So this has been mostly written for a couple weeks now, but my laptop is broken. Like broken broken. Soo it's been tough to write. However, here it is at last for you! I should have the next one out in the next two weeks. I'm also gonna send some time cleaning up the previous chapters because people were so helpful and give feed back on spelling and grammar! Please continue to let me know if you notice any inconsistencies or issues!
As always, let me know what you think!
~Line break~
If Ibiki had been dressing for intimidation, then this instructor was dressing for distraction. She reminded me of Naruto, if instead of wearing neon orange he had instead chosen fishnet everything and a long trench coat. Her hair was a spiky mess in a pony tail and was reminiscent of my own up-do, except her hair was purple. Also, quite unlike me, she gave off a feeling of 'batshit insanity'.
"How does that sound, hmm?" My team arrived at the front gates to the training ground just in time to see her lick a kunai in front of a shaking rock ninja. (I tried not to judge. My sensei read porn in public; ninja dealt with stress weirdly. Still—licking kunai seemed unsanitary and more then a little attention seeking.)
We made our way over to the other rookies. Naruto immediately began chatting with Kiba while Sasuke and Shino stood in mutual silence, listening to their chatter. I shot Hinata a welcoming smile and then leaned against a gate in peaceful tranquility next to a nervous Hinata. The next instructor was still scaring the recruits closest to her, but our group was far enough back to be out of her range. Shika's team joined us only a few minutes after we had arrived..
"Yo." I gave a slight salute to the team, smiling at them. Ino frowned at me.
"You can act less like your sensei. It's not required to pick up their habits." I scoffed.
"Why would I want to be less like my sensei? He's awesome! Have you seen how mad people get when he walks into a room?"
Sasuke's face pinched and he let out a soft sigh. "That's because he's walking in 2 hours late and they were waiting for him."
I let my huge grin show. "I know!" I exclaimed excitedly.
With our three teams present, we only had to wait for the new instructor to speak up. We didn't wait long; only a few minutes after team 8's arrival, the purple haired girl spoke up, finally confirming (to me anyway) that she knew Ibiki (at the very least, if she wasn't best friends with him.)
"Okay brats, you made it here within the time limit, but that was the easiest thing your going to have done today. The real test starts now. The next part of the exam was designed by me." She cackled. (honest to god cackled, like a disney villain.) "And I made sure to make this test dangerous." Everyone around us was tensed, especially those up front who had been dealing with the ninja earlier. I glanced around confused.
There in the tree line were more chunin, observing us. But I was pretty sure I had just seen an Anbu. (Not sensed because they're chakra suppressing skills were way beyond my sensory skill. But a white mask stands out in a dark forest and I had seen something flash by for a second.) 'Why are there Anbu watching over a chunin exam? Surely not just for foreign ninja observation…'
"… going to go into this training ground and you're going to try your best survive." She laughed again and throughout her whole speech she had maintained a homicidal smirk. It reminded me of Naruto before one of his stupider pranks.
"The twist of course is that you're not just defending yourself against the forest—you're going to be fighting each other. Each team will be given a scroll. A 'heaven'" She held up a white scroll with the kanji for heaven inscribed on the side. "Or 'earth'" Here she held up an identically sized scroll that was brown and labeled earth.
"Each team has the goal of safeguarding their scroll and obtaining the opposite type of scroll form a rival team. Obviously, that means you need to take another teams scroll, which will of course put them further behind." Another cold laugh.
"You'll have 5 days in the woods." I started at this. I had figured we'd have a month considering this was the survival portion of the exam and the finals weren't slated to begin until next month.
"Don't open the scrolls in the woods, or we'll know. Your ultimate goal is that tower waaaaay in the center of the woods." She swung here arm out in a useless gesture; the trees in this training ground were huge and I saw no sign of a tower anywhere.
Everyone will have to pick up a waiver over here. When your whole team has filled it out, you can go to that tent over there" She jerked her thumb over her shoulder at a tent behind her, "And pick up your scroll. You're also going to find out what gate you enter through. We like to stagger the entrance points a bit so that the bloodbath doesn't start right away. Good luck children; you're going to need it."
