'Where were you, guys?' Kaiya asked, doing her best to not yell too loudly. 'We nearly died there!'

The group of four now sat somewhere in the woods, at a distance from the battlefield.

Kaiya looked at Tenten and Neji with somewhat disappointment, before shooting Lee a look, wh laid next to a tree, still unconscious. 'Well, he could've died there.'

Neji and Tenten, although still unharmed, weren't really defensive about the situation either. While Neji preferred to keep quiet while holding on to his usual serious tone, Tenten's face now reached a rather pink tone to itself.

'Well, we didn't think it was going to be so bad!' Tenten tried to explain. 'We remained where we stood before you and Lee went out to fight, but another group appeared soon after in the bushes very close to us, and we didn't want to get into any unnecessary fight.'

Neji snorted. 'Why did you two have to go there and fight, anyway? I don't really see the point in it.'

'Lee swore to protect that girl with pink hair, Sakura some time ago, before the first stage, remember? I guess we all know how Lee is when it comes to that kind of stuff.'

'Well, Lee is Lee, we know that for sure. But why did you go? I hope you didn't do any sort of silly promises-' Neji began slightly mockingly, only to be interrupted.

'Matter of fact, I did not.' Kaiya snapped. 'But I did what was only natural to do, and I did not leave my comrade to die in a painful, lonely death, only so I can be safe. Even that, for a temporary amount of time.'

Neji pursed his lips with a sigh, as Tenten avoided eye-contact.

'Now,' Kaiya sighed, as she walked over to Lee to pick him up and carry him. 'I also managed to get the heaven scroll through some rather lucky circumstances, so we should get moving before it's too late.'

The two obeyed without any further question and, before they knew it, the group was moving, slowly but surely through the forest. As Kaiya was walking alongside her group, she thought she felt Lee move slightly as his breathing changed. He's recovering., she thought. Well, she wasn't wrong.

'Th... Thank you, Kaiya-san.' Lee murmured, unsure if the girl heard him.

What he had yet to learn was how Kaiya had, even though not as good as some of her peers, a pretty good pair of ears.

Hearing his comment, she couldn't help but smile a little to herself. She must've done the right thing now, right? And if they didn't trust her until then, this had to prove something to them.

If it was under other circumstances, she would've probably not cared so much for if they accepted her or not as a newcomer, but if there was something she had learned since her arrival in Konoha was that in the ninja world, the comradery was probably one of the most important things.

At that point, something clicked in her head. She was probably seen as an outsider; which of course she was. But she will prove herself to be just as strong as any native Konoha ninja. And this demanded that she'd have to fight double as much, and for nobody but herself. It isn't much of a price, she thought. She will work as much as necessary and she was worthy of being seen as an equal... wasn't she?

'We have to get to that red tower, correct?' She asked, with some confidence building within her.

'That is correct.' Neji confirmed, briefly.

'We've been walking for a while now and that tower doesn't seem that far away.' Tenten opened up. 'Shouldn't we already be there or something?'

Kaiya frowned; the girl had a point.

'Well, we are close to the tower, so you should expect some attacks from the shadows.' Neji stated. 'If we weren't paying attention enough before, we might as well be in a genjutsu by now.'

'Hm, possible.' Kaiya considered. 'Wouldn't that mean that we could be walking in circles right now?'

'You got it. It would be much easier to solve this if we knew what kind of genjutsu this is, but since we know absolutely nothing about the caster of genjutsu itself, then the possibilities are infinite.' Neji explained. 'And we absolutely don't have that time.'

'So what do we do?' Kaiya asked, her mind lacking resolves.

'I'll tell you how we do.' A sudden third voice said. 'Give me the scrolls and I let you leave.'

The three turned their heads around to see a fairly tall, tanned boy with a headband that didn't, for sure, display his loyalty to Konoha. At his sight, Kaiya put her hand on her tachi in an instant, ready to defend at any moment.

'Where's he from?' Tenten murmured.

'Sand village, I think.' Kaiya answered, looking at his headband.

'Correct.' The boy said with a pleased smirk, before raising his hand. 'Well, now, won't you share your achievements with a fellow shinobi?'

Kaiya's face wrinkled in disgust. 'Neji, please take Lee somewhere safe. Tenten and I will take care of this.'

Neji nodded in agreement. In the state that Lee was at that moment, he would've been nothing but a burden. He took the boy off Kaiya's shoulders before disappearing with him in the woods.

For a second, Kaiya felt how Tenten looked at her worryingly.

