Coco: Hey guys, I am so sorry that it's taken me this long to update this story. But I haven't given up on it, I promise. I'll try to update more frequently, but I won't make any promises. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the chapter. :D

"Where is Oboro?" Kagari asked Mubi as the two of them waited at the agreed rendezvous spot. "He should have been here by now."

Mubi just hummed in reply as he looked around the forest. He'd like to know where their teammate was as well. Splitting up might not have been the best idea. They thought if they spread out they could find an easy target to get a scroll from. Perhaps Oboro ran into some strong opponents and blew his cover. Knowing him, he probably went to engage the enemy himself instead of reporting back.

"I'm here." His familiar voice called.

Kagari and Mubi whirled around seeing an injured Oboro stumbling towards them while dragging someone behind him. His lips were bleeding and his clothes had large holes with what looked like salvia clinging to them.

"Oboro, what happened to you?" Mubi demanded.

Oboro silently gave a tug on the rope he was holding in his hand to toss his captive out in front of his teammates. A girl with white hair fell to the ground, and she seemed unconscious.

"This brat happened." Oboro explained. "I was nearly digested by plants because of her, but she got cocky. Thought she could hold me. Her mistake. Once I freed myself, I took her and ran. I didn't have the energy to fight her two teammates. She doesn't have their scroll, but by how that obnoxious blonde kid kept screaming for her, I'd say they'll come for her. And that's when we hit them hard and take their scroll."

"Excellent." Kagari said. "Looks like we'll be passing this test quickly. Let's prepare for those Konoha ninja's arrival."

Oboro nodded in agreement before subtlety glancing over his shoulder to look at the two forms hiding in the branches. He discreetly nodded before turning back to Kagari and Mubi.

"They bought her ploy." Sasuke whispered to Naruto.

The blonde nodded his head while keeping his eyes glued on their disguised teammate. This move was risky. She was down there by herself, and if the real Oboro, who was disguised as her, woke up, he could blow her cover. And if he and Sasuke aren't fast enough, Tsubaki could be hurt by those two Ame-nin. He shifted closer in anticipation, but Sasuke grabbed his arm to keep him in place.

"No, Naruto." Sasuke said. "We have our orders from Tsubaki. We made her team leader, which means we need to listen to her."

Naruto grit his teeth knowing that, but all three of them were also taught to have each other's backs. That means teammates come before a mission. But Naruto guesses that as long as she's okay, he'll remain put. He sat back to continue watching as "Oboro" talked strategy with his teammates and told them all about Naruto and Sasuke's "weaknesses" from what he saw during their fight.

"She'll be fine." Sasuke said. "Tsubaki can take care of herself even if things do go south. Remember we all agreed on this plan."

—FLASHBACK—

"So, do you think he told us the truth." Sasuke said once Oboro passed out from losing too much blood.

Tsubaki didn't reply at first as she did a quick hand sign. The flytraps that had a hold of Oboro's limbs let him go, but the big one tightened its hold on him for safe keeping.

"I believe so." Tsubaki said. "But whether he did or not, I believe I have a plan of attack."

Sasuke tilted his head to the side wondering what was going through Tsubaki's head. Like Sakura, Tsubaki was highly intelligent. Though Sakura always scored a bit more on written tests, Tsubaki always beat Sakura and even him in strategizing lessons. It just seemed like the girl's forte.

"If everything goes smoothly, we'll have two scrolls by the end of it." Tsubaki said. "It will be risky, but I believe our team can handle it."

"What is it?" Naruto asked.

"One of us is going to disguise ourselves as Oboro-san." Tsubaki said gesturing to the unconscious genin. "We will disguise him as one of us and we will go to the location he said he and his teammates would be meeting. We'll infiltrate their team like he tried to do ours, but we will be successful. Once their guard is down, the two who are waiting in the shadows will strike to take them down as quickly as possible to avoid a drawn-out fight. After that we can take their scroll—which Oboro kindly pointed out was an earth scroll—and be on our way."

It sounded like a good plan to Sasuke. It did have its risks, but unlike Oboro none of them would be going in alone. They'd be going in as a team.

