CHAPTER TWELVE: Bramble and Ivy
"This place lies within,
The depths of my dreams,
In a garden surrounded by fire and trees."
The rules for the Forest of Death survival exam were pretty simple, actually.
Don't die.
Don't let your teammates die.
Get a heaven or earth scroll, depending.
Make it to the tower without opening said scroll, within five days of entry.
Four rules, easy and breezy, really. Except, well, when you countered in that you were essentially in a Jungle on crack, with dozens of enemies crawling the forest. Who, were completely allowed to violently murder you.
Perfect.
Just. Perfect.
They couldn't leave a trail, or have a bonfire without risk of attracting enemies, or even set up a nice camp because of the time, and the Crawling Murderous Enemies part.
Naruto sorely wanted a fire, the very moment night fell. The dense foliage and lack of sunlight made it consistently colder here, and the humidity didn't help much in feeling anything except gross and sticky.
"We need a plan," Tenten suddenly broke the silence, they'd been quiet the whole way, trying to get far from any enemies. Closing her eyes briefly, Naruto saw they were either totally alone, or someone had the ability to cloak themselves from her.
"Clear. We can break here."
The three shinobi stopped, dropping from the trees and into a clearing.
Moss covered every surface in sight, all of the rocks and fallen logs. Tree limbs jutted out, hiding them from the stars above.
Breaks in the foliage above allowed for small patches of milky moonlight to shine down, granting them bits of light. Apart from the occasional bioluminescent flower, or creature, they were operating in total darkness.
The three of them prepared to sit down, but Tenten quickly withdrew a flashlight from her pouch, checking the forest floor for any hidden predators or carnivorous plants.
A few rustles of retreating creatures, ones too small for Naruto to sense, and they sat together, the square flashlight still on.
Breathing a sigh of relief, Naruto withdrew a seal from her pouch. She'd used it during the Wave mission, her camping couch.
With a flush of chakra, it opened for her, and she brought all of the contents to their realm. Out popped a basket of miscellaneous gear, and Naruto wasted no time in rushing to it.
It was a limited use seal, and while she could've put plenty of things in it.. The basket was more convenient, because she stocked a first-aid kit and emergency rations inside. Grabbing a few ration bars, and one bottle of filtered water to share, there was collective relief. Rummaging a bit more, Naruto found a packet of dried fruit, before joining her friends.
"Not much, but.. I don't have anything else, really. Could've stocked up on other stuff, but I wanted to have stuff we could eat quickly while on the go."
Tenten agreed, gratefully taking a ration bar. Lee nodded, "Very sensible of you, Naruto! Thank you for the food."
Naruto grinned, "No need. Let's talk business."
Cracking open the water bottle Naruto took a few gulps before placing it in the center of the group, for someone else to take. Lee didn't hesitate.
"I think.." Tenten started, unsure. "We should ambush someone tonight, instead of resting."
Naruto was a bit surprised, she'd considered a tactic like that herself, but she thought Tenten would want to avoid conflict as long as possible.
Quick to defend her suggestion, Tenten spoke again. "I mean, it's the first night, everyone's expected to be feeling the forest out and learning the terrain. Plus… It's late, plenty of less experienced genin are gonna be sleeping without someone on watch.. It'd be easy.." She fiddled with the hem of her top, nervous she sounded silly.
She didn't fancy herself a leader.
Naruto waved her hands, trying to rush away all of Tenten's doubts. The jinchuriki girl could feel her friend's anxiety, the way her skin crawled the deeper into the forest they went. Naruto knew what caused it, and she knew this was no place for Tenten.
She wanted to finish this exam as soon as possible, for everyone's sake.
"No, no Bunny-chan. It's a good idea. I can use my sensory ability to check for sleeping or.. Um, weaker-seeming teams. When we get there.. We can bind them, and search for their scrolls." Naruto planned, blowing a hair out of her face.
Lee hummed, "But what if the scroll we find isn't the Heaven scroll we need?"
Naruto sucked her teeth.. "We.. We could take them anyway."
Lee blinked, looking alarmed at the idea of taking more scrolls than needed. It might be a dirty tactic, but.. Well, who would expect better?
Cutting him off, Naruto raised her hand. "I know, I know. It's un-youthful of us. But, think of it um.. Practically."
Tenten looked torn between both perspectives.
"We have friends out here, if we encountered them, and had a spare scroll.. We could help them out! That's camaraderie at its finest!"
Tenten opened her mouth, but quickly shut it. "Ah, but we'd be weeding out competitors from other villages specifically! It would be unfair to them!" Lee challenged, not accepting her answer at face-value.
