. He got into a stance that his teammates learned to quickly respond to by getting behind him. "Eight-Trigrams: Palm Rotation!"
It was a rather good thing that they developed a quick reaction time. Moments after Neji generated his dome of protective Chakra, a volley of kunai and shuriken came raining down on him. All the weapons bounced harmlessly off the dome. Once the barrage of weapons slowed down long enough, Lee sprang out from behind the dome and charged the three opposing Genin, who seemed to be caught off-guard by Neji's quick response time and Lee's follow-up.
One Genin snapped out of his stupor before Lee could get any closer, and he ran through three hand signs before chunks of earth rose up and formed around his wrists like bracelets. What was most striking about the 'bracelets', however, was the jagged kunai-like shapes that sprouted over the tops of the Genin's hands. The Genin balled his hands into fists and ran straight at Lee.
"I see… such a fascinating Jutsu! I shall be your opponent!" Lee grinned and started to trade blows with the boy. On the initial clash, Lee ducked a swing from one of the Stone-nin's and delivered a painfully vertical kick that smashed into his foe's chin and sent him reeling.
It pained Lee not in the least, but it pained his opponent greatly.
Lee suddenly found his hand and foot that were planted on the ground coated in earth that prevented him from moving. Or at the very least impeded his movements long enough for the second Genin to come in swinging with a katana. Lee's second opponent's eyes widened when a length of wire came out of nowhere and coiled around him like a constrictor. His arms were forced directly to his sides, and the boy dropped the katana in his shock.
Tenten gave a wily grin before unleashing Lightning Chakra across the length of the wire and electrocuting him into unconsciousness. This seemed to free Lee, as the Earth-style Jutsu holding down his hand and foot were released and he fell down to the ground in relief that he was now free.
Neji was not fooled by the display, however. That second Genin had a katana, and even if he was only an amateur, he wouldn't be adept in elemental training. As if to prove his point, a rectangular cage made of Earth-style Chakra sprang up and surrounded him and his teammates, and including the one Stone-nin who had been rendered unconscious by Tenten's Jutsu. The other two Stone-nin were outside the cage and smirking tauntingly at their opponents; one was sporting a bloodied face because of Lee's earlier kick.
Neji stepped forward to test the durability of the cage, but sharp spikes protruded outward before Neji could even touch the bars. He narrowed his eyes at the two opponents who were still standing.
"We still have your teammate. Why don't you just give up?" He said matter-of-factly. He arched his eyebrow as the Stone-nin with the bloodied face ran through some hand signs and placed them on the ground.
He gasped as he whipped around to face the unconscious Stone-nin, who was absorbed into the earth as if it were quicksand, but much quicker at absorbing the boy. In the next moment, the Stone-nin was at the feet of his comrades, clearly still breathing.
"Or you could hand over your scroll before I bury you up to your chins," the Stone-nin cackled.
Neji and even Lee grimaced at their predicament. Tenten did not. She even started moving, which alerted the Stone-nin who had yet to be injured in the least.
"Screw taunting them! Bury them now!"
But before his comrade could get through the required hand seals, Tenten had picked up the katana that had been left in the cage with them. She channeled her Lightning-style Chakra through it and charged straight at and through the bars and spikes that protruded out protectively. She succeeded in making a hole in the cage, and rolled out before the bars could grow back in place.
The bloodied Stone-nin snarled and charged at her, trusting his comrade to keep the other two boxed in. But before he could reach her, in one stroke, she cut a wire tethered to a tree right next to her that she had set up while Lee engaged them earlier. Both Stone-nin screamed as kunai launchers that were planted in the trees unleashed a barrage of kunai laced with Lightning-style Chakra. The final kunai knives that were launched had explosive notes attached to them instead, so there was no need to charge them up with Chakra.
Those Stone-nin hadn't stood a chance. They were rendered unconscious after the trap had sprung.
Neji and Lee ran up to their teammate once the cage crumbled. Tenten took this time to pilfer from their opponents' belongings and check out their scroll.
"Nope. Heaven Scroll, just like ours." Tenten sounded mildly disappointed.
"All of that fighting for nothing?!" Lee exclaimed before being shushed by his teammates.
"It wasn't for 'nothing'," Neji informed him matter-of-factly. "If we ever lose our Heaven Scroll, we won't have to go looking for another one. Perhaps if one of the enemy teams is willing, we could even offer up a trade."
The rules didn't say they absolutely had to fight. Not after the first round, anyway, because seriously, who's going to give up their scroll right from the start and pile on the pressure for their team? Swapping scrolls would be useless, too.
Unless you happened to know with certainty that another team was nearby with your initial scroll, and you just didn't want to fight the one team with the scroll you don't have. But those chances were very slim.
"Yeah!" Tenten chirped and held up her recently acquired katana. "And just look at this beauty! You'd think this thing would be a lot duller or something, with it coming from Hidden Stone forges. But it's so sleek!"
At Tenten's gushing over a simple sword, Neji pointed an accusing finger at her.
"Tenten, I know you didn't kill our opponents. It's not yours."
Tenten pouted and huffed in mild exasperation.
"We're ninja, Neji. Don't get all ethical on me over tiny stuff. It's a katana!"
Neji narrowed his eyes at her.
"I will not be a facilitator for your kleptomania, Tenten."
