Kaiya stood in front of a forest along with her team and the rest of the participants. It was the first time she wore her tachi in awhile, and it was clear that it drew attention in the crowd.

She didn't really mind it, though. She was more stunned by what lay before her eyes.

In front of her stood a large forest that didn't seem the most family-friendly place to visit. It was sure to give creeps to anyone, and it showed.

Some students were shifting on their legs or talking to their teammates with tense faces; it was obvious that most students had a slight feeling of hesitation.

'Why is there a fence around it?' Tenten asked.

'Probably so we don't escape.' Kaiya assumed.

'Or maybe so whatever's in there doesn't escape.' Lee suggested.

People around them turned around to give the group an ugly look.

'What?' Tenten asked nobody in particular.

Kaiya wrinkled her nose. Anyhow, the place gave her creeps.

'Alright, i see everyone's here.' An woman with dark, spiky hair said. 'I'm Anko Mitarashi, I am your proctor for the second stage.'

'I thought that Ibiki-san was our proctor?' Kaiya whispered as her eyebrows narrowed.

'We have a different proctor for each stage.' Neji answered, not taking his eyes off Anko. 'But he's probably helping in the back as well.'

'This stage is a challenge to see the limits of your survival skills.' Anko continued, 'In this stage, there are two scrolls. The Heaven scroll and Earth scroll, to be more precise. Each team will be given one of them now, and you will have to hunt for the other one.'

Kaiya blinked a few times in surprise, before sighing in relief. That shouldn't be too hard, would it? After all, that's all she did her entire life; hunt, fight and flee.

'There's 78 of you. In other words, 26 teams. In order to pass,' Anko raised two scrolls, 'you must collect both scrolls and bring them to the tower in the middle, as a team.'

'That means... all three of us must make it.' An boy next to them said.

Kaiya looked at him and recognised him as the blonde boy who stood up to Ibiki earlier. At first, she felt glad to see him, but noticing the worry on his face couldn't help but give Kaiya a small dose of anxiety that made her cheek twitch.

The more she thought of it, the more anxiety spread across her. They were captive in a small place. They couldn't run. They couldn't escape. She looked at her teammates, who weren't in a better state than her.

'This is way harder than the first stage, isn't it?' Lee asked, sort of rhetorical.

Everyone, even outside their team, seemed to agree.

'But we'll conquer with the power of youth just like always, right, Kaiya-san?'

Kaiya felt her face heating up as all eyes were set on her.

'Ye- Yes, of course.' She answered, trying to regain her composure.

'You will be given 72 hours to gain the scrolls and get to the towers. Is it clear?' Anko asked.

Kaiya felt a small weight coming from her heart.

'Three days?' Kaiya murmurs. 'That should be enough time.'

'You think so?' Tenten asked, hesitation reading on her.

'Yeah.'

Anko called on to share the scrolls and, soon enough, each team held a scroll.

'You may enter the forest... now.' Anko announced.

Everyone hurried to the gates and scattered across the forest. As her heart accelerated, Kaiya followed Neji and Tenten nearly blindly as they jumped through the trees. For a second, she looked back and saw Lee, just a branch behind her. For a second, he remained behind, only for him to push himself to run at Kaiya's side.

'We can do this.' He said, between breaths.

'I'm sure we can.' Kaiya answered, giving Lee an small smile.

The morning passed by quite quietly with no particular events, and it slowly turned into afternoon.

'We should take a break.' Kaiya suggested. 'That way, we can also figure out an plan.'

The group nodded along with an hn, before jumping down the trees. Kaiya stood still and it wasn't until then that she realised how tired that she was.

Just a few metres away from them, an river made its way through the forest quietly. Kaiya sighed and walked to the river and kneeling down next to it. She formed a cup with her hands and took some water which she immediately let drop upon her face.

She had to admit; it was refreshing. She repeated the action a couple of times, before beginning to gulp down the water mercilessly.