Naruto didn't mind much. "Lee, these exams are never fair. Ever. Nothing is. And if they can't defend their scroll, it's entirely fair they lose it. Not like they can't go and fight for another."
Lee looked at Tenten, and then at Naruto. She quickly raised another point, "Plus, it makes for better competition in the final exam! If we weed out the weaker competition, your fight in the finals will be better!"
That got him- Hook, line, and sinker.
"Yes- Yes, you're right! If they can defend their scrolls from us, we leave it, and they make worthy competition!"
Naruto was willing to concede that. "So, if they fight good, we flee, 'ttebane?"
Tenten nodded eagerly, silently proud of their ability to work these things out. "Yeah!" Lee agreed, pumping his fist.
Grinning, Naruto closed her eyes, wordlessly checking their surroundings. Pushing chakra somewhere , Naruto's mind's eye strengthened.
They were isolated, her team. Safe and distanced from beasts and enemy ninja, similar as they were.
Using her ability to scan the forest floor, she passed several teams. Some were too alert, others were on the move. Some seemed to have far too much chakra. Naruto passed the Suna team without thought.
By the time she opened her eyes, Naruto had spotted five teams they could take down. Easily.
"On your feet, I've got us some prey waiting." Naruto resealed her emergency basket, finishing off the bag of dried fruit seconds before.
Lee stretched, rolling his shoulders and striking strange poses. Naruto took some inspiration, loosening her own limbs up a bit.
"We wanna do this quietly, you two. Attract no attention!" Tenten cracked her knuckles warningly, getting obliging nods from her noisier teammates.
"Everyone ready?" Naruto asked, doing one final stretch.
"Yeah." Tenten said firmly, whilst Lee nodded empathically. "Readier than ever!"
Naruto blinked. "Riiight. Follow me, silent as you can be, 'ttebayo."
With chakra-enhanced legs, Naruto leapt into the forest canopy, leaping from tree to tree as she pursued their first target.
They were still sleeping peacefully under a handmade tent when they arrived. Their bags sat unattended, outside their tent made of sticks, leaves, and mud. What they lacked in intelligence, they had in carpentry, Naruto thought.
Holding a finger over her mouth, Naruto urged her teammates to be quiet. Pointing at the sleeping three, Naruto whispered so quietly she was practically lipping them.
"I'll check the bags. You guys watch them in case they wake."
Nods of confirmation, and Naruto lifted their bags, pocketing a few seals as she searched. She couldn't see what they were, but they felt like standard explosive seals.
She'd scoured nearly all the bags, until she found a small pouch labeled, "snacks."
Unzipping it and stuffing a hand in, Naruto rolled her eyes. Scroll acquired, Naruto left their things torn out and rummaged. Maybe they'd learn a thing from it.
Only the moonlight made it so her teammates could see her showing the scroll to them before she tucked it away. Pointing skywards, Naruto signaled Team Nine to once again take to the trees.
And they did.
It took longer this time to reach their target, silently running through the trees, not a word exchanged between them. Naruto had never been in a setting like this Lee, she was genuinely surprised how he could flip from goofy to serious shinobi.
This operation of theirs turned out to be easy work. None of their targets stood a chance, as Team Nine claimed exactly five scrolls by the time they finished.
The second team had to be bound with ninja wire, and left hanging them from their arms. They dangled in the trees above, fabric cut from their own shirts stuffed in their mouths. Naruto taunted them with their stolen scroll, and then they were off to the next.
The third team, Tenten had simply pinned the zipper to their tent, to the ground. Rendering it un-openable with one senbon, more bags were raided, and another scroll was found. Naruto thought it was ridiculous, at least the second team had stored their scroll on one of their bodies.
Fourth on their list, an Ame team, had woken up. Only to be quickly incapacitated again. Lee pulled the scroll from the pouch of the largest shinobi, and off they were.
The fifth team had buried their scroll. Buried it. As in, buried it in the ground.
Naruto found she proved herself right. None of them deserved to pass this exam. Heading to the nearest isolated clearing, their silent feeling of victory kept their heads held high. Once safe, they sat in a circle, unloading their scrolls and laying them out.
Tenten fished out her flashlight, clicking the light on and examining the scrolls before them.
Naruto grinned wildly. "Bingo."
Two Heaven. Three Earth.
"We got it! We can head to the tower!" Tenten laughed airily, a dopey smile on her face.
"YEAAHHHHH!" Lee screamed.
They blinked. "Deeply sorry. My youth was momentarily out of control."
A girl walked trudged through the forest terrain, listening to the squabbling of her teammates as she followed behind them.
Sparing one glance up at the clouded night sky, she prayed silently that they would make it through this.