"Aw, c'mon, Neji! This isn't kleptomania! This is the first time! Just look the other way."
"No. This will become kleptomania if I allow you to continue. Put it down."
As Neji would soon discover, there would be no talking Tenten down from acquiring a new weapon for her repertoire. Lee had his Taijutsu and… Youth. Neji had his pride in Hyuga Clan techniques (and the Byakugan). Tenten had her obsession with stabby and not-so-stabby-but-still-quite-deadly things that could hurt or kill you. Neji you poor sod, you are so whipped and don't even know it.
A brunet with a Hidden Mist headband around his forearm pinched the bridge of his nose as his white-haired teammate oh-so-casually removed his blade from the corpse of a random Genin from the Hidden Cloud.
"Suigetsu, do you even know what an allied country is?"
The white-haired boy shrugged uncaringly and sheathed his blade smoothly. He gave his 'teammate' a sharklike grin.
"Aw, c'mon now. It's not like we leave any evidence. That's only the second team, live a little!"
"Two teams that will have mysteriously 'vanished'," Suigetsu's second 'teammate' chimed in. "Even if you get lucky and no one traces their deaths back to you, there's still the chance you'll come across somebody you can't defeat on your own. And you know you're alone in here."
Suigetsu made what was for him a pouty face. He lifted his arm exasperatedly.
"You guys are such buzzkills. I get you're not warriors, but you could probably steal back our scrolls and haul ass to the Tower if I'm ever 'slain', like you say." Suigetsu muttered. He crossed his arms in annoyance and looked the other way as his 'teammates' disposed of the… evidence of his second slaughter. "I tell ya, if I wanna replace one of the Seven Swordsmen someday, and become their leader, I gotta start showing my skills! That won't happen if I take the easy way out and accept the first scrolls I get."
"Sure," the brunet said after finishing his… meal. "But if you get too careless, you won't be getting into the Finals. And I think we all know that is the real goal here. You're the only one left with a chance to make it to the Finals, don't screw it up."
"Don't remind me." Suigetsu scowled before coming to a decision. "… One more team. I want one more shot at practicing Silent Killing."
Both of Suigetsu's 'teammates' sighed in unison, but allowed the boy a free hand once again. Hey, they might have strict orders to follow, but parental figures they were not. Suigetsu-chan said 'one more team', they would make sure his last opponents weren't too risky. They would enable his bloodlust if only because Suigetsu-chan was getting experience, no matter how little. And the more experience he got, the more valuable he was to the Moon's Eye.
Madara liked having more than enough spare members before going after the Jinchuriki. So much had gone 'wrong' already that he wasn't going to allow anymore screw-ups. They would collect the Tailed Beasts, and they would steal back the Rinnegan. It was only a matter of time.
"Somebody tripped the first alarm, Shika," Naruto warned his levelheaded teammate. Shikamaru's brow furrowed.
"Any others?" Their setup pretty much served a second purpose of gauging their opponents' potential level of skill. How many alarms they set off was just one factor, and hitting all the alarms didn't mean they were bad. Hell, that could spell trouble if they were that confident in their ability to handle whoever got in their way.
"Um… a few subtle ones… But they're navigating like pros."
Shikamaru closed his eyes and exhaled through his nose noisily. His eyes snapped back open and flicked to Hinata next. He gave her a nod.
"It's… It's as Naruto says. I see Hidden Rain headbands… a-and rebreathers."
Shikamaru tapped his pointer finger rhythmically against his other hand as he absorbed this information. Then he got in his thinking pose. Naruto got the hint and created about six more Shadow Clones. Shikamaru could probably draw conclusions from Hinata's descriptions, but firsthand battle data, no matter how 'trivial' and short-lived, could help immensely.
Naruto's face scrunched up as he got the memories of two of his Clones launching a simultaneous attack on one of the Hidden Rain Genin. They both passed through the Clone and ended up dispelling one another. The other four Clones were soon to follow, but this time from blind spot attacks.
"That's not… huh?" The blond scratched his head. At Shikamaru's sharp look, he elaborated on his… findings. "They're either using some sort of really weird Jutsu, or those are Clones. My Clones passed right through 'em, but the majority were dispelled from blind spots."
Shikamaru narrowed his eyes suspiciously at this information. He turned his eyes to Hinata.
"Hinata… You should have been able to pick those facts up. Which leads me to assume you are not, in fact, our teammate." Shikamaru accused the 'kunoichi' gravely.
Hinata put on a horrified face.
"H-How can you say that, Shikamaru? I… I…"
"Your eyes." Shikamaru answered flatly. "They don't have the veins pulsing around them anymore, yet you're acting like your Byakugan is active. And just now, you referred to Naruto as 'Naruto'."
Hinata flushed as these facts were pointed out.
"I-Isn't that how I should refer to my teammate…?"
"For normal acquaintances, maybe," Shikamaru grumbled, clearly unsatisfied with her response.
Naruto scratched his head as he looked to Shikamaru.
"She does address me with that –kun honorific a lot, doesn't she?" Naruto said, clearly not understanding the deeper meaning of that habit.
Shikamaru sighed breezily and effortlessly trapped 'Hinata' with Shadow Possession Jutsu.
