Both "Naruto" and "A Flash to Naruto" are property of their original owners. GawrBack claims no credit aside from this two-line intro.
Unfortunately, I don't know the original author of this fanfic, but if you know their username - please leave a review so I can credit them.
Hey folks! What's shaking? So I'm finally starting this, but first, I must do something. I would like to thank my regular reviewers for reviewing; also I'd like to thank another reviewer, cherry1315, thanks for reviewing! Also I'm thinking of starting another fanfic (more like fanfics) but that's a story for another day. Also, I'm skipping the fights, (sorry kibafangirl11,) I just hate retyping stuff. It's boring and, in this case, unnecessary although I'm still gonna have to do it later anyway…
So, have you been scratching your head wondering 'what's gonna happen next? When is the next chapter coming?' If you have, your questions are about to be answered, and if you haven't… What's up with you?
Oh yeah, one last thing before I start, (thanks for bringing it up Ell). It's the pronunciation of Tsebe. It's actually pronounced Tea-seh (as in sell)-bee. Yup, Tsebe. Bet you got that wrong the first time didn't you! Also, I have to add that to the first chapter, and honestly I hope I remember to. You'll be surprised how many people pronounce it wrong, even when I it to tell them the correctly… Either way,
Chapter 10: Goodbye Prelims, Hello Finals!
The preliminaries continued. All fights went as usual, or so I remembered. I spent the rest of the matches standing with Jetta and Temari. I mostly talked with Jetta and made small comments on the fights. Although throughout that time I tried to learn how to control my Sharingan, it was all vain. Man Sasuke makes it look so easy on TV. If only it was... Big Show off.
Now, Choji just lost his fight… No offense but that was almost pitiful. Dosu didn't even try. He won the match so easily, too easily...The paramedics were bringing Choji back to the balconies and there were a few people on the floor sweeping bits of the wall Choji crashed into away. The quickly finished the job thought, no one even made and attempt to check the damage to the wall. I mean, there was a huge hole in it, you'd think someone would have at least have given it a second glance. Oh well, I guess they're gonna let the night guy do it. The people then left quickly the room.
Hayate then stood in the center and announced.
"Well with this, the preliminary trails for the round three test…" He started. "… Has been completed!"
Jetta's eyes opened wide. "WHAT!" She shouted almost flying off the railings. "But I haven't fought yet!"
"And you're complaining?" I said under my breath.
The Hokage smiled. "Well then, would you like to fight one of the winners for their place?" He asked.
"Oh no I'm ok." Jetta answered almost immediately. "A free pass is good." She stood back from the railings.
"Will the winners now make their way down onto the bottom floor?" Hayate said.
We walked down off the balconies and stood in a line in front of him. I stood on the left end with Jetta standing next to me, then Dosu and so forth and so forth.
The proctor and the Hokage stood by Hayate. The Hokage stood behind him and the proctor stood on his sides.
"To all of you who won your right to compete in the 'third round test' in the chuunin exam." He glanced at Jetta, "And the one who is in by default, one is missing but… Congratulations to you all!"
No one said anything. Not even a clap or soft 'yay…'. The room just remained silent.
"Ah, well then Lord Hokage, if you please." Hayate said stretching his arm out for the Hokage.
The old man stepped forward. "Yes." He replied.
From there on, my mind drifted. I stopped paying attention to the Hokage.
No one's POV.
Somewhere else.
It was a temple, a wooden temple to be exact, a little ways out of the village hidden in the leaves. A figure was resting on one of the many pillars which held up the roof with his arms folded. Suddenly, another figure appeared next to him, kneeling down.
"The prelims have ended… And they will begin the finals."
"….."
"Oh yes, I have the information for you," The figure stood up. It was Kabuto. He reached into his pockets and pulled out three orange cards with a symbol on the back. "Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno and Tsebe Uchiha." He said as he held the cards out to the other figure. "Just as you wanted."
The first figure then got off the pillar. Orochimaru. He stuck his hand out and took the cards. A smile came across his face. "Well done Kabuto…" He said as he watched the cards. "Well done…"
Tsebe's POV
I wasn't listening to everything that was being said. The Hokage was explaining, Naruto shouted something, blah blah blah. This wasn't really important to me. What I really wanted to know now was, who am I fighting? I hope I don't take Sasuke's place and fight-.