"But who's going to do the transformations?" Naruto asked.

"I believe I should." Tsubaki said gesturing to herself. "Naruto-san, you aren't the best at transformation. However, I do trust you to take down these ninjas with your skill and brute strength."

Naruto grinned as she said that while nodding his head as he adjusted his hitai-ate. Tsubaki then turned to Sasuke.

"Sasuke-san, you can use your sharingan in case things do go south." Tsubaki continued. "If they don't buy my ploy, I'll need you to react as quickly as possible to salvage the situation."

"Alright," Sasuke said.

Well, Sasuke was fine with the plan. They had the opportunity to end all this quickly. Once they had the scrolls, all they had to do was reach the tower within their remaining time limit. Sounded easy enough.

"But before that I think we need to set up a code," Sasuke said.

Both his teammates looked at him curiously as he said this, but Tsubaki nodded to show she was listening.

"We don't need the enemy getting the drop on us again," Sasuke said. "We're taking a page out of this guy's book by impersonating him to get to his team, but as you said we won't fail at it. Someone else could try to do the same to us and have a better impersonation technique. So, I believe we need to establish a code word between all of us in case we are separated again."

"Yes, this would be a good idea," Tsubaki agreed. "What do you believe our code should be, Sasuke-san?"

—END OF FLASHBACK—

After that the plan was put into action, but Naruto still wasn't all that for it. He fidgeted in spot again as he tried to wait patiently for Tsubaki to give the signal. The longer it took the more antsy he got. He didn't realize it'd be this hard to sit back and wait when he agreed to the plan.

—FLASHBACK—

"Hey, Tsubaki," Naruto said as the white-haired girl was tying up Oboro

She looked up at Naruto curiously as the blonde was scratching the back of his head.

"Yes, Naruto-san?" She questioned as she stood up.

Naruto diverted his eyes from hers as he scratched the back of his head even harder.

"I…I just wanted to say be careful." Naruto said as he finally turned his eyes on her. "I know we need the scroll, but…"

He trailed off looking away again. However, his eyes snapped back to Tsubaki as she gave a chuckle. She reached out to ruffle his hair, which had his eyes widening.

"There's no reason to worry, Naruto-san." She promised him. "You'll see."

Naruto still was a bit nervous, but Tsubaki continued to smile at him reassuringly.

"Everything will work out." Tsubaki said. "We have our back up plan if needed, and after we receive the scrolls, there are measures to protect them already in play. Please, have a little faith in me."

Naruto stared at her a bit longer then nodded his head. He knew he could trust Tsubaki.

—END OF FLASHBACK—

Naruto sighed under his breath. He just needed to chill. He trusted Tsubaki. She'd get through this just fine. He then blinked when the disguised Tsubaki waved out her hand in a nonchalant manner as she kept talking. It didn't seem like much, but it had her teammates shifting.

"That's the signal." Naruto said.

"Right, spread out." Sasuke said.

The two boys disappeared from their perches to separate out to get behind the other two ninjas. Naruto got behind the ninja on the right while crouching down low in the tree, so not to be seen.

"So, the blonde one is loud and brash." Mubi said. "Meaning he probably won't just sneak around. That's fine by me. Makes him an easy target. And while Uchiha Sasuke is a talented shinobi, he'll have to give himself up if we have two of his teammates."

"Exactly." Oboro said nodding. "Splitting up really panned out in the end, didn't it?"

"We shouldn't get cocky now." Kagari said. "We still need the scroll, remember?"

Oboro nodded once more then blinked when Kagari reached into his pocket to pull out their earth scroll. He held it out to Oboro.

"It's your turn to carry it." Kagari said.

"Right." Oboro said taking it and placing it in his back pouch.

Once the pouch snapped shut, Oboro flashed forward swinging out his foot to connect to Kagari's face.

"What the hell?!" Mubi demanded. "Oboro, what's wrong with you?!"

Mubi reached for a kunai, but Sasuke jumped down from the tree he was in to tackle Mubi to the ground. Naruto wasn't far after him as he took down Kagari before he could get his bearings.