"First rule of combat when going up against a team with a Dojutsu… Go for the eyes. I don't know when they made the switch, but it was seamless. And recent. I know the real Hinata was still with us when we were setting up base… I just never thought they'd be able to snatch her while she was in our midst the whole time."
The visage of Hinata melted away to reveal an older boy with spiky brown hair, dark eyes, and a yellow jumpsuit. In fairness, he was wearing a rebreather, like he had 'reported' just recently.
"Hmm. We underestimated you guys. But you know, we're not just going to take it easy on you because our villages are allied."
Shikamaru made a startled noise as an arm from behind reached around his shoulder, and he jumped up into the tree he was leaning against to avoid getting held as a hostage. … A second hostage, anyway. They did have Hinata. But as a consequence of leaping away, Shikamaru had to let go of the other guy, and he regretted it because the guy was already sinking into the ground using some Jutsu.
"Tsk. Naruto, Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu, now!"
Naruto whipped out three shuriken from his hip pouch as fast as he could, turning the three into thirty with the Jutsu, but he was too slow as the person that was in the tree eased back into it to avoid the long-range attacks.
"Damn it…" Naruto cursed before witnessing several copies of Oboro arise from the earth slowly, all heading toward him. He shakily grinned and mused to himself, "This is what it must feel like for others when they face an army of my Shadow Clones… crap."
Shikamaru had to admit, things were not looking good for them. Their teammate was a hostage, the enemy got the drop on them despite how cautious they were, and they still didn't understand what it was these guys were doing. If this kept up, they'd definitely lose their scroll.
'Most likely, these guys got the drop on us with some type of Genjutsu. Naruto's still a sucker for those, and me… Well, I'm not Sasuke.' Shikamaru grimaced at just how naïve he was to assume they were secure just because they got here first and because they had Hinata with them. Was it possible that some other team barely managed to beat them here? That might explain the overwhelming feeling of being safe.
No, Hinata would have definitely said something. The Byakugan could tell when Genjutsu was being used. They probably were the first ones here, but an opportunity presented itself at some point. Figuring out when that opportunity presented itself was half the battle, though.
"Shikamaru!"
Shikamaru tensed as he was forced to drop his speculations in favor of avoiding copies of the guy he had captured earlier. He jumped to a branch on another tree, and then another when that position was also compromised by those strange Clones.
'Damn it… No time to think. I just hope this works…' Shikamaru steeled himself and stabbed his arm with a kunai knife. This had the intended effect of dispelling the illusion around himself, and he found himself once again up in that tree he had jumped up to in the first place. He frowned at the revelation. 'That can't be right… If they got me from up here, that would imply they didn't hit us with a Genjutsu to grab Hinata. I know I didn't see their little swap.'
Shikamaru's eyes hardened, and he once again stabbed himself. Unsurprisingly, his plan worked, and he was now back on the ground. Both of his teammates nearby, except that Naruto was up and active, fighting enemies… that weren't really there. Still trapped in a double-layered Genjutsu, in other words. Hinata was unconscious on the ground, with some kind of dart sticking out of the back of her neck.
That would explain a lot of things. Even if the Genjutsu only bought them a little time, their opponents made sure to use it and knock out Hinata before she could overcome their cunning little trap and help them – Kami knew they needed it.
"Bad move," Shikamaru smirked at the gobsmacked Hidden Rain Genin who tried to sneak up behind him. His shadow had immobilized his opponent. Best of all, they were in a prime position for his favorite little game of 'Simon Says'. He turned around to face his opponent with a hand on his hip. "Y'know, I'd probably keep you conscious to interrogate you somehow, but I'm feeling a little vindictive today. That was a nasty Genjutsu you put us under, and you even knocked out my female teammate."
Oboro began to sweat at Shikamaru's casual tone. This is what he got for going in alone. He thought he'd have enough time to maneuver around all those traps, hit these guys with the Double Optical Delusory Jutsu, and make it out with their scroll in all the confusion… But this guy. He seemed lazy as all hell, and yet he was sharp. Very sharp.
"Wh-What are you going to do to me…?" He asked in a tight voice.
Shikamaru grinned and threw his upper body backwards really fast.
"Bonk."
Oboro had no choice but to mimic Shikamaru's action, but unlike Shikamaru there wasn't harmless open air behind him. There was a gigantic tree. He groaned as he slumped to the ground and slipped into unconsciousness.
Ever the wary one, Shikamaru made his way over to Naruto and released him from the Genjutsu. The guy could be faking it, or he might have his teammates somewhere nearby. Either way Shikamaru wasn't going to risk doing anything alone.
"STAY BACK YOU BASTARDS! Eh?" Naruto blinked owlishly as he transitioned from illusion to reality. He whipped his head toward Shikamaru after seeing Hinata and some stranger both collapsed on the ground. "Don't tell me they got the drop on us?!"
"I'm afraid so." Shikamaru grimaced and patted Naruto's shoulder reassuringly. "We're done taking hits, though. We go on the offensive and don't let up for a second."
"What about Hinata, though? Shouldn't we wake her up?"
Shikamaru shook his head slowly. He waved his arm about lazily, indicating that there was a low likelihood their opponent's teammates were around.
"I think this guy came alone. We wait too long and his teammates are going to get suspicious. You and I should be able to handle them; it'll be two-on-two. But we'll need every advantage we can get, and that includes getting the drop on them."