'Don't worry,' Kaiya told her, ' if we managed to get so far in the exams, we'll be able to get past this one, too.'

The boy snorted.

'As if I'm some sort of obstacle.' He mumbled. 'Look, I don't want to fight. I'm just as tired as you two are. Just give me the scrolls and-'

He didn't get to say anything else, as if he attempted to, he would've been cut in half by a tachi sword. He took out a kunai and protected himself just in time. Sadly for him, Kaiya didn't refuse to let go and continued to push resistance through the boy's kunai.

'A swordswoman, eh?' He asked. 'You don't really see one that often in my village. We focus more on chakra control, y'see.'

'I know that.' Kaiya answered simply, as she pushed the boy's kunai out of his hand before jumping a few meters back, giving Tenten space to attack.

'Tenten, now!' She called out.

'I'm on it!' Tenten answered as she took a long scroll out from her bag.

It was clearly a unique scroll she brought herself and not the ones they needed to protect, but she couldn't help but feel confused. She had noticed how Tenten had a preference for weapons, but she never really saw her put a particular interest in scrolls until then. Before she could get to put more thought in it, Tenten activated the scroll out of which emerged tens of various weapons, which after some hand signs, aimed at the boy, who grabbed his kunai back and did his best to dodge as many as possible.

'Quite impressive, ain't it?' Tenten said, without taking her eyes off the attack. 'I saw this in a shop and I knew I had to get it.'

It was, indeed, impressive, in Kaiya's opinion. As she watched Tenten's attack, a presence appeared suddenly next to Kaiya.

She spun her head around to see, much to her relief, that it was Neji. For a second, she felt relieved, but the relief turned immediately into slight worry.

'You left Lee alone?' She asked. 'What if someone attacks him? He's unconscious, for god's sake!'

'Relax. I didn't place him too far away so if something happens, we'll reach to him immediately. Besides, I activated my Byakugan, 'he pointed calmly at his eyes, whose veins were now greatly enlarged. 'and I can still see his chakra. If I notice something suspicious, I'll let you know.'

'Ok.' She said.

She was still not so sure how Neji's Kekkei Genkai worked, but anyhow, it seemed to be quite useful.

The boy from the Sand village eventually dodged all of the weapons aimed at him and was still standing, with a few scratches here and there.

'We don't have much time left. 'Neji said, as he prepared his hands for some hands signs. 'Let me finish this quickly.'

'Eight trigrams and sixty-four palms?' Tenten guessed.

Neji nodded.

'No.' Kaiya said just as Neji was about to form the necessary hand signs, only to get some questioning looks. 'That uses a lot of chakra, doesn't it? You're tired, and we don't need another man down.'

At first, Neji hesitated. Who was she thinking she knew best?

'If my fate is to die here, so be it.' He answered, without lowering his hands.

'I'm sure your fate will keep you alive a little longer, so don't push it.' Kaiya retored.

Neji shot Kaiya a look before lowering his hands. Just as Kaiya believed that she convinced him, he jumped at the Sand Village boy, attacking him with fast, various hits without giving the boy the chance to defend.

'Wow, you really are something, Kaiya.' Tenten commented.

'What do you mean?' Kaiya asked, slightly absently.

'Well, you know Neji- slightly stubborn and always talking about fate and how it can't be changed. When he started talking about it earlier, I thought that that would be the definitive answer, y'know. With two boys physically weakened to the core at the last hundred of meters. But, weirdly enough... he listened to you.'

'Well, I hope it's because he understood and agreed with my reasoning.'

Just as they were to say something else, Neji landed back next to them.

'We should leave now.' He said. 'The Sunakagure boy is out of consciousness.'

Kaiya looked back and noticed how the boy laid, indeed, unconscious on the ground, with a red liquid dripping from his forehead. Kaiya shook her head. He'll be fine, won't he?

Neji led the two girls in the forest where they recuperated Lee, before continuing their way to the tower. This time, the group managed to reach the tower successfully, in nearly no time at all.

By now, Lee had recovered somewhat as he regained consciousness and could walk, still numb. As they entered and made their way through the tower, the group caught him up to what happened while he was out of consciousness.

'So... we have both scrolls now?' He asked no one in particular.

'Correct.' Kaiya answered. 'That bandaged boy gave a really generous offer in order to live, and Sakura's team already had the Heaven scroll, so... it's a win-win, I guess.'

'Is Sakura alright?' Lee asked as soon as Kaiya was done with talking, his eyes jolting wide open.