"That was easier than I thought it'd be." Sasuke said then looked to Oboro. "Good work, Tsubaki."

Tsubaki smiled while dropping the transformation jutsu on herself, and the real Oboro, who was still unconscious and tied up, returned to normal as well. Mubi looked the girl with wide eyes.

"You tricked us?!" Mubi hissed.

"We did." Tsubaki said nodding. "We were planning to ambush you later once your guard was completely down, but when your friend handed me the scroll, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to strike. Thank-you for making our job easier."

Sasuke and Naruto then knocked out the two Ame-nin before tying them up to place with their friend.

"We did it!" Naruto cheered. "We've got two scrolls! Believe it!"

As Tsubaki chuckled in amusement at Naruto's excitement, Sasuke frowned at the blonde.

"Are you trying to tell everyone where we are, knucklehead?" Sasuke asked.

Naruto gasped realizing his mistake as he placed his hand over his mouth as if it'd make things better.

"I guess we better head for the tower." Sasuke said. "We're making good time, and the sooner we get there the more time we have to prepare for the third exam."

Tsubaki nodded in agreement then handed the scrolls to Sasuke to carry. He pocketed them before he and his teammates headed off into the forest.

"We'll head straight for the tower," Tsubaki said. "We might have what we need, but anything can happen between here and there. I don't want to take any chances."

"Right," The boys said nodding.

Tsubaki nodded in return while taking point as they rushed through the trees. Sasuke watched her back as he and Naruto ran behind her—flanking her left and right. He was right to put her up for team leader. She had the kind of calm mindset for such things. She didn't let emotions cloud her decision and she isn't afraid to make the calls that needed to be done. That and she could put up with the knucklehead beside him.

While they're teamwork improved, Sasuke was sure if Sakura had come instead of Tsubaki that they wouldn't be where they are now—mostly because Tsubaki could get them all to focus while Sakura could not. He's not saying Sakura is a bad teammate. As Tsubaki has told them, they all have their strength and weaknesses. Tsubaki's strength was strategy and organization and with the right opportunities she could become a great team leader. Tsubaki suddenly came to a stop while holding out her arm in front of the boys who stopped behind her.

"Tsubaki, what's wrong?" Naruto asked in a hushed voice.

"We're not alone." Tsubaki said.

This had the boys tensing. Suddenly something flew by them and Naruto winced when the object cut his cheek. His brows furrowed. Had that been a splinter of wood?

"What was that?" Naruto wondered.

They received the answer in the form of a large gust a wind that cut through the forest.

"A wind jutsu," Tsubaki realized as the jutsu started to push she and her teammates apart.

Tsubaki gasped as she was knocked off her feet towards the ground as the boys were. She quickly adjusted herself in the air while letting the wind carry her towards another tree. She hit the trunk hard while planting her feet firmly to keep herself from going any farther. She then jumped down to disappear into the bushes as fast as possible. Once the wind died down, she moved silently through the bushes to find her teammates. She found Sasuke with ease and he whirled around with kunai at the ready.

"Tsubaki," Sasuke said.

"Sasuke-san," Tsubaki greeted in return though neither moved towards the other.

It was silent between the two as they stared each other down. Neither could be too careful considering all the ninja that can go around impersonating them. They were just separated purposely by their enemy after all.

"Tell me, when does a ninja strike?" Sasuke questioned.

"A ninja waits until the time is right," Tsubaki recited. "When the enemy sleeps and drops his guard. When his weapons lie forgotten in the stillness of the night that is the moment for a ninja to strike."

Sasuke lowered his guard, and Tsubaki didn't bother in asking him the same. She was certain he was who he said he was. However, there little blonde goofball was still missing. Just as she was thinking that, said goofball appeared as he ran towards them.

"Hey, what's up?" Naruto asked. "Are you guys okay?"

"Wait one moment, Naruto-san," Tsubaki cautioned while reaching towards her weapons pouch. "If you would kindly give us the password, we can rest easy and plan our next move."