Naruto's brow furrowed.
"We can't leave her alone here, Shika… Somebody might get her for real."
"Just trust me, alright? Send out Shadow Clones and search for this guy's teammates. Have at least one dispel before engaging, letting us know where they are, and have the rest stall them to keep them in one place. We play our cards right, and this might be the only battle we'll have to go through."
Sure, it depended on this team from the Hidden Rain having the scroll they needed, but at the very least this would secure their position. There was no telling if this guy's teammates were as good at Genjutsu, but Shikamaru wasn't going to take any chances. Scowling very slightly, Naruto sent out thirty Shadow Clones to patrol the nearby areas. He then pulled out a length of wire to tie this first guy up. No way this bastard was gonna hurt Hinata when they were gone.
Shikamaru even helped him make sure the guy was bound tight enough. Not enough to cut off blood circulation, but still pretty tight, which Naruto took a somewhat vindictive glee in. He sucked at Genjutsu and this guy needed to pay.
Shino's parasitic insects buzzed in agitation as the swordsman slipped away. The boy from the Hidden Mist had gotten the drop on them, but he had soon discovered he had bitten off more than he could chew when he challenged Team Eight to a battle. He seemed capable of getting out of Sakura's Genjutsu, and he was able to avoid Choji's attacks with ease… But gradually getting his Chakra drained? Apparently he could not handle that; perhaps he did have a limited Chakra supply.
Nevertheless, when the boy had initially gotten the drop on them, he had managed to steal their scroll. so when he ran away, Shino tried to keep track of him with his parasitic insects. But the trail ended at a body of water, leaving no indication where the boy could have gone. The parasitic insects attached to the boy had been effectively drowned.
After about ten minutes of waiting at that body of water, in case their opponent was still in there, Team Eight eventually left and gave it up as a lost cause. What were the chances that the swordsman had some sort of Jutsu that helped him survive in water for long lengths of time? As skillful as they were, shinobi were only human. They couldn't survive underwater for more than ten minutes.
Suigetsu arose from the body of water after he was sure Team Eight was long gone. He grinned somewhat depreciatively as he stepped back onto dry land, reforming into his distinct human self.
"Heh… Alright, I guess that's enough playing around. Time to advance."
His 'teammates' joined back up with him, and the three of them headed in the direction of the Tower…
Suigetsu's team, surprisingly, wasn't the first one to pass. Because of Suigetsu's dawdling, that cost them a few hours, and Team Baki was the first to reach the Tower with both scrolls. And frankly, they set a new record, passing the Second Exam within ninety minutes. The scary part was that they weren't overly brutal with the opponents they clashed with; hell, it was barely even a 'match', because Gaara did all the work for them. He snatched the scroll, and he provided Sand Clones that would stall the rival Genin long enough to get away.
Kankuro in particular wanted to stick around and teach the 'upstarts' a lesson, but Gaara managed to convince him otherwise with the thought of wrapping up the Second Exam in record time. A record that would be very hard to shatter. Kankuro liked that thought. He liked it a lot – especially considering they were unscathed. Screw cutting loose with the amateurs, no Genin were going to make history like this for a long, long time – if ever.
Suigetsu's team did take Second Place, however, at three hours and twenty minutes. Team Ten trailed behind them a few hours after that, at seven hours and eight minutes. No other team would pass on the first day of the Exam.
Things had been going smoothly for Naruto and Shikamaru as far as tracking down the Hidden Rain Genin's teammates. Naruto left a dozen Shadow Clones behind to watch over Hinata, while the two of them set out to take on the remaining Hidden Rain Genin, who were battling Naruto's Shadow Clones. In the end, it was an overwhelming victory for Team Seven, and had acquired a Heaven Scroll from the Hidden Rain Genin.
It's what happened afterwards that added… complications.
"Hey, it's Sakura, Shino, and Choji!" Naruto called out to Team Eight, who seemed surprised to run into Naruto and Shikamaru. They came to a stop on their way back to Hinata. Shikamaru took in their haggard appearance and frowned minutely.
"I take it you guys had a run-in of the unfriendly variety," the young Nara drawled.
Sakura smiled nervously and ran a hand through her hair.
"Y-Yeah… Someone from the Hidden Mist." Sakura answered vaguely before looking around somewhat suspiciously. "Where's Hinata? Don't tell me something happened to you guys, too."
Naruto nodded seriously.
"Yep. We set up camp near the Tower – wanna come with us? We can catch up and determine where to go from there."
Shikamaru arched his eyebrow at Naruto's offer. There wasn't anything in the rules against allying with other teams, but they had their scrolls. Not to sound rude or impatient, but Shikamaru thought that Naruto would want to hurry up and pass just so they could get Hinata checked out by a med-nin. There was no telling what exactly that Hidden Rain Genin did to her.
On the flipside, Team Eight looked banged up. Not so wounded that they needed urgent medical attention, at least on the surface, but Hidden Leaf ninja looked after their own. Shikamaru sighed as Team Eight looked at him as if to ask that was okay; the lazy Nara gave his consent with a nod.
"… Alright. We'll exchange stories, and then go from there."