Anko cackled as she started to walk away. I turned to my looked thoughtful, but Naruto was scratching his head with a confused look on his face. "Whats the point in this? A race to the center of a forest doesn't show who should be a chunin."
"Dobe, of course you wouldn't get it." Sasuke exasperatedly rolled his eyes. I smirked but answered Naruto.
"Naruto, we really need to work on your underneath the underneath skills. This a combination test. It's testing a ton of things at once. We need to retrieve another scroll from an 'enemy' team" I air quoted which seemed to confuse Sasuke, but Naruto was used to it already and nodded along. "We also need to show we have the ability to remain stealthily so we're not targeted by other teams. We're not allowed to look in the scrolls, which is honestly pretty standard of most missions; just because we're holding a scroll doesn't mean we're privy to the information."
Sasuke humphed in agreement.
"And the paper thingy? What's the point of that?" Naruto pointed to the stack of sheets by where Anko had moved to.
I shrugged. "Honestly I have no idea; haven't read it yet. But it's probably related to the first test. A waiver implies we could get severely hurt or even die here. They want all the examinees frightened and in a bad state of mind. I'm not saying to take it easy, but panicking about five days in a forest is not the best way to pass."
Sure enough, most of our competitors were freaking out as they read over the form together. Shika and his team had already signed it however, which reinforced my belief that, while possibly necessary, it was more likely a scare tactic. (After all, our entrance form for the exam probably already precluded all liability from any and all manners of death. Just charming to see how valuable a life is.)
"The first proctor was trying to mess with our psyche— this one is probably the same." Sasuke spoke quietly. (I quietly explained to Naruto "Psyche means like your mind, kind of now shh") "But the actual exam itself seems like it could give us trouble."
I blinked in surprise. "I disagree. We are more then suited for they exam. Probably more then any of the other teams."
"How? We're a battle squad; we don't have the skills that someone like say team 8 has in reconnaissance. Or even team ten in retrieval. All of us can work well together, but our purpose is to back up other teams with raw power." Sasuke was speaking about the general team structures that had been taught to us in the academy. And I could see where he was coming from, but still I disagreed.
"Maybe we started off as a frontal assault squad, or a support team. Maybe even a tracker squad, I don't know." I faltered for a second at the though—we were kind of getting good at tracking weren't we?— before continuing "but we sure haven't remained one. Kakashi sensei's training has changed everyone around. Something like this exam is perfect for our skill set."
Sasuke looked completely unimpressed and Naruto still looked confused at the academy level terminology, so I lowered my voice, cognizant of the foreign and enemy ninja all around me. "Imagine for a second Sasuke, what kind of skills we have;A taijutsu specialist with an abundance of chakra" I gestured to Naruto, "Who also has stamina that is unreal. A midrange fighter who can use taijutsu, genjustsu, and ninjutsu almost interchangeably based on whatever the situation calls for. A jack of all trades who can jump between close, mid and distance range fights. And then a midrange to distance specialist who has been trained from childhood on how to best arrange team formations. Our team has a sensor that is good enough to pick out general chakra levels and a strategist that can figure out the best possible opponents for us. Remember—they didn't tell us we have to go after x team. We have a choice of whichever team we want. Which means that if we find a team weaker then us, they're as fair game as the strongest team in here. Our skills are perfectly suited towards this. We may have started as a backup/battle squad, but honestly we're more likely to be recategorized as a general attribute squad."
Sasuke, who had looked introspective as I spoke, let out a groan at my final thoughts.
"Whats wrong with being a general squad?" Naruto spoke up.
"We're stuck with whatever missions need to be done. Average and mediocre ninjas become general specialists." I frowned at Sasuke's crass answer.
"General teams get an eclectic mix of missions. Sometimes they are way above their ability, and other times way below. Basically whenever a mission needs to be done and the specialist teams are out, or the mission doesn't require a particular specialist, a general team gets sent out. Typically genin formed on the jonin track don't go this route as their formed with an intention in mind. Technically, they're supposed to train us for a speciality slot. However, while the general teams typically come from the genin and chunin corps, this is not a bad thing." I cut off Sasuke who was looking mutinous. " This is not a bad thing because it also means that they get the most experience. And as someone that fully expects to make jonin one day, experience and well rounded ability matter. Proving that our team has overall skills and ability to work with all different kinds of abilities will show our flexibility and creativity.