'Just gotta get through the exams. And then, I'll be free of them.' She thought, swallowing the frog in her throat.
"Pick up the pace, four-eyes!" A harsh voice ground out, making the girl speed up immediately. It was always better to listen to them, than to stand up for herself. No matter how much she wanted to.
"R-right away, Shigeri!" She stammered out, pushing up her glasses.
Without a trace of shame, her teammates suddenly decided it was time to talk about her. "God, you're such a kiss-ass."
"C'mon Shigeri, you can't blame her. She's got no other way to make herself tolerable." Shigeri laughed, which made her other teammate shine with self-approval.
The girl grumbled lightly, causing Shigeri to turn around. As their oldest member and team captain, she thought his ego was well-fed.
"What'd you say, bitch?"
"...Nothing." She managed, getting a harsh shove in response. Losing her footing, the girl stumbled backwards. Landing harshly on her behind, she felt a sharp pain go up her back. The forest floor was slimy, she noted with disgust.
"You know," Shigeri said, stepping up closer. Putting his sandal against her stomach, a threat went unspoken.
"If you become any less useful- or even a little bit more annoying…"
He paused, letting his words hang in the air. "Akuji will make a clone of you, and we'll leave you in this god-forsaken forest to die."
Her mouth opened, and then clacked shut by the pressure against her belly. "No one will come looking for you. No one will even know you're gone. And if you manage to escape, you'll be declared a missing nin by the time your pathetic ass makes it back to Kusa."
"And then, you'll be killed."
Tears welled in her eyes, a sickly feeling in her gut. Removing his sandal, he turned away, returning to Akuji's side.
"Like you deserve." Akuji added the final nail in her self-esteem's coffin.
Part of her raged, wishing she had it in her to kill the two of them. To disgrace them, to show the world they died by her pathetic little hands.
Alas, she couldn't. Not now, probably not ever.
And so, to comfort herself, she reached into herself. There were signatures in this forest unlike any she'd seen before. She clung to the brightest one, familiarity and golden fire felt warmer than her teammates ever could.
Their second day in the forest began with a golden sky. The golden sky of sunset.
They'd slept in.
Gurgling and wiping her eyes, Naruto sat up. The three of them had squeezed into one tent, in the after their scroll hunt.
"Morning, Naruto!" Lee greeted happily. None of them had to keep watch last night, because the three of them had rigged their entire surrounding area with various traps.
She made an incomprehensible noise, wiping the crust out of her eyes. Tenten was in a similar state, slightly less groggy.
The exertion from yesterday had left the brunette sore and aching, her core and legs had been overworked from all the running. Lee was used to it, Naruto regenerated too quickly to notice.
Forcing herself to stand, she unzipped their tent and stepped out. Looking up at the sky, Tenten figured it was about 8pm. She groaned.
"We wasted the second day, huh.."
"Nonsense!" Lee shook his head, "Days spent resting are as valuable as the days we spend training, Guy-sensei has said so many times!"
Tenten stared blankly.
Naruto yawned.
"We g'ta get to tower…" Naruto managed to mumble, getting an agreeing nod from each of her teammates.
"Sucks, we don't have a map." Tenten thought aloud, "We'd know how deep into the forest the tower is."
"Miles." Naruto answered, exiting the tent after Lee. Sleepily, she withdrew a seal, returning the tent to the void from whence it came. "Wai-"
Tenten stopped. "Wait, yeah! Anko trained you in here sometimes, right!? You know the way?"
Naruto blinked slowly, wiping dried drool from her face. Say what you will, that was the best sleep Naruto had gotten since before Wave.
She shrugged. "Ehh."
Tenten slumped slightly, her expression openly confused. "What do you mean eh?!"
Naruto rolled her shoulders. "Forest sucks. Sometimes the plants re-root themselves. So, it's hard to keep landmarks. 'N it's always kinda dim in here, and all the smells mix together…" She sounded a bit dreary, waving her hand as she went on. "There's thick fog every early morning. Without fail."
"Glad you know the environment… But, does that mean you can't find the tower."
Naruto puffed, "It's in the center of the forest. There's no easy routes or nothin. One entrance, I haven't seen it. Tower is huge, like, half a mile wide I bet."
Tenten stared at her, "Why'd you say eh then?!"
Naruto shrugged. "You acted like I was an expert! 'M not!"
Tenten rolled her eyes, "Semantics."
Lee looked back and forth between them. Were they.. Arguing? They never argued! Lee knew their friendship was full of love and youth, how could they ever bicker?!
His head was spinning.