Shikamaru felt hesitant about leading a rival team straight into their camp… but again, if you couldn't trust people from your own village, your own classmates even, then who could you trust? Once they were back at camp and ensured nothing further had befallen Hinata, the five Genin formed a semicircle around the unconscious girl while Naruto's Shadow Clones fixed any perimeter breaches.
Shikamaru made a casual gesture with his hand towards Sakura, seeing as how she looked like she had something to say.
"Like I said earlier, we were jumped by this guy from the Hidden Mist. Purple shirt and purple eyes, blue pants, white hair, and these really sharp teeth. He was really good with a sword, and he pretty much took the three of us on at the same time. Only Shino's insects seemed to be affecting him – which isn't to say that Choji and I were useless, but…" She trailed off uncertainly. The guy was really vexing, and Sakura wasn't too sure she wanted to reveal her skillset, let alone Choji's or Shino's. Well, aside from their known Clan abilities, anyway.
They were still competitors in all this, after all. Reveal too much, and they might regret it later.
"So what happened?" Naruto asked. "It sounds like it was a draw."
Shikamaru slightly winced at Naruto's utter lack of tact. The fact that it took all members of Team Eight to take on one guy… that sounded like more of an insult than anything, but fortunately Team Eight seemed to take no offense to the observation.
"A draw, perhaps," Shino conceded stoically, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "But only because he slipped away. If the match had continued for much longer, we would have recovered our scroll."
Naruto and Shikamaru shared a look at that tidbit of information. In just those few moments, Shikamaru could tell that Naruto was feeling sympathetic. He could hardly blame the guy, but thoughts were running through Shikamaru's mind a mile a minute. Yes, it was terrible that this had happened to their classmates, and they probably should lend a hand… But there was always the miniscule possibility that if Team Eight learned they had both scrolls…
Well, what would be the most logical thing to do? Camaraderie would only go so far in here. They were aiming to become Chunin.
Seemingly oblivious to the tense silence, Sakura grinned amicably and looked at Naruto and Shikamaru in interest.
"Well, enough about our bad luck. What about you guys?" Sakura looked down at Hinata somewhat guiltily. If she was out cold like this, that could only mean Team Seven had their own little run-in.
"A team from the Hidden Rain," Shikamaru supplied an answer. "One guy got the drop on us. Nasty double-layered Genjutsu. I was able to break out before he could steal our scroll, but unfortunately he injected Hinata with something that knocked her out. Unfortunately, Hinata is our med-nin, so Naruto and I have been… antsy about her condition. Anyway, after knocking that guy out and freeing Naruto, we went after the guy's teammates and got the other scroll we needed. Then we ran into you."
Shikamaru glossed over a lot, but Naruto could understand. Another silence befell the assembled Genin, though this time it was less tense and more contemplative. Naruto was the one to speak up next.
"So, uh… You guys need a hand?" He scratched his cheek idly and grinned sheepishly at Shikamaru's slightly reproving glare. Hey, it was in his nature to wanna help his friends-in-need. It was an impulse.
Team Eight shared a collective look that Naruto and Shikamaru couldn't decipher. After a few moments, it was Sakura who spoke up.
"W-Well… Why don't we wait for Hinata to wake up and rest up a bit ourselves. We'd like your help, Naruto, but only if Shikamaru and Hinata agree to it as well."
Shikamaru rolled his eyes before shrugging his shoulders.
"… You guys are our classmates. I won't turn you away without a good reason."
Shikamaru sincerely hoped he wouldn't come to regret that.
They ended up waiting it out until the next morning. Hinata had, thankfully, woken up around nightfall, and had been caught up to speed by Naruto and Shikamaru. Similar to Naruto, Hinata had felt a pang of sympathy for Team Eight's plight, and so Team Seven as a whole promised to help Team Eight seek out other teams. But as it was night at the time, they decided to wait it out until morning.
With Naruto's Shadow Clones running about, Hinata's Byakugan active, and Shino's parasitic insects, the search was child's play. On the downside, it was a single person they came across at first, and she appeared injured and abandoned by her teammates. Naruto's Clones helped to steady the redhead against a tree, to which she seemed thankful, if not a little suspicious with the arrival of Teams Seven and Eight.
"I don't have a scroll… my dumbass teammates took it with them when they bolted from a bear that I tried warning them about…" The redhead grumbled exasperatedly. She paused as she looked at Naruto specifically, narrowing her eyes. "Why do you have so much Chakra? You feel… nice, but there's just so much…"
Karin avoided announcing her full findings, but that was largely because she didn't understand how someone could be so bright and happy, yet have a secondary Chakra that was so… malicious in nature. Maybe that wasn't the right word, but it definitely didn't feel warm like Naruto's seemingly natural Chakra. No one spoke up to reveal Naruto's secret, but Shikamaru did narrow his eyes suspiciously at the girl.
"So you're some type of sensor?" Shikamaru honestly had lots of questions for this girl, but he rolled his eyes when Naruto noisily complained.
"Aw, give it a rest, Shikamaru! Not everyone's out to get us." Naruto rubbed the back of his head and grinned sheepishly at the redhead. "Sorry, I'm Naruto Uzumaki. This is Hinata, Shikamaru, Shino, Sakura, and Choji. Sorry about what happened to ya, this Exam is just so hard."
On everyone, really, at least as far as the blond was aware. The redhead offered up a weak smile; you couldn't fake kindness like this. There was just something genuine about the blond that the redhead couldn't place her finger on.