Naruto grinned at her words, and Tsubaki's eyes narrowed. Something seemed off about this Naruto. She just couldn't understand why she felt this way, but she knew something was up.

"Oh, sure, no problem." Naruto said. "Okay, a ninja waits until the time is right. When the enemy sleeps and drops his guard. When his weapons lie forgotten in the stillness of the night that is the moment for a ninja to strike."

After Naruto finished reciting the password, Tsubaki smiled. Well, that cleared up everything. Sasuke smirked as well and in unison the two threw their kunai at the impersonator before them. The impersonator gasped while quickly moving to the side to dodge the attack.

"What was that?!" The impersonator demanded. "You could have killed me!"

"That was the idea," Tsubaki said as she kept her smile on her face. "I commend you for your transformation. It is much better than the last ninja who tried it on us."

"Yeah, you got every detail right," Sasuke agreed. "Even the password, but like the last ninja you can't fool us with your Naruto impersonation."

Tsubaki nodded in agreement as the impersonator seemed confused by their words.

"You see, Ninja-san, our dear Naruto-san wouldn't have gotten all of that right," Tsubaki explained. "I knew the moment Sasuke-san chose our password that Naruto-san had forgotten all of it rather quickly."

Memorization was definitely not Naruto's strong suit, so at first Tsubaki hadn't been so sure about the password. But it made sense now. Sasuke had been baiting whoever could have been ease dropping on their conversation.

"So, you might as well come out whoever you are," Sasuke said. "Party's over."

The impersonator kept the confused expression a bit longer, but soon a sly smirk pulled across their face as they licked their lips.

"Aren't you two just so clever?" A feminine voice spoke out of the fake Naruto.

They then dropped the illusion with a large puff of smoke following. As it cleared, Sasuke and Tsubaki saw it was one of their Kusa-nin from earlier. The one who had gotten too close to Anko.

"Tell me, if your teammate is really that dimwitted, why would you come up with a password he'd never be able to remember?" The Kusa-nin questioned.

"You see it wasn't meant for Naruto, so much for anybody who might happen to be nearby trying to eavesdrop on us." Sasuke explained. "It was meant as a trap and you stumbled right into it."

The Kusa-nin removed her hat from her head while keeping her eyes deadlocked on the two young genin before her.

"I'm impressed," The older kunoichi admitted. "You certainly haven't dropped your guard, have you? This promises to be very entertaining."

The woman flicked out her tongue again—reminded Tsubaki unpleasantly of a snake. This woman was dangerous, and right now they were a teammate down. She knew she had to think about the fight to come, but she worried as to where Naruto was. Did this ninja do something to him? Or did her teammates have him cornered? Or was he simply unable to get to them at the moment?

A part of her hoped, he was in the trees—hidden—and waiting for a moment to attack—to help them. However, she knew that wasn't Naruto's style. If he was around, he would have already jumped in—loudly to boot. Meaning he was most likely in his own trouble. But she couldn't worry about that now. Eliminating the enemy in front of them took top priority. As long as this woman was in their way, they couldn't get to Naruto anyway.

"I know for a fact you have both a Heaven and an Earth Scroll," The woman said. "I would like to have them. Though I only need the Heaven Scroll."

She brought out an Earth Scroll as she said this. She then proceeded to swallow the entire scroll whole—an odd way to protect it—though very efficient Tsubaki supposed.

"Well, when this is all over, one of us will have three scrolls," She said. "And the other will be dead."

After she finished speaking, the woman slid her hand down her face while cupping her cheek with one finger pulling down her eyelid. Tsubaki then gasped along with Sasuke as this overwhelming sense of death hit them without mercy. Tsubaki felt her mind screaming at her as she felt as if she had already died even if the woman hasn't moved. She never felt such bloodlust before. Not even from Zabuza when he came for her and her family. She had thought he was a monster, but this woman—she had to be a demon.

Tsubaki fell to her knees unable to feel them anymore as Sasuke was crouched over beside her throwing up. This reaction—it was much worse than when Zabuza came for them back in the Land of Waves. Both of them had been afraid then, but this feeling was worse. Tsubaki shook with her eyes wide as she stared at the demon in front of them. This all couldn't be real.