"Hey! Just take one already!" Anko said holding the box in my face.
"Huh?" I said as I stopped daydreaming. "Oh sorry." Man, I should really start paying attention before I get into trouble. I reached into the box and took out a piece of paper. I opened it. 10.
"Sheesh do you pay attention to anything?" She said. She then walked back to the Hokage.
"All right, you all took a piece." The Hokage said. "Now I'd like you to tell us what number on that paper in order, starting from the left."
"10"
"11" Jetta
"It's 12." Dosu
"I've got 1." Naruto
I noticed that Ibiki was jotting down the numbers as we talked, thanks to my uncontrollable Sharingan. Sheesh. I wish that would stay off! Please.
"7" Temari
"5" Kankuro
"6" Shino
"2" Neji
"9" Sakura
"8" Shikamaru
"3" Gaara
"That would mean that he's number 4." The guy with the scars on his said to the Hokage.
"Yes," The Hokage started. "All right, now I will… Reveal to you the final tournament!"
"HUH!?"
The whole room tensed. You could almost here the 'Crap...' going though many people's heads.
Shikamaru's body shot forward. "That's what we drew numbers for!?" Shikamaru then shouted. Honestly, aside from this, I've never heard Shikamaru talk so loud.
"Now Ibiki, show them the match arrangements." The Third said.
So that's his name. I said to myself.
"Yes." Ibiki said as he lifted the notepad he held for us to see.
My eyes blasted though the names. Tsebe, Tsebe, Tsebe… Then, I found it. Yes! And I'm fighting… I couldn't believe it. I was about to say something when…
"Hold on!" Sakura said as she stepped forward.
"Huh?" I said turning my head to look at her.
"Isn't it unfair to put teammates against each other?!" She said.
Since when was Sakura this assertive?
"Actually, no. You have to fight who ever you get pitted against."
Oh great, I have to fight Sakura… And there's nothing I can do about it! "Pff…" I said softly. "This stinks."
"Well then, you're free to start strategizing or resting as you like." The Hokage simply said. "With this I'll be dismissing you all but are there any last questions?"
Shikamaru raised his arm. "Can I ask a question?"
"Yes you can quit." I said jokingly.
"That's not what I was going to ask." He said kind of annoyed. He then went on to ask about the tournament, if there would be only one chuunin since there can only be one winner. The Hokage explained the exam that anyone, whether they win or lose may become a chuunin.
"Well then, thanks-."
"Um, Lord Hokage?" I started as I raised my hand. "I have one final question."
"Yes."
"When you say, 'dismissed', do you mean no missions till the exam's over?"
"That's up to your squad leader or in your case, your sensei." The old man replied as he took a puff of his pipe.
"Oh ok."
"You are all dismissed until a month from now!"
He turned and started to walk away.
I yawned and stretched. "Time for a nap." I said as I turned as started to walk towards Naruto. "So, Naruto, What you gonna do now?" I already knew the answer.
"I'm gonna go train with Kakashi sensei! Yeah believe it!" He shouted.
"Good luck with that, let me know how it goes."
"Yeah sure. If you want I can-." Naruto then turned to Sakura who was holding her neck. "Uh, Sakura what's wrong with your neck?"
"Oh…" She started as she quickly moved her hand. "It's nothing."
"So, where's Kakashi sensei?"
"I think he's with Sasuke." Sakura answered.
"Oh thanks!" Naruto said as he raced off.
"Well Tsebe, I'm going. See you later." Sakura said as she slowly walked through the entrance.
Now this leaves only one question… How do I get back home!?
I walked out the room. I was the last to leave. I continued and exited the building and looked around.
"Again I ask, how do I get home?" I said to myself.
"Well," A familiar voice said. "I could give you a lift."
A shadow then came around me. It was shaped like a… triangle? My Sharingan flashed. Ok, this is not a shadow possession. A fan then lowered to my level. I then saw Temari and Jetta sitting on it. "Your girlfriend doesn't want to see you walk."
"He's. NOT. MY. BOYFRIEND!"