Besides," I glared at Sasuke, "specialized teams normally have to become Tokubetsu Jonin and even out their skills before they can even try for jonin. General teams can skip over that and become jonin right away because all their skills are polished. I have no interest in an extra level, so if we can skip that step, thats the plan I want to go with."
"Hmm" Sasuke looked grudgingly at me, before inclining his head. "I…didn't know all that. But it makes sense…"
('Besides!' I thought brightly 'I'm pretty sure were being trained as an assassination squad by Kakashi sensei—he's really good at killing people; no way is he going to let his team just languish as a general team without prepping us for an eventual higher ranking squad!)
While I had been speaking to Sasuke, Naruto's clone had rejoined us and was listening in interest, A kunai whistled through the air and the clone dispersed. I looked on in dismay. From behind the smoke appeared Anko.
"What a shame. I thought it was a late participant. But still, you were supposed to have arrived 10 minutes ago. Better get a move on."
I glanced around. The area had thinned dramatically. Most teams already having collected their scroll and moved towards their entrance gate. Internally I frowned. I'd wasted of time explaining everything to Sasuke instead of scouting out reactions from other teams. (I just got so frustrated with emo boy sometimes. Besides, the more he understood the less he'd question later when time might really count)
"Come on guys!" Naruto moved towards the now considerably lessened stack of waivers and snatched up three for us. He passed each of us one, and continued on to the tent without even bothering to read it. Sasuke briefly scanned the paper then followed Naruto. I moved at a more sedate pace, trailing after them.
The document was pretty much the standard waiver form you'd expect. (Not that I had seen one in this life before—I worked as a ninja; of fucking course death was an expected outcome. No, I had seen waivers when I tried to go into a haunted house or into a trampoline gym.) It outlined that the village took no responsibility for deaths, crippling injuries, mental or emotional trauma, yata yata. It did, interestingly enough, claim that any deaths incurred during the tournament forfeited their bodies to the host village.
(Again, I cursed not paying attention. It would have been important to see which teams balked at signing the form if only to search for bloodline limit users.)
The inside of the tent was deceptively larger looking then the outside. There was a table in the middle, where the completed forms of our competitors were stacked. A chunin stood behind the desk looking bored. Behind him was a huge stack of scrolls, reminiscent of stacked firewood. The ninja asked for our examination numbers, our signed forms, and then our preference for scrolls. All of us looked at each other in surprise.
"We get to choose?" Sasuke asked cautiously. Naruto was bouncing on his toes in excitement.
"I want the brown one!" The ninja ignored Sasuke and handed Naruto an earth scroll.
"What the fuck Naruto! We've talked about not doing things without discussing it!" I frowned at him.
"Ahh sorry Kage-chan, I just thought that cause there were more brown scrolls that meant that they'd given out more white ones. Which means…that it'll be easier to find…a…white one?" He trailed off hesitant towards the end, shooting myself and a glaring Sasuke the most impressive set of puppy dog eyes I'd ever seen.
I blinked and shared a look with Sasuke. He looked equally shocked. "I—yea you're right Naruto."
He grinned again and turned back to the chunin. The older ninja looked vaguely amused. "Here's your starting gate number. They'll be an examiner there waiting to let you in a the proper start time." "Any tips?" I tried with a smile.
He grinned savagely. "Try not to die."
I rolled my eyes and Sasuke Hmmed, while Naruto frowned at the chunin.
"You know, everyone should try changing it up. If everyone says the same thing it sounds planned." The man looked a bit shocked as Naruto shrugged and continued. "Badly too. Kage-chan wouldn't do it that way anyway. Unless she wanted us to looked for the hidden meaning."
I nodded sagely and Sasuke rolled his eyes and sighed under his breath. "Cant you two just be normal?"
He snatched the scroll from Naruto's hand and rudely turned Naruto around. While Naruto protested the abuse, Sasuke unzipped his pack and shoved the scroll inside.