So she would place her trust at least in him.
"I'm Karin. I…" She faltered ever-so-briefly at Shikamaru's scrutinizing stare, unwilling to elaborate on her abilities. But she could at least comment about something, given the blond's introduction. "I'm an Uzumaki, too. My mother took refuge in the Hidden Grass Village, but it was never really a place she could call home. They… used her ruthlessly until she died. I'm being exploited just like my mother."
This garnered various reactions, but the consensus was one of pity and sympathy. Even Shikamaru did not pry further into what were obviously painful memories for Karin. A Chunin Exam wasn't the proper time for that kind of conversation, and even if they had the time, Shikamaru felt he'd have no right to pry anyway. Naruto, though, he'd been ecstatic at finding more family. As he listened to Karin's troubled past, he couldn't help but be pissed at the Hidden Grass. Team Eight held their reactions to a respectful silence, though they did want to voice their sympathies.
"Well, screw them!" Naruto boisterously spoke up. He glanced at Karin firmly and said, "Stick with us! Once we get out of here, I'll have a talk with Uncle Nagato and see about transferring you here. You're family, damn it!"
Shikamaru winced again at Naruto's lack of tact. Even discounting the fact that he wasn't taking Karin's feelings about such a 'transfer', there was the sticky matter of village politics. They could simply accept Karin into their shinobi ranks, but that risked armed conflict. Hidden Grass might be a minor village, but even small conflicts were capable of snowballing into bigger ones. No war began in a single day.
Coming to a decision, Shikamaru turned to Hinata.
"Hinata, patch Karin up as best as you can. I'll stick around as backup. Why don't the rest of you go on ahead and search for more teams?"
"I'll back you up," Sakura corrected Shikamaru as she placed her hands on her hips. "It's only fair since you guys are sticking your necks out for us."
With nods of affirmation all around, Naruto, Choji, and Shino sprinted in another direction…
That second day proved fruitless. Aside from fending off forest creatures, Naruto, Choji, and Shino had a run-in with a team from the Hidden Cloud, but that team proved slippery. It didn't help that the blonde-haired Cloud-nin definitely wasn't a rookie. Naruto and Choji worked in tandem to take her on, but she was agile enough to avoid Choji's broad sweep attacks, and her tanto kept Naruto at bay, leaving many Shadow Clones to be cut down.
In the end, the blonde led the two-on-one fight to a point where Choji barreled into the original Naruto while using his Human Boulder Jutsu. From there, she gave the two of them the slip and moved to strike Shino from a blind spot and render him unconscious. Naruto and Choji recovered relatively quickly – particularly Naruto's Shadow Clones that were left standing – but they weren't fast enough to apprehend the Cloud Genin. Prioritizing, Choji and Naruto broke off the pursuit in order to get Shino back to Hinata for medical help, if needed.
Naruto kept sending Shadow Clones out in droves during that second day, but they couldn't find anybody else with a scroll. So they waited it out another day, camped near the Tower. The third day looked like it would pass by in the same way, but when evening hit, another development happened. An act of desperation, one might call it; they split off into two teams again, with Naruto, Choji, Sakura, and Karin conducting a search for scrolls, while Shino, Hinata, and Shikamaru adopted the trap approach that Team Seven set up initially. With any luck, they'd ensnare a team of Genin as they were on their way to the Tower.
For protecting their scrolls, Team Seven had split them up. Naruto kept the Earth Scroll, while Shikamaru and Hinata watched over the Heaven Scroll. Despite their caution, Team Seven had failed to take into account that Team Eight had been keenly watching their strategies. They assumed the alliance would stay strong even as the time whittled away, but clearly Team Eight an 'easy' target in mind from the get-go. It wasn't anything personal… but Team Seven would take it very personally.
Shikamaru and Hinata winced simultaneously as the paralysis slowly started to kick in. Shino had been steadily sending parasitic insects over to them throughout the third day, and now there was enough of the poison in their systems to seriously hinder their movements.
"Sh-Shino… What are you…?" Shikamaru shakily looked up at the Aburame who was as stoic as ever.
"Apologies, Shikamaru… But we cannot risk wasting anymore time. Your generosity is appreciated, but it is clearly not enough for both of our teams to pass this Exam in time. By stealing your scrolls now, we are giving you the next two days to gather two more scrolls; Sakura had been quite adamant about giving you enough time to do so.
Shikamaru cursed under his breath as his face became planted in the dirt and vegetation. It was getting increasingly harder to stay conscious as well – a knockout drug, perhaps? At any rate, Shino procured the Heaven Scroll from Shikamaru's hip pouch and prepared to take his leave.
"I wish you the best of luck, and once more offer my humblest apologies. You would do the same in my place, I am sure."
Shikamaru pondered that scenario until the darkness swallowed up his vision, and he had to wonder if Shino had a point. Next to him, Hinata worried greatly about what Sakura and Choji were going to do to Naruto.
'Naruto-kun…' Was her last thought before she passed out.
A fair distance away, Sakura and Choji had managed to knock both Naruto and Karin out respectively; Sakura felt a pang of guilt at lulling the blond into a false sense of security with a subtle Genjutsu, but it had to be done if they were ever going to pass. Karin had caught onto what the two were doing, but she could not take on Choji in straight-up Taijutsu. Choji tried to be as gentle as he could with their new acquaintance, but that was a difficult feat with the Akimichi Clan Jutsu.