I simply smiled and began to climb onto the fan.
"Stop." Temari said as she placed her hand in from of my face. She raised her head. "I never said how you'll get that lift." I smile came over her lips.
Wait, I know that smile…
"WAAAAAAH!"
As I said before, I never liked that smile, not from Sakura… nor Temari. Temari, Jetta and I were on the fan going over the forest. Well, I wasn't exactly on the fan.
"Come on! This is so unfair man!" I cried as I managed to maneuver over an oncoming branch. You see, I was holding on to the fan as it flew over the forest. Very close to that damn forest. Lucky me. "And I think a bug crawled up my leg."
"Now you're not getting on my fan for sure." Temari said as she turned and answered back. "I don't want any bugs on it." She finished as she chuckled and continued steering.
I groaned at the reply. Oh joy, first I get a faulty Sharingan and now this... What a drag… And I'm talking like Shikamaru, then again who cares.
"Come on Temari, we should -." Jetta said.
"GROOOOOOHH!" Echoed through the forest.
"Whoa did you hear that?" I asked looking around.
"That didn't sound too good…"
"Jetta what was that?" Temari quickly asked.
"I don't know, but I think it's best if we leave this place. Now." Jetta said sounding a little unsure. She quickly stretched out her hand. "Quick, get on."
I reached for her hand.
"GROOOOHHH!" It came from behind us
"Wait…" Jetta said softly to herself. "Did I just understand that…?"
A cracking sound soon started behind us. I turned my head back to watch.
"Tsebe hurry up get on!" Jetta yelled. "That thing's approaching!"
I saw the leaves start to shake. Then suddenly,
BOOOM! A HUGE brown worm-like-leech-thingy blasted out of the trees and raced towards us. It traveled through the trees like a dolphin in the water, going up and down exposing its mouth out large rotating teeth. It began to catch up with us quickly and let out roars along the way.
"Jetta, what does that thing want!?" Temari quickly asked.
"Us for its midday snack!" She yelled back. "Temari, pull up now!"
"Hold on tight!"
"It's almost here!" I shouted as the thingy neared us.
"GR-GROOOOOOOH!"
"Temari! PULL UP NOW!" Jetta ordered. "IT'S GOING TO KILL US!"
The creature made on final leap out of the trees. It pried its mouth open to drill us into its stomach. Hundreds of teeth were visible but, they weren't spinning. Maybe you only see things like that in cartoons. Then again... It was now almost on top of us now.
"WHAT THE HELL!?" I shouted.
"SEE WHY I DIDN'T PULL UP!?" Temari shouted angrily at Jetta.
"WELL THEN DO SOMETHING!" Jetta yelled back.
I pulled out some shuriken from my holster.
"There's no point!" Temari said stopping me. "Even if you kill it I'll just fall on us and crush us!"
FWAP! Temari swerved to the side barely dodging the creature.
"We need it lose that thing!" Temari shouted. "Shit, there are no clearings or anything!"
Cr-cr-cr-crack! It was back.
"That thing doesn't give up!"
The leaves moved. Thank you Sharingan. "Temari! Sw-"
BOOOM! WAM! It got us…
The fan spun out if control. The fan blasted into the air, spinning all the while. It then flipped over to the side and then quickly began to plummet.
"Shit! My fan!" Temari yelled. Almost a third of the fan broke off.
"We're all gonna die!" I shouted.
"Tsebe this isn't a horror movie…" Jetta said with an annoyed tone in her voice. "Don't say those kind of things."
"Hold on tight!" Temari remarked. "This is gonna be a bumpy landing!"
I closed my eyes tightly and prepared for impact. I then felt four arms wrap around me and
"AHHHHH!" Then blasted through the forest.
CRASH! SNAP! We made impact. I flew from the remnants of the fan and rolled a few times before stopping. The arms slowly unwrapped themselves around me.
"Is it still after us?" I said softly as I cracked an eye open.
"Apparently," Jetta said as she slowly got up. "Not."
I got up onto my feet and dusted myself off. I took a quick look around. Nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary. We stood in a small clearing, about big enough for five people to stand in freely and comfortably. The clearing was surrounded by tall trees and a rock on the edge and the sky was only visible because we came crashing through the forest skyline and even then, it was only slightly visible. My Sharingan then flashed confirming my belief. We were alone except for a few bugs and stuff.