"No one will think the bright orange idiot who charges into battle screaming would be trusted with the scroll."
We left the tent with a beaming Naruto trying to give Sasuke a hug.
~Line break~
Our entrance was a little less then 5 kms away, but we moved at fairly slow pace now that their were no trees to bounce off of. We ghosted around the fence of the dark and ominous looking forest which I estimated to fucking huge based on how large the circumference was. Inwardly I lamented the loss of information from Naruto's clone. Outwardly, I laughed and joked with my teammates. As we got close to our entrance I could feel the tension and anticipation ramp up in everyone. I fought to keep the predatory smile off my face—It was almost creepy how much I looked forward to being in dangerous situations.
We joked around as we passed hostile teams waiting at their gates. I carefully took note of their chakra signatures, doing my best to memorize them, and knowing that I was failing miserably. Finally we arrived at gate 44.
"That's… foreboding." Sasuke looked slightly unnerved. Naruto glanced at the gate and and waiting chunin as we slowed from our gentle jog to a calm walk.
"What's forbidding mean?"
"Mmm…Foreboding. Ominious, or like…having a bad feeling because you keep seeing signs that bad things are going to happen before they do." I had trouble explaining the shiver and goosebumps I had gotten. He seemed to get it though because he just shrugged.
"I mean it is called the forest of death." The chunin at the gate nodded in agreement with Naruto's words.
"Think you're ready?" The ninja held a senbon in his mouth like one might hold a cigarette. I frowned. (This guy looked familiar. From seeing him around the village or from the tv show, I couldn't tell. Maybe both?)
"As ready as we'll ever be." I answered distractedly. "Naruto, how did you know that?"
"Know what?"
"About the forest! You said you didn't know anything back in the classroom!"
"Eh! I didn't, datebayo!"
"THEN WHAT HAPPENED?" I swear a vein was popping in my forehead. Because surely Naruto wouldn't be holding back information—surely we'd broken that habit in wave.
"I guess…Huh. I can remember going to Hokage tower and looking it up just like you asked, datebayo!" He looked amazed. Sasuke looked disbelieving. And I don't know how I looked, because I had a million thoughts whirling through my head.
The shadow clone jutsu couldn't be that powerful. Surely not. Because if it was…
I let out a manic laugh. Honestly, I probably sounded like a villain, just missing a stock lightning background.
Because this. was. fucking. incredible.
"Naruto make a clone." He complied, while Sasuke and the throughly creeped out but intrigued examiner looked watched curiously. I pulled the sleeve of the clone and dragged him a few feet over, before standing on tiptoes and whispering in his ear. I tried to pick a long number that he wouldn't be able to guess, then for extra surety, a word I was sure Naruto would never have heard. Then a grabbed a kunai from my leg holster, twirled it out of habit and popped the clone.
The senbon ninja raised his eyebrows in surprise at the coldly efficient way I'd murdered my teammates clone, but Naruto and Sasuke were unfazed. We'd all gotten used to it after sensei had us practice our killing strikes on his clones for an afternoon. (Killing your sensei, then your teammate, when he ran out of chakra, for hours on end in different and increasingly creative ways really broke the squeamishness.)
"Naruto," I asked, trying to hold back my grin and failing (Oh god, if I was right—) "What did I just whisper in your ear?"
"Huh, you…mentioned a really long number that I can't remember and then you said…I don't know how to pronounce it?" He looked confused. "Engerish?" He tried anyway.
"YES!" This was incredible news. The older ninja looked amused at my antics, but I ignored him. Sasuke had his eyebrows raised in surprise at my outward show of excitement. I was normally much more low key, but this was just too good to be true.
"We are fucking set!" I whispered excitedly to my teammates. "We have a freaking sharingan user and a guy with infinite spammable clones." The older ninja was definitely holding back a laugh now.
"Did you guys not know about this before? Although it is rare someone this young would know the technique, so I suppose its possible…" He trailed off.
I blinked up at him innocently, instantly changing from cackling maniac to my demure and benevolent civilian girl persona. "Is there anything else to know shinobi-san?"
He grinned and glanced at a watch. "You want to waste your strategizing time talking to me?"