Sakura pilfered the Earth Scroll from Naruto's hip pouch after laying him on the ground and held it up for Choji to see.
"Let's go. Shino'll be waiting."
Choji gave a firm nod, and the two ran off without a second glance at Naruto and Karin. They'd made sure to leave the unconscious bodies in areas that wild animals wouldn't normally look to first, so there was little guilt gnawing at Choji and Sakura after that point.
It wouldn't be until the next morning that Team Seven and Karin would awaken again.
"So, we're back at square one." Shikamaru pinched the bridge of his nose after Naruto and Karin had returned. "So stupid…"
Everyone knew Shikamaru wasn't really blaming anyone present; yes, they'd dropped their guard, but it was Team Eight that committed betrayal first. They had a little under forty-eight hours to collect two scrolls… Shikamaru had to admit, though, that Karin offering to stay with them was a blessing. Especially after discovering she had a healing ability as well as a tracking ability. They'd recovered pretty quickly thanks to her.
Yet Shikamaru could not for the life of him understand why Naruto had an ear-to-ear grin on his face.
"Nu-uh. We just gotta find those jerks."
Shikamaru arched his eyebrow at the blond.
"Naruto, I don't think they stayed out here another night…" And then it dawned on the lazy Nara, hit him like a ton of bricks. He stared at Naruto in disbelief. "No way… You set up a contingency plan without running it by me first?"
Naruto nodded proudly as he held up their Earth Scroll, having switched it out of his pouch when Sakura and Choji weren't looking earlier. And boy was that a hard thing to do. Still, he wasn't the Hidden Leaf's Number One Surprising Knuckleheaded Ninja for nothin'. Karin stared at Naruto incredulously.
"Then what the hell did they take with them?"
"Shadow Clone under a Transformation," Naruto said by way of explanation. And he'd given strict instructions to that Clone, too. Oh, the traitors quickly picked up on the Transformation, according to his Clone's memories, but they had not anticipated that the Clone would reveal itself and… Well, that was a little surprise he intended to keep for a while longer.
He'd learned two Jutsu from Obito-sensei, after all. Naruto just took Obito's advice about keeping that technique a secret. Shikamaru the Tactician would flip when he found out about this Ace up his sleeve. Or just twitch violently about how many ways that Jutsu could fuck up their battle tactics… whichever was more likely.
"I can guarantee they're recuperating, thanks to that Shadow Clone," Naruto promised his team and Karin. "We just need to find them and get back our Heaven Scroll."
Shikamaru eyed the blond for a minute before getting into his little thinking pose. A few minutes later, he relayed the tentative plan, and they made the necessary preparations before mobilizing. It was time for the End Game.
Sakura stared with a twitching eye at the Heaven Scroll in her hands, half-expecting for it to spontaneously combust in her hands. That had been quite the unexpected (and unnecessary) surprise they'd gone through last night. Choji had tried taking the brunt of the blow from that Shadow Clone, but she and Shino still ended up smashed into trees.
Shino stood up abruptly, trying to keep his legs from trembling as he did so. Sakura and Choji looked to him in concern, already assuming the worst.
"They're coming. I never expected they'd recover so fast…"
Shino's little paralysis should have lasted for at least half a day longer. Something must have happened. It wasn't just Naruto and Karin coming to take them on; it was all Genin members of Team Seven. He'd kept Team Seven tagged just for this possible occasion, but he never actually expected it to happen.
"On the ground?" Choji asked Shino with a determined face. When Shino nodded and pointed a certain direction, Choji used his Expansion Jutsu and then proceeded to use Human Boulder. Hopefully that would throw off whatever ambush they had planned.
Sakura was up next, ready to cast a midrange Genjutsu at a moment's notice. However, she had not expected Hinata to come flying out from the trees above. Strangely, Hinata's preemptive Taijutsu strikes weren't as… refined as the normal Hyuga style that Sakura was only vaguely familiar with.
Thankfully, she didn't have to ward Hinata off for long before Hinata stepped in with a Bug Clone. Naruto was the next one to come out of the woodwork, and Sakura immediately charged him, knowing her Genjutsu would have him beat. Yet almost like he'd been expecting it, Naruto stabbed himself before her carefully-woven Genjutsu could take effect.
From there Naruto had her dodging a series of kicks that kept her moving and kept her from weaving anymore hand signs. She never saw the fact that Naruto seemed to be leading her to do something… something like setting foot in his shadow. Sakura's whole bodily involuntarily froze as Naruto's Shadow seemed to come alive.
Her eyes widened in realization at what had just happened, and 'Naruto's' next words pretty much confirmed it.
"Shadow Possession Jutsu: successful." 'Naruto' smirked, and then his visage disappeared in a puff of smoke as Shikamaru took his place, his smirk never fading. "Now… I could have you overwhelmed in Naruto's Shadow Clones, but I'm a nice guy. I'll just knock you out with one of Naruto's concoctions. Wily bastard."