A chuckle then came from behind me. "Nice screaming back there scaredy-cat." Temari said with her hands folded and a smirk on her face
I spun around to her. "Hmmp," I replied. "At least I'm not the one who grabbed on to the 'scaredy-cat' during the crash as if her life depended on it."
"Hey!" Jetta snapped back. "I did that too you know…"
I simply growled underneath my breath and fell backwards onto the forest floor with my arms stretched out on the forest floor. "ARRRRRRGG!"
Temari raised an eyebrow. "And you did that…"
"Because I'm back in this stupid forest! I HATE THIS DAMN FOREST!" I yelled staring into the treetops. I felt the forest move underneath me, the bug and stuff. Don't forget, I'm bareback. Honestly, I didn't care about the bugs which were crawling up my back. The forest could be dead for al I cared at that time. Gross... That bug line gave me chills...
"Why?" Temari asked as she walked over to me.
"Cause Sakura kissed Sasuke here and he thought that he and Sakura was 'an item'." Jetta replied smiling.
I instantly got up and turned to Jetta. "That's not true!" I yelled pointing towards her. "And, how do you know about that?"
She grinned as she paced her hands behind her head. "I… um… 'Overheard' you shouting at her at the tower."
I smiled. "Figures."
"Anyway…" Temari said changing the subject. "What now?"
"We wonder until we get out I guess." I answered as walked over to the rock. "We have no idea where in the forest we are and no idea where north, south, east or west is." I sat down on the rock. "This means that we'll probably end up walking around in circles or something."
"I see you're an optimist." Temari said sarcastically
"Just calling it as I see it." I replied. "And, I never said we were doomed."
"Ok," Jetta said coming closer to the rock. "You have a plan then."
"Well," I started. "I wouldn't call it a plan per say, it's more something I thought of."
"What's the difference?" Temari asked not really expecting an answer.
I shout a glare at her before continuing. "Well, the tower's in the centre of the forest right?"
"Yeah."
"Then, if someone climbs up to the top of a tree and pushes their head passed the trees and looks for the tower, we'll which direction we should go in."
"Well then," Temari said as she prepared herself to jump. "I'm o-."
I grabbed her hand just in time. "Wait."
She turned her head and watched me with a surprised look on her face. She also had a little bit of pink on her face.
"The reason this isn't a plan is that the beast that was after us isn't accounted for. What if it's still up there and you went up?" I asked.
"I'll be its afternoon snack." Temari answered.
"Exactly. That's why this needs more thought." I finished.
Temari scoffed. "And to make things better, I no longer have a fan." She turned her head to glance at what used to be a fan. All that was left was a side of the fan and one of the moons. "So we can't even do a quick attempt."
Jetta then stood up tall and placed her fists on her hips. "I don't know about you but I'm gonna give it a try!" She said. That sounded a lot like something Naruto would say. "Someone's gotta try something."
"You sure?" I asked as I turned towards her.
"Yup."
Temari and I gave her a 'good luck' nod. Jetta then leaped off into the trees, leaving a trail of falling leaves behind her.
Now, let's hope that that beast isn't around.
"So," I heard Temari say looking away. "How long do you think it'll take her to get back?"
I shrugged. "Don't know."
Temari then smiled and walked over to me and sat next to me on the rock. The only problem was that the rock was made for 1, 1.5 people max, so it was a tight fit. Temari then placed her hand on my thigh and put her weight on it.
I looked at her hand. "Just so?"
"Yup." Temari replied.
Silence stood afterwards for a few seconds. It was almost too quiet.
Come on Tsebe, Do say something! I said to myself. She's gonna think you're a mime or afraid of her or something. I've gotta at least try to start a conversation. But about what…
"So," I almost jerked in surprise. "What kind of music do you like?"
I laughed to myself. "I bet you've never heard of it."
Temari frowned. "What do you think I am, a cavewoman!?" She snarled. "Try me."
Oh yeah, they're in current time. Crap, I forgot. "Rock, alternative rock to be exact."