"I can include this in the strategy." I pointed out.
He let out an amused sigh but smirked at us. "Well, it's usually figured out fairly quickly because most people only have the chakra for one or two clones." ("and they're intelligent" muttered Sasuke) "But after the clone disperses all their memories, thoughts, skills, etcetera, transfer back to the main host. And" he stressed the word and eyed me thoughtfully. "Any other clones that are still around get that information too. Can be a bit overwhelming if they're doing vastly different things. But clearly you've been assimilating."
He smiled down at Naruto, then glanced back at his watch. I took the hint that we were going to be starting any second.
I blinked rapidly, trying to assimilate all this information. "Naruto what'd you learn about the forest?" I asked distractedly, still formulating a plan.
"It's a training ground for chunin and up, datebayo! Supposed to be full of dangerous stuff. Poisonous plants and animals. And the animals are supposed to be really big. And—"
Sasuke groaned cutting him off. "Naruto, short and to the point like a brief. We've practiced those. We don't have time for all this." He waved his arm gesturing to absolutely nothing and grimaced.
Naruto glared at him and crossed his arms defiantly, but spoke up again, much more clearly and faster. I ignored their antics and shut my eyes taking it all in. "It's a training ground for chunin and up. Dangerous animal and plants in there. Not much water other then a river that cuts right through the middle. Theres an old watch tower from one of the wars, but its gets used by chunin who rent out the training ground over multiple days as a safe place to sleep. That's about it I thin—OH! I almost forgot. A lot of the trees are really old and are supposed to hold chakra really well. So they get layered with genjutsu every few months to increase paranoia and and lower inhibitions. I don't know what that means though. It was just something I read that I thought you'd want to know." He finished apologetically.
I nodded my head and let Sasuke explain it to him. When he finished, I began thinking out loud for my teammates sake. I glanced at the chunin as I spoke and he merely gave another pointed glance to his watch. (Getting kinda fucking annoying I'll tell you. A nice out loud reminder would be better then subtle hints…)
"Alright guys. Here's what I'm thinking. The second the gates open, we sprint for the tower. Two reasons; one: Naruto you're really good with traps and between your trap laying skills and Sasukes genjutsu to hide them, we have a good chance at taking a team by surprise. Second reason is because its a smaller area to cover without sensory ability. Two types of teams will finish obtaining the scrolls early." I held up two fingers for emphasis.
"The first kind of team will be those strong enough to fight another team and obtain a scroll through brute force. We want to use Naruto's sensory ability to avoid those teams."At Naruto's expected outburst, I shook my head sharply. "NO! Naruto! It's not about our ability or fighting the best!" I cut him off. " This is about thinking smart! We don't know what we have to do after this part of the exam. If theres a third part directly after this, I want to have as much chakra left as possible! I feel like they're messing with us; three days in the woods and thats it? When the tournament is so far off? I'm expecting another round of something after the forest." At Sasuke nod of agreement and Naruto's pout, I continued.
"The second kind of team will be those able to get a second scroll by specific ability. And like I was saying before, we're more well rounded then most other teams—but we still do have a combat emphasis. Which means if we pick our target carefully, we can surprise them, take them out quickly and be close enough to the tower that we can avoid retribution. Revenge." I quickly noticed Naruto's confusion. He nodded in agreement.
"Not that I disagree," Started Sasuke, as he proceeded to disagree "But other then proximity from the forest, wouldn't we have a better chance grabbing a team somewhere like the river that runs through the forest? Not everyone brought supplies so we're bound to see some teams there."
I grimaced. "I thought about that but… While we're more likely to meet stronger teams by the tower because obviously if they managed to get a scroll, they're skilled in something. But based on what Naruto said about the genjutsu laid on the trees, I want to be as far out of the forest as we can get. Lowered inhibitions doesn't just mean bad team dynamics. It means poor decision making and irrational thought. Speaking of which, after this, we need to design a code. Specific to team seven, so that we can figure out who is who in case we get split up. Too late for that now…But I guess we can make up a code word?"
"Engerish?" Naruto suggested.