'I suppose she should be fine.' Kaiya shrugged. 'Before I l left, she was still in a relatively good state. After all, you did manage to protect her, didn't you?'

Lee couldn't help but smile. 'And I would do it again any time!'

Just as he said that, they arrived in a large, empty room, with something written on a wall.

'What's that?' Kaiya asked pointing to the writing.

'I'm not quite sure, it looks like sort of riddle.' Tenten guessed, just as confused as Kaiya.

'If qualities of heaven are your desire, acquire wisdom to take your mind higher.' Neji read aloud. 'If Earth qualities are what you lack, train your body and prepare to attack. When heaven and earth are opened together, the perilous path with be righteous forever. This something is the secret way that guides us from this place today.'

'It's like it's missing something, but I'm not sure what.' Tenten thought aloud.

'Should we open the scrolls, perhaps?' Kaiya suggested. 'It says When earth and heaven are opened together, maybe that's what they mean.'

Nobody really seemed to argue. Kaiya took the scrolls and took a breath. She wasn't sure what the scrolls should contain, but it did seem to be the only correct way to success.

She handed one to Tenten and, just as they opened them, a cloud of smoke made itself present through the scrolls.

'Get away from the scrolls, now!' Neji yelled, urgently. 'It's a summoning jutsu!'

The two girls dropped the scrolls immediately and backed away as quickly as possible, only to notice a slightly familiar face through the smoke.

An average-height man in ordinary shinobi clothes with brown hair in a high ponytail and a scar over his nose took a step out of the smoke, along with a truly impressed look.

'Wow, your skills really improved since I last saw you all!' He said, before frowning slightly in confusion as he looked at Kaiya. 'Well... almost everyone.'

'Iruka-sensei, she's Kaiya.' Tenten informed. 'She wasn't with us in the academy, since she became a Konoha shinobi not that long ago.'

'Really?' The man named Iruka asked, curiously. 'I think I've heard something about it.'

Kaiya avoided making eye-contact, unsure what to say. He probably heard something. And that something probably wasn't something positive.

'I don't know, maybe.' Tenten continued. 'She may not look like it, but she's awesome, really! She's smart and nice... She even knows how to hunt wild animals! While we were on a mission, she hunted a deer down for us to eat for dinner!'

'Oh, yeah! That was really cool. But she also knows how to fight very well!' Lee added. 'She even beat me a few times in training, and in the exams now, she has some most youthful techniques!'

As the two told him all that, Iruka's frown turned into a small, sincere smile that his students knew only too well.

'Now did you really?' He said, pleased. 'Well, you definitely have good qualities for a shinobi career. But I'm afraid we aren't here to discuss things on that matter. Not right now, anyway.'

He turned to look at the entire group.

'Now, let's get to the real business. You've finished the second stage, and I must congratulate you all. I know from experience, this is, probably the most difficult part of the exam. But don't rest easy- the final part won't be much easier. The point of this exam was, basically, to see if you manage to go through the exam without opening the scrolls.'

'They were summoning scrolls.' Neji stated. 'What would've happened if we opened them, say, in the middle of the exams?'

'Very sharp of you, Neji!' Iruka complimented. 'If that would've happened, well, me and the other instructors would've had to knock you and your group out... Some groups had to find it out the hard way.'

There were a few knicks from the group.

'Well, it looks like it's time for you to go to the third stage.' Iruka sighed. 'The third and Anko-san will give you more information on that. Are you all ready?'

The group responded positively in unison, with a hn.

'Great! Well, good luck with your exam!' Iruka said, before disappearing in another cloud of smoke.

Some minutes later, they were all in another large room, this one with a balcony on the left and right sight of it, and some stairs through the wall.

They were aligned one before the other by group along with a few other groups out of which Kaiya could now make some familiar faces.

In front of them, The Third Hokage stood straight, holding his pipe, as usual. Behind him stood a few jonins shinobi, through which Kaiya noticed Guy-sensei, too. They must be all teachers from the Konoha groups, she thought.

Next to him, their proctor for the second stage, Anko, stood straight, with a serious face.

'First of all, congratulations on passing the second stage!' Anko said, her voice echoing clear through the entire room.

'Everyone's here; all the rookies passed.' Tenten whispered, nervously.

'What?' Kaiya snapped, keeping her voice low. 'If everyone's here... I don't have a good feeling about this.'

If everyone was there, it meant that they must've had some strengths that Kaiya didn't foresee, and she wasn't really the one to underestimate things. If they all passed, they'd have to be double as vigilant, who knew what they all were capable of.