After Sasuke emptied his stomach, he tried to get to his feet, but he failed as he slipped backwards onto his backside. He sat there trembling as he tried to get a handle on what just happened. He had thought that might have been in an illusion, but it was definitely more than that. It was this woman's bloodlust. It was practically tangible and it was boring down on the both of them. Like Tsubaki, Sasuke knew the woman couldn't be human. There was no way. Sasuke slowly started to turn towards Tsubaki.

"Tsu-Tsubaki," He managed to get out.

She flinched when he spoke, but managed to turn her head to face him as well. His eyes widened when seeing the tears running down her cheeks. She was just as terrified as him. Even more than that time when they ran into Zabuza. Sasuke has never seen Tsubaki cry—let alone in fear. This was bad. He doubted she'd be able to move, but they needed to get away. Away from this monster woman—this woman of death. The woman chuckled causing both genin to flinch.

"You're paralyzed with fear." The woman observed.

Sasuke tried to get himself to move, but he couldn't move an inch. He looked to Tsubaki seeing she was trying to do the same, but no such luck. Both were frozen. Sasuke grit his teeth knowing he had to move. There was no other option. He started getting his hand to move towards his kunai pouch, and while at a slow pace, he was able to get his hand on one of his kunai. Once he accomplished that, he started pushing himself to his feet. He had to protect Tsubaki. He had to get them both out of here.

"Very good," The woman complimented. "Now what happens?"

Her nonchalant questioned had Sasuke freezing all up again as Tsubaki stiffened. When the woman started moving towards them, Tsubaki knew she had to try and get to her feet as well, but her body didn't want to seem to want to listen. But she knew Sasuke couldn't fight on his own, and she was just deadweight if she couldn't get herself to move. She'd be a liability to her teammate. She couldn't let that happen. Tsubaki finally managed to get her fingers to twitch as she tried to move them towards her own weapon pouch. She had to do something. Anything at this point.

"Don't worry—I'll make it quick," The woman promised them as she pulled out two kunai. "But I don't have to tell you that, do I? You've seen it with your own eyes."

The woman chuckled again as she came to a stop a few feet away from Tsubaki and Sasuke. The latter shook in fear as he wondered what to do now. It seemed hopeless.

"I expected you—both of you—to be more of a challenge," The woman said as she raised the kunai above her head. "How disappointing."

With a flick of her wrist she sent the kunai right towards them. Sasuke's heart stopped knowing he had to do something now or they'd both be dead. However, he and the woman were both shocked when two shuriken hit the kunai to knock them off course. Their eyes snapped towards Tsubaki who was panting as she finally managed to get in a crouched position.

"Oh, it looks like this one was able to move." The woman said. "How interesting. Do you plan to fight?"

Tsubaki didn't answer as she remained in place shaking. Sasuke realized she had barely been able to pull off that move. Meaning she probably wouldn't be moving again.

"Or are you done already?" The woman asked as she pulled out more kunai. "Let's see if you can do that again?"

The woman threw two more kunai, but it wasn't Tsubaki who reacted this time. In a split second, Sasuke made up his mind. It might have not been the best plan, but he needed to get them both out of here. So, without a moment to lose, the young Uchiha used his kunai to stab his own leg—using the pain to get his body to move. Then before anyone could blink, he snatched up Tsubaki before disappearing off into the trees. Instead of giving immediate pursuit, the woman chuckled as her prey fled.

"So, that's how it is," She said to herself.

It seemed her prey wasn't that helpless after all. Both of them had reacted. Uchiha Sasuke had managed to get through the fear with pain, and carried away his teammate. However, Taikanhana Tsubaki managed to move despite the fear. Even if only for a split second. It was impressive considering many their age—no, even those much older and more experienced—wouldn't have been able to move in the end.

"Very good," The Kusa-nin said. "Both are proving themselves worthy of my interest. I cannot wait until the right moment comes to take them."