I shook my head. "No…hmm how about we just use a security question. Something that you spoke about with only that teammate. We've each had private conversations on the Wave mission at least. Think your question in advance but don't actually ask it out loud."
Both boys nodded in agreement.
"Okay, so while thats the general plan—"
"It's time."The chunin moved forward and unlocked the gate for us. "Good luck!" He seemed genuine in his well wishing.
"Fuck!" I hadn't finished going over the plan. What on earth had I been thinking about earlier prattling on about team types rather then getting everyone ready for this?
"Fuck" I repeated with feeling. "Okay…um Naruto, make a few dozen clones and have them all go out in a general fan search. Henge them to look like" I had a sudden spark of inspiration. "Like that leaf guy form before, with the glasses?"
There was a few bursts of smoke around us and then we were suddenly surrounded by a tall looming genin in unassuming purple.
"Okay fan them out so we can use them as sentries. If you notice any new memories, let us know so we can avoid being attacked. Otherwise, were going to sprint as fast as we can towards the center of the forest where Anko-san said the tower was. No talking and we're all trying out best to muffle chakra and sound. Remember the lesson from Sensei!"
The boys both winced and I turned away from them. I gave a slight bow to the proctor who'd opened the gate for us. His comment about shadow clones had been the most helpful thing we'd been told all day.
"Thank you shinobi-san! Alright team seven lets go!"
We all moved through the gate and the world instantly grew quieter. Our footsteps crunching on the earth seemed to echo.
"Sound suppression seals." Sasuke breathed. "we have to be very quiet." He gave Naruto a pointed look. I nodded in agreement, then gestured for Naruto to sprint up the tree first. He, along with all his clones ran up a tree, followed by myself, then Sasuke. Once we were about two -thirds up the tree, we kicked off the tree and hopped to the branches, then proceeded to move branch to branch taking care to land as exactly on the previous persons foothold as we could.
(That limited chance of triggering a trap because the first person hadn't triggered it, and also hid number of traveling ninja in your party. Kakashi-sensei was great to learn shit from because he had all kinds of neat little tricks he was willing to show us when we bothered to ask.)
The Kabuto clones who had dispersed in their own directions (further thawing off our trails) and were quickly out of sight, and the forest once again regained its eerie silence.
~line break~
We traveled in silence for about two hours before Naruto gave a quick handling indicating he had to us the bathroom. I indicated back to Sasuke, although I was sure he saw and we all came to a smooth practiced halt. All of us quickly went, backs to each other as we used bushes in proximity. (I ignored the voice in the back of my head screaming for privacy. Medical students could get that. Ninja not on missions could get that. Me, in a dangerous forest? Not right now.)
After that break, we again began our breakneck speed to the center of the forest. I knew Naruto must be sensing all around him, and I copied him, also on the lookout for genjutsu and traps. I felt fairly redundant, however.
Sasuke would notice any genjutsu the second they fell over us. And Naruto, who could lay traps in the academy that would fool even his anbu pursuers, would notice them faster then either of us, once we'd explained to him that he needed to look out for them. Still, it would do to let my skills grow rusty and like dad always said, 'overconfidence kills.'
Even after night fell, we all continued. I snatched a ration bar out of waist pouch where I'd stashed a few. I tossed one way up ahead, timing it so that Naruto would be able to snatch it out of the air. He had to drop a few feet to a lower branch, but he made it. I also tossed one behind me for Sasuke, before digging in to my own.
I observed Naruto running in the dark. He didn't seem to be having any trouble seeing even though it was near pitch black by now. While all three of us were feeling the beginnings of exhaustion, he still didn't stumble over any of the stray branches as we ran.
I wasn't sure if that was a testament to his stamina, or to the demon I knew he had. Maybe it was a mix of both. Did Jinchuriki have better night vision than the average ninja? I knew Sasuke's sharingan compensated well enough for him, although it wasn't as good as a byakugan or a Nara's eyes.
Even in the moonlight of a waning moon, I could see clear as day. (Honestly, this whole world could get fucked. The sharingan gets super overpowered, but I get awesome night vision and really tired during the day. Life just wasn't fair sometimes. At least I was lucky enough to have been born a clan brat.)