"You thought I wouldn't know that?" Temari asked. "Are you trying to insult me!? Of course I've heard of it. Who hasn't?"
"So cavewoman," I started. "Aga ougou tiki bra?"
Temari laughed. "I like it too."
"So my dear cavewoman," I started as I slowly placed my arm around her waist. Temari turned to me as I put my arm around her. "What's your favourite band?"
Temari's face began to turn a little red and she sat with her mouth slightly open for a few seconds before realizing what she was doing. "Well… I… Um…"
FWAP!
"I'M BACK!" A figure suddenly dropped down in front of us.
"WHAAA!" I screamed as I flew backwards off the rock.
"AHHH!" I heard Temari scream. She was slightly tilted backwards on the rock. "JETTA YOU BITCH WHY'D YOU DO THAT!?" Suddenly,
Bam! Something landed on my head.
"Sheesh, no need to yell." Jetta replied scratching her head.
"How do you mean no need to yell! I almost lunged you!" Temari yelled still.
A hand then emerged from underneath Temari and gently tapped her on her lap.
"Oh, right." Temari then finally got off me. "Sorry."
"Thanks…" I said as I slowly stood up. I quickly looked at Temari who was looking away with a slight blush on her face. "So Jetta," I said turning to face her. "Did you make it to the top?"
"Yup." She said with a smile on her face. "The tower is this way," She pointed to her right. "So we have to go this way." She pointed left. "Or is it that way?" She said as she moved her hand to the right. "Or was it that way…" Jetta said finally with a confused look on her face.
"Jetta, how could you forget!?" Temari asked. "I mean all you had to do was climb up, look and come back down."
"Yeah…" Jetta said as she placed her hand behind her head. "But you have climb up, turn, jump to another tree, jump, climb while going around the tree and then jump again. And don't even get me started about the trip down."
"Oh come on…" Temari said as she smacked her forehead.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Jetta asked with an angry tone in her voice.
A quarrel between the two kunoichi then started but I stopped listening. I drifted to my thoughts. Great. We're getting nowhere. What now? I said to myself. There's got to be some way to get out of this damn forest… I looked up through the now extremely small hole we left in the forest skyline. The sky was now a light orange, sunset was coming. And now it seems like I'll have to stay another night in this forest. Wonderful. This just couldn't get any better…
"Oh yeah!" Jetta yelled. "Well, you and your big butt can go jump in a freakin' lake for all I care!"
Temari clenched her fist in anger. Oh no, this is bad…
"Um… Temari… Jetta?"
"WHAT!?" They shouted at me in unison.
O... K... I'm scared... "It's going to be dark soon so, I think we should try and cover some ground." I suggested. "Or at least find somewhere to set up camp."
Temari turned her head up to the hole. "You know, he's right."
"Yeah…"
"Good. So, we should get going now." I said.
"Yes but, what's stopping us from walking right back to the tower?" Temari asked. "We'll just be right back where we started."
"She's right." Jetta said as she shot a quick glare at Temari. "We should think up a plan."
"Ok, so, what do you think we should do?" I inquired as I turned to Temari.
She began to pace for a few moments with her hand on her chin. "Hmmm…" She stopped. "Do you remember what that woman… Anko I think it was, said when she described the forest?"
"It's known as the Forest of Death?" I replied.
"No, not that! As in the landscape."
"Oh yeah! There's a river that runs right through the forest!" Jetta said excitedly. "That means that-."
"If we find our way to that river,-." I continued Jetta's sentence.
"We can just follow it until it leads us out of the forest!" Temari finished.
I leaped into the air. "Yeah! I'm finally gonna kiss this place goodbye!"
Temari placed her hand on her hip. "Yup, so, let's get going."
Yeah that's it. It's finally done! Time to start the next chapter. Though, as usual, that may take a while to get here. I got other stuff (Runescape and now I'm trying Conquer) doing so the next chapter may take even longer than usual but, It'll come, don't worry. I hope you review Ell, since you've been asking me to update.
Man I got writer's block while I was typing this. I got it bad… Either way, it's done so please do me the honours and review. I'd like to know what you think.
But now, I must get to work. I have ideas in my head which need to be written(typed) so, I bit you adieu!