Having spoken his peace, Shikamaru reached into his hip pouch, which was conveniently placed on the opposite side of Sakura's. Team Eight wasn't the only one keeping tabs on the competition; they were just the only ones actively seeking to betray their 'allies' from the start. Shikamaru chucked the little metallic ball at Sakura, which harmlessly landed at her feet and released gas that soon overwhelmed Sakura's senses. Shikamaru had to release Sakura at just the right moment so that she wasn't holding her breath as well, what with him being close to the knockout gas as well.
Shino, meanwhile, had long discovered that it wasn't Hinata that he was facing. His attempts to drain his opponent of his Chakra or to slip the paralyzing agent to him were met with utter failure. Being the juggernaut that he was, Naruto had Shino on defense for much of their fight, but the final blow came when Naruto made a feint and then sucker punched the young Aburame under the chin, which sent him crashing backwards harshly into a tree. Naruto turned to Shikamaru and gave him a thumb's-up as Shikamaru took back the Heaven Scroll.
A few minutes later, Karin and Hinata came up to the boys, dragging the unconscious Akimichi along with them. It had been a feat to wear Choji down, but once Hinata had him occupied enough in his unexpanded form, Karin had him knocked out with a few tranquilizers that she had on-hand. Needless to say, Team Seven accomplished their objective, and would be bringing Team Eight along with them, given how little time was left.
They had more than forty hours to be sure, but they would have to factor in another recuperation period as well as have the luck of the gods; Team Eight had no scrolls, and had fought enough battles to wear them out. As far as Team Seven was concerned, they were done. So a little before noon on the fourth day, Team Seven entered the Tower with both Heaven and Earth Scrolls in hand – Naruto's Shadow Clones carried the members of Team Eight.
They weren't the first there, or the last, but Team Seven had made it.
Author's Note: This was interesting to write. I tried to keep the narration varied so you guys could get to see more of the All-Star cast. Obviously I centered on Team Seven for quite a bit, but to be fair: They have got to be my favorite team to write for. My favorite voice boxes. :P
Not all of the Rookies make it through the Second Exam – talk about plot twist, right? XD Seriously, though. I have put much, much thought into the upcoming preliminaries (and Finals, obviously). This point has undergone a lot of changes over the time I've been writing TToNU; there were going to be tons and tons of preliminaries, but then I thought that was a pretty lousy way to set up a Chunin Exam. There's a reason 20 Genin passed in canon, and there's a reason that 24 Genin will have passed here. Y'know, Forest of DEATH? lol
Yes, that means eight teams will have passed the Second Stage. There will still be Preliminaries, just one more match than there was in canon. Two people are gonna drop out, and I'm gonna leave you to speculate who those will be. NO HINTS FOR JOO! :P
To anyone I've talked to about the upcoming matches… Shhh. Karin was a good little helper in this chapter, but I sincerely hope to add more depth to her in the chapters to come. I'll at least say this much: Her team didn't make it. But she's alive, so, y'know, silver lining and all that jazz… I now have a solid way to make my plans for her a reality, so maybe you'll be pleasantly be surprised with how she turns out? I wanna flesh out her character so bad. :D
As always, thanks for all the Favs, Alerts, and Reviews. Last I looked, this story was approaching a total of one hundred and seven thousand views. That's 107k views. Sure, that's since the summer of 2013, but this is EASILY my most viewed, reviewed, faved, and alerted story. You guys are the best! :D
Review Replies:
Israel Pena: Hope the Second Exam was to your satisfaction! Yeah, I just personally like that pairing than what I was originally going to go with - Itachi/Hana. And the ONLY reason I would have done that would be to avoid creating an OC to pair up with Itachi. Thank you Studio Pierrot for showing off Itachi's girlfiend that he supposedly killed off in the Massacre. XD
Riku Uzumaki: Eh, I hoped to make it more terrifying - Itachi randomly popping up all over the place and 'failing' Genin, but that would've been too mean. :P
JohnPeaceKeeper: In case you couldn't tell, that bit about the jumpsuits was derived from 'It's For a Good Cause, I Swear!', in which Kakashi threatened his students with training under Guy for a year. That was a crackfic to be sure, but I had my jollies, so I paid homage to it. XD Why do you think Hinata-chan was pissed/horrified at the threat? She wants Naruto-kun's attention to be sure, but Kami knows she'd also draw the eye of every pervert out there... lol Again, slight reference to 'It's For a Good Cause, I Swear!'. Meant more as a joke, but it definitely has some truth to it. :P Half-tempted to lump Naruto and Ino together on at least one date, but Hinata-chan would burst free from the text and strangle me. If you didn't get to me first. lol Ahahaha I cannot WAIT for the Invasion now. Mostly the aftermath, 'cause, well... Let's just say expectations are gonna be shot to hell. Though in fairness, it will be a hell of a mess, this Invasion. Debatable whether or not it'll be messier than canon's was. :P
LilyVampire: Thanks! Glad last chapter was to your liking! ^^
Black' Victor Cachat: I feel bad for refusing those two the limelight, but it's purely because I don't wanna fall into the pitfall of making overpowered OCs. Even if they're the children of Nagato and Konan. :P Of course it has, not like the man is incapable of being early. He's just too influenced by Obito. :P
Avid Reader (Guest): Yeah, that's exactly what I wanted to avoid. Repetitiveness. But it's sooo hard to come up with something remotely 'original'.
Keeping Review Replies for this Chapter (24) until next time.