Naruto gave us some scattered reports as we ran. He signed to us as quickly as he could (which wasn't very quick, but he was getting better.) Each time a clone burst. The first two were from fights 'far away' while the third was a clone that had self dispersed to inform us that Kiba's team had already engaged another team in a fight and gotten another scroll.
We reached the tower about three hours after midnight, based on the moons position in the sky. It was an intimidating structure, large and robust; made from stone which was an uncommon building material in our forest. I hardly spared it a glance. This had been a very long day and I was ready to knock out. Unfortunately, that wasn't yet an option.
I quickly signed to the two boys, 'perimeter check', 'sense', 'enemy', 'traps', 'disarm', 'traps', 'arm'.
They both gave signs of agreement and we moved in a tight triangle formation with Sasuke and I covering Naruto as he laid traps. We ran across a few traps, but quickly disarmed them. Naruto noticed a team sleeping in a tree hollow about a mile from the tower. I hesitated before waving off the two. 'sleep', 'chakra','low'.
That got another sign of agreement from the two equally exhausted genin. After our first circuit of laying traps, we did another quicker lap, to identify any immediate threats, be they animals or hidden ninja. We were actually quite spread out, with an overall radius of about five miles from the center of the tower. Although both boys wanted to skip the third lap, I insisted on doing it.
The third lap was to identify a safe sleeping area. By the time we were finished with this, dawn was breaking and one whole day of our time in the forest was done. A brief argument between myself and Naruto was settled by an irate Sasuke who gestured towards the rocky outcropping Naruto had suggested. I frowned but followed them in. Naruto quickly formed some clones who moved rocks from the back of the cave towards the front to block the entrance.
"Clearly if theres already rocks here to be moved, someones already used this hiding spot!" I hissed.
"Stop shouting, your voice echoes in the cave and you're going to cause an avalanche!" Naruto shot back, also not whispering.
"Are you dumb or just stupid? What avalanche am I going to cause 15 feet off the ground? Because that's were we are. Trapped in the air with no exit point if someone decides to throw a smoke bomb in here. OR WORSE."
Our voices steady grew in volume as we stepped closer and closer to each other. I was snarling and Naruto had an equally unpleasant look on his face. Sasuke shoved up apart. "Shut. Up." His voice was quiet, but left no room for argument.
"I dont know why you're agreeing with him of all—" "Kage-chan. I mean it. Shut up. Apparently you cant talk at a reasonable volume—"Sasuke's voice had never risen from his whisper, which just made me more mad. "So you don't get to talk. First watch is Naruto's clone. Wake me in two hours. I'll wake Naruto, then he'll wake you. That'll be 6 hours sleep and 8 hours total rest per person." He glared at both Naruto and I.
"No more talking and no more glaring until we all sleep."
He ruffled through his pack and pulled out a sealing scroll. He pulled a bed roll form out of roll. Still annoyed, I copied him. Naruto did the same from his other side. Seething, I shut my eyes, angry thoughts still whirling around my head.
Suddenly I was being shaken awake.
"Whaa?" I was immediately shushed by a tired looking Sasuke.
In the same quiet voice he'd been using since we first entered the forest of death he spoke. "Your turn for watch. Stay inside the cave if you can. The further away from the trees we all stay, the better."
I nodded in agreement and mentally kicked myself. As I watched Sasuke climb back into his roll, I sat down near the front of the cave and wondered if I had really been thinking irrationally.
Sadly, I was pretty sure I had been. 'I was the one who warned us to avoid the trees. I included being away from the trees in our plan! Did I really pick a fight with Naruto over it?'
The problem was even thinking back, I was positive my actions were reasonable. I was always reasonable. I still felt justified in my words and actions even though I knew in the back of my head I should be using them as a lesson of what not to do on a mission. Which made me feel ten times worse. I was so certain that I was reasonable and right; had I let myself be taken in to a false sense of security?
My sour mood hung over me the entire two hour watch. I tried my best to shake it off before waking up a sleeping Naruto and Sasuke. ('Focus on the mission.' I channeled my dad.)