She didn't realise until she was done of how weird she must've appeared in the presence of other beings all of a sudden. She wiped her mouth and turned her head slowly to her team.

They did, indeed, have a confused look on their faces, but they seemed to have their feelings under control.

'What?' She said, trying to act unbothered. 'I was thirsty and sweaty.'

Neji shook his head as if he brushed off any previous thoughts or feelings. 'Nothing.'

He walked to the river calmly and repeated Kaiya's actions; washed his face throughout and gulped down some water.

As he did so, Kaiya got to her feet only to let herself drop a few metres later at an tree. She sighed and leaned her head on the three, but the calm didn't last long.

An light rustling in the bushes set the group of four in alert. Kaiya jumped up and instinctively reached for her tachi. The others seemed to have similar reactions, as they each stood tense, ready to attack.

The bushes rustled harder and harder until someone made their way through them.

It was a rather tall, white-haired boy with glasses that gave Kaiya a familiar air.

'What do you want?' Neji demanded, gripping his kunai even harder.

The boy chuckled, pushing his glasses up his nose.

'Nothing more than the obvious.' He smirked, looking at them. 'Do you have a heaven scroll?'

Kaiya felt her muscles tensing.

'We don't have anything you need.' She growled, slightly raising her sword. 'Leave.'

The boy turned to her with an astonished look.

'You're a tough one, I see. Oh well,' he shrugged, turning away, 'I guess I'll have to take you for your word.'

Just before he could walk away, a handful kunai appeared out of nowhere, each flying towards the group of four.

Kaiya took her Tachi out and attempted dodging the kunai aimed her way. Although she did a relatively good job with it, her skills in using the sword were obviously rustled. She needed to work out, she thought.

After the kunai stopped coming, Kaiya swung her sword and implanted it into the ground.

'You guys alright?' She asked her team, keeping her eyes locked on the boy.

They all answered positively, something that gave Kaiya the feeling of calm for the moment.

They were surrounded by kunai, but something that made Kaiya grunt in confusion was how there was no kunai anywhere near the white-haired boy.

'There's no point in attacking us.' Kaiya said, doing her best in keeping calm, although her heart was racing. 'My teammate already told you; we have nothing you need.'

The boy tilted his head to a side, as his mouth twitched in a smile. 'So you're not as stupid as you let to see.'

'It's common sense.' Kaiya snapped. 'Now do as I say and leave.'

The boy sighed. 'Oh well, then. I see I have no choice. I suppose I can always just get my hands on the scrolls from somewhere else.'

The group watched how the boy turned around and walked away quietly. They remained quiet before relaxing slowly as if still waiting for another attack.

Kaiya relaxed her muscles instantly and simply let out a deep sigh. 'That was close.'

'Don't you say...' Tenten mumbled, who was in no better position. 'We have to get that scroll quickly.'

'It's true.' Neji agreed.' We don't know the exact skills of the other participants in Konoha, let alone those outside, so we have less than 48 hours to collect the scrolls and get to the tower.'

'Then let's get moving.' Kaiya decided. 'The sun will set soon, but enemies don't rest, so we can't, either.'

The group seemed a little surprised at first, but nobody disagreed with Kaiya.

'She's right.' Neji said. 'We can't risk losing. Not so soon, anyway.'

'Then how about heading to the tower?' Lee suggested. 'It's more dangerous, but there's a higher chance to find the scrolls we need.'

They all nodded along with an hn!, before proceeding quietly and tense through the forest.

A/N

Hey guys! What's up? No update for a while( sorry for that!), but here we are, with chapter 14. It's finally a crunch to read, so here you go.

So, about this book, I have some news for you all. The Possesions of the Wild will end very soon (I plan ending this book after the chuunin exams), but there's a sequel coming after that.

It's going to take place through Shippuden and there'll be more character development and action than in this book.

Anyhow, that was it for this chapter, see you in the next one!

-Avery