"Maybe we should, um.." He spoke up, trying to get some agreement between the two. "Get a move on?" He suggested, sounding more like a question.
Naruto did a few brief stretches, "Yeah, you're right, Lee. I wanna get the hell outta here."
She undid her wild blonde hair, pulling it back up into a neat, single bun.
"No doubt." The brunette girl affirmed, leaving their team in full agreement.
With that, they set off, using Tenten's compass to head north. North, where the tower stood.
Running along the ground was fine, so they thought.
So. They. Thought.
And it was fine. It was. Fine, peachy, even.
Until, well, one, small, misstep.
One.
So small, in fact, it was pure lack of luck.
Naruto had been running in the lead, with her teammates flanking behind her, in a triangle formation. Tenten on her left, Lee on her right.
And then it happened.
Lee stepped on one of the many plants on the floor, a vine crushed beneath his foot as he ran.
It couldn't be that simple. Not ever.
None of them even suspected it.
A vine wrapped around his ankle, and Lee was yanked away, a girly scream left in his wake. "Lee!" Naruto and Tenten screamed in conjoined shock, watching as their teammate was torn from them.
Naruto threw a line of kunai, spearing the thick vine that waved their teammate in the air.
A rumble echoed. Naruto's eyes widened.
The beast revealed itself.
The earth trembled as the ground tore open, the plant- No, the monster- tearing itself free from the hell it surely came from.
Towering into the sky, its pitcher-like head let loose a rumbling, baritone roar, shaking the earth and rustling the trees. It was like thousands of voices, screaming from the depths of the soul, all at once.
Woodland creatures ran from the sight en masse, leaving the three of them to face the creature.
Rather, the two of them, because Lee had long since lost consciousness from swinging into a tree, and was promptly tossed into the plant's pitcher.
"It- It's carnivorous?!" Tenten screamed in shock, watching with wide eyes as the beast thrashed and felt around for more.
"IT'S GONNA EAT LEE?!" Naruto screamed, setting into action. Bringing forth her weapon, she flooded it with chakra. Kusarigama in hand, she ran up one of the thick vines, going straight for the pitcher.
Tenten drew inspiration, summoning a naginata. Taking the offensive approach, she ran towards a vine-tentacle-thing, slicing it in half.
The beast screeched in response, green goo flying from the wound and sizzling the ground it landed upon.
Tenten winced, glad none of it hit her.
She only had a few seconds before a vine swiped at her, slamming her in the back of her head. Momentarily, the girl saw stars, birds flying around her head in a circle.
Slapping her cheeks, She forced herself back on her feet, once again united with her naginata.
When she looked up, she saw Naruto, hanging over the edge of the pitcher as it shook its head violently.
Naruto looked something like a leaf in the wind.
Slicing down another vine, Tenten attempted to run up the side of the plant, only to be swiftly grabbed and thrown.
Away.
Thrown away from the plant.
Naruto thought that might be a better deal than what Lee got, as she stared down at him squirming in the thick, gelatinous material within the pitcher.
Shifting her weapon into it's chain form, she used one hand to cling on, using the other to drop her chain into the sludge.
Gratefully, Lee waded towards it, gripping the chain and attempting to climb it.
Then, Naruto realized.
Chakra or not, she wasn't able to hang on for dear life, and pull her teammate up at the same time. She was going to lose grip of her weapon.
Then, her beloved weapon, and Lee, would be lost in the sludge yet again.
Sighing, Naruto only saw one way out of this.
She needed the beast to give a big enough thrash, to throw her off, but also to allow the momentum to yank Lee out and send them flying. If she just let go of the plant, Lee's greater weight would just pull her in, too.
"Tenteennnnn!" Naruto yelled, calling forth her brunette friend,
Rising from her crumpled form, Tenten stood.
"Get yer stabbin knife out! I need it to shake!"
Tenten grinned, that was a war declaration like no other. Her naginata may be lost, but…
Pulling the kitchen knife out of her bra, she unwrapped the bandages around it slowly. The metal glinted, the sharpness of the blade clear as day.
Letting out a war-cry of her own, Tenten pumped her legs with chakra and ran.
Rapidly dodging the plant's vine-ish limbs, she charged the pitcher.
With one hand against the warm plant membrane, she forced her knife into it. And she dragged.
The beast screamed in terror, tearing down trees with its raging vines.
Naruto let go of the plant, instead holding both hands on her chain.
Away she flew.
Lee flew after her.
When they landed, Lee was slammed into Naruto, getting the plant mucus all over her.
Lee stood immediately, shaking off the thick gelatin like a wet dog, he clutched his chest. "Naruto, I'll never forget this! You saved my life!"