'Alright, now pay attention!' Anko raised her voice, making a few people shrink for a second. 'Lord Hokage will explain the third stage, and you better listen carefully maggots. Lord Hokage, they're all yours.'

The Hokage nodded as he took a step forward and cleared his throat.

'Before I start to explain what the exam entails, I want to explain something about the test itself.' He said. 'Please listen closely, as it is something you all need to understand; I'm going to tell you the true purpose of this exam. Why do you think that our country holds these exams together with our allies? In order to raise the abilities of shinobi and friendships between allied nations, yes... but not only that. The exams are, so to speak, a representation of the battle of the allied nation.'

He continued to explain in more detail about the history of the allied nations, but around this time, Kaiya didn't pay as much attention. She wanted to know exactly what was coming and what she needed to do.

'Then why do we go to fight? It's not like we're picking Chuunin to go fight!' The blonde boy from Sakura's team commented as the Hokage finished.

The Hokage explained, on short, how the exams were meant to choose who was worthy of becoming a chuunin.

'Then why do we risk our lives for it?' A familiar voice asked.

She searched him with her eyes and, for a second, she thought they had made eye-contact.

'The country strength is village strength. And the village's strength is a shinobi's strength. A shinobi's true strength won't be fully achieved until it's pushed on the verge between life and death.' The Hokage explained.

He went on explaining some things about the exams, until a man who seemed sick due to his constant coughing went next to the Hokage.

'There's something I need you all to do. Due to the number of people passing the second exam being larger than calculated, we need to go through a preliminary exam to reduce the participants to half of the current number. The ones who'll pass to the final part of the exam will be determined through a one versus one combat. If any of you do not feel in the necessary physical condition, now's the moment to retreat.'

Murmurs spread across the room as each team consulted.

'You guys alright?' Kaiya asked, turning to her team.

They all answered positively, although nervousness could be noticed easily in their voices and expressions.

'You know... it's alright if we skip the exams this year.' Kaiya tried to lighten the mood. 'It's not that big of a deal.'

Tenten, Lee and Neji looked at each other hesitantly. They already skipped the exams once and were more experienced, whilst Kaiya was still a rookie. It was a little unfair towards her, but she really did seem like she handled things well, especially hand-to-hand combat.

'It's okay. We can do this.' Tenten said eventually, looking down. 'Please look ahead of you, Kaiya.'

Kaiya obliged, without thinking much of it. Looking around, she noticed how a boy with relatively short, silver hair caught in a ponytail raised his hand, later followed by a few other people, each and one of them escorted outside along with their respective teams, after their names were called.

'Alright. Does anybody else want to quit? This is your last chance!' The man warned.

Seeing that nobody raised their hand, he allowed a cough as he looked over a list in his hand.

'Alright... There's 23 of you, and there will be 12 combat matches. That means someone will get the chance to get into the final exams twice. In combat, there are no rules. The two may fight until one drops dead, is physically incapable to continue or the fight is hopeless and there is a clear winner. As the proctor, I will do my best to save as many lives as possible.'

Just as he said that two panels Kaiya didn't notice until then were cleared as two names appeared. Sasuke Uchiha vs. Yoroi Akado.

'The two chosen, please come ahead.' The man said.

Kaiya noticed how the dark-haired boy from Sakura's team came ahead, along with a boy she didn't recognise.

'Those not chosen, please clear the area by going to the upper area.' The proctor instructed everyone, before turning to the two boys. 'Are there any objections?'

'No.' The two boys answered in unison.

'Then, when you're ready, you may begin.' The proctor said, taking a few steps back.

'He was supposed to be my rival.' Lee mumbled as they prepared for the fight.

'Sasuke?' Kaiya asked.

Lee nodded.

'Perhaps in the finals, then.' She tried to cheer him up. 'Even after that, if you want to.'

A/N

Heyyo, everyone! How are y'all? It seems that I posted this earlier and longer than planned. In the next chapter, I smell a good fight between Kaiya and somebody you guys have yet to find out aaand some tea will get spilled about Kaiya!

Boom! 2 in one, just like that.

Anything else to say...? *checks notes nervously* Yes, actually!

I plan ending this book somewhere right after Orochimaru's attack, but weep not- there will be a second book! What do you guys think about that?

Also, while we're still on the topic: What do you guys think of this chapter? Was it too long, too short, enough action?

Let me know in the comments!

-Avery