Once we were up and sorted for the day, the anger of the previous fight faded. Naruto and I shared a quick awkward apology, more on my part then his. I also gave a conciliatory head nod to Sasuke, who I figured would appreciate the quiet, wordless gesture, considering how much he avoided speaking.
We quickly packed our belongings and each pulled out another ration bar. Munching on it, I remarked out loud, "We need water."
Naruto signed his agreement emphatically, and exaggerated panting like a dog. I smirked at him and looked at Sasuke. He hesitated then nodded in agreement with me.
(I wouldn't admit it out loud but the fact that he hadn't immediately agreed with me on a necessity like water hurt. Because, logically, we needed to refill our canteens and hydrate at some point. But I pushed the hurt down because Sasuke had every right to doubt me. Because in this genjutsu filled forest, I should be doubted. I had made stupid and irrational choices the night before that needed to be second guessed. It didn't stop the hurt. I ruthlessly crushed down the emotion.)
I quickly finger spelled 'Kabuto' then signed 'enemy' '?' to Naruto. He shook his head. I rolled my bedroll up as he reported.
"Clones burst after then went to sleep; no information from them. I don't think I have any others left." Naruto reported to us in the quietest voice I'd ever heard him use.
I nodded in agreement and finished tying up my pack, my sealing scroll once again stored within it. Standing up, I looked at my teammates and gestured for them to head out. Naruto once again took the lead, with us following close behind. Before we left the area by the tower, but far enough from our cave to avoid the attention, Naruto again made a dozen clones. HE henged them back into Kabuto without me having to ask (bless his heart, he's learning) and they split from our party to go monitor our traps and scout teams. (I assumed. But knowing Naruto, even after our intense talks with him about teamwork, maybe they were going to try and take down another team. I could never be sure)
We hadn't crossed the stream yesterday, but we'd heard something as we were running, so Naruto led us back to that direction. It was already about noon of the second day, but I wasn't worried. There were a lot of teams that had entered the forest; we weren't even halfway through our time limit.
It took us about an hour to reach the small stream. I doubted it was the large river that Naruto had read cut through the training ground, but that was all the better for us because it meant we were less likely to meet up with people. We each filled our canteens from the tributary and dumped a chlorine pill in them. I instructed the two through sign that we were to wait five minutes. We stood around, eyeing our surroundings until the time was up, then dutifully knocked back the water. I drank until I was uncomfortably full, then drank some more until the canteen was empty. Once it was finished, I quickly knelt back down to the stream and refilled the canteen. I again popped a chlorine tab. Naruto went through two more cycles of this before he was sated.
I didn't begrudge him the water or the time it took; being dehydrated would mess with every one of a ninja's skills. For this test, I wanted all of us to be in tip top shape. (I mentally catalogued all the pills I was carrying in my pack, including a chakra replenishing pill; I should really keep one in my pocket or side pouch for easier access…)
The way back to the tower took even longer then the journey to the stream; Naruto lead us on a large circuitous route, signing enemy to us as he guided us.
Still, we reached the perimeter of our traps before sunset which made me pretty happy. Naruto shut his eyes and focused on the surroundings while I sat quietly, sensing my surroundings only half heartedly, instead focusing more on the tactical plan we'd need to take down a team.
Naruto sat up abruptly, making Sasuke and I jolt up as well. He honored us with a feral smile. "A sand team fell into one of our traps." The same grin joined mine and Sasuke's face as I gestured for us to huddle together.
Whispering even lower then I had ever heard Naruto speak, he informed us about the team. "Two girls and a guy. One of the girls was carrying a scythe and the other girl wasn't carrying anything. The guy had a lot of knives, cause he tried to cut the rope right away. They look older then us, Maybe a little younger then Kabuto looked? And they weren't very fast. They got caught in the first part of the trap, ya know, the distraction for the second part? And they were really loud. I heard them almost as soon as I sensed them. And they were walking…like on the ground, not in the trees." He added the end bit almost as an after thought. (it was pretty hard to fathom that tree walking, while able to be learned by any and all capable ninja was really a Konoha skill. Perhaps other villages didn't bother showing genin how to do it.)
I nodded. It wasn't much information, but it was enough.
"Ready for the fun part?" I held back the disney villain cackle this time. (with great effort)