Naruto's eyes were nothing more than little swirls. She was winded from landing against a tree, and then crushed when Lee landed against her.
"Thas cool Leee…. Go savee Thenten now thankssss." Her head fell back, a dopey look on her face.
Lee wiped a tear for his fallen comrade. There was only one thing to do.
Why, open the gates, of course.
"FIRST GATE, GATE OF OPENING-" Lee screamed, eyes bulging and skin turning red.
Naruto giggled. She might have a skull fracture.
With unforeseen speed, Lee flew at the plant, one fist aimed to kill. His battle cry was loud and defiant, rivaling the volume of the beast itself.
Tenten watched with awe. The forest froze. Naruto made some sort of noise.
…
…
….
He missed.
The force of Lee's own punch kept him flying for a while, until he promptly landed on the ground, where his fist became embedded in the dirt.
Tenten watched with an appreciative whistle as the ground splintered, fractured and cracked from the force. Like spiderwebs etched into the ground, she thought.
The beast, however, must've held some degree of sentience. Because after that, and the stabbing, and the adventurer climbing up it's body….
It retreated into the ground. Using its tentacles, it reburied itself.
Retreated. After all that…
The beast. Retreated.
Tenten was seconds away from an aneurysm. She suspected Naruto already had one.
Ino had never been one for camping.
No matter how many "family camping trips," her father had taken her on, outdoor living had never grown on her. Peeing behind bushes and bathing in rivers would never, ever be Yamanaka Ino way.
Ever.
Choji, too, was miserable. He'd never been camping, except for the few trips they'd taken in the academy. At least then he'd been warned in advance, given time to bring his food stash from home.
But now, they were in wild, hostile territory, with no food except plants and fried squirrels. Even if he was a foodie, fried squirrel was beyond his taste. He couldn't even season it!
Shikamaru, ever the calm one, sighed.
Choji was daydreaming of food, and Ino was pacing like a caged tiger.
"Why are we just sitting around?!" Ino finally broke. Cracked, even.
Choji was despondent. He'd wasted away.
She made a vague strangling motion, fury causing redness to rise in her cheeks.
"Calm it, Ino. We're not in a rush, we still have a few days and that gives us time to let the other teams weed themselves out." Shikamaru said, gazing up at the tree branches above. He could barely see the clouds above as they drifted lazily along.
He wished he could do the same. Drift along for life, going nowhere, needing nothing, thinking of nothing.
Sometimes he thought so much his head would ache like it was verging towards explosion. His father laughed it off, his mother would just hum.
Let it be known he never asked to be a Nara.
He wouldn't mind being Choji, with his overly affectionate family and all their delicious dinners. Or to be Ino, self-assured and surrounded by people waiting to help her. Nara did things themselves.
"Or! Or, we wait around until everyone is desperate for a scroll, and willing to do whatever it takes to get it!" Ino challenged, waving her hands around frantically. "We have good teamwork, we'll be fine." Shikamaru tried to appease her, silently agreeing with her reasoning.
"No!" She yelled, her voice suddenly jumping an octave. Shikamaru turned his head to face her. Choji looked shocked.
"We do not have good teamwork! You just say that because it's what our families tell us!" Ino walked towards him, rage in her eyes. "You're a Nara! Think for your-fucking-self!
"I-Ino! That's not true, we've been raised together, we know each other better than anyone!" Choji attempted, he hated fighting.
She scoffed, incredulous. "You know nothing about me anymore! You haven't even asked! And you two are the same as you've always been. The same mannerisms, the same moves, the same thoughts!"
She laughed, a sad, horrible sound. "You haven't changed a bit!"
The two boys looked at each other. "Now's not the ti-"
"Oh shut up, Shikamaru! You and Asuma always say that! It's never the time, never the time for me to talk! It's always, oh Ino, it's fine. Ino, it'll work out, Ino, what's the rush?!" She mocked, repeating words she'd heard from them a hundred times.
She huffed, "I don't care what anyone says, I hate this team! Neither of you have any drive! You never work hard, you never push for more missions, and if Asuma hadn't betted on us, you wouldn't even be taking this exam! I've seen real teamwork, and this isn't it!" Ino was outright screaming now, years of rage finally letting loose.
Shikamaru stood abruptly, "Yeah, well, some of us never wanted to be ninja, Ino! I'm only on this team because my family decided for me. If it were up for me, I'd be a painter, or a professional shogi player, or just a regular fucking kid!" He screamed back.
Ino laughed, "Welcome to the real world! You're a clan kid, that's life! You can spend yours wasting away if you want, but I won't! We're getting through this exam, and I'm getting promoted so I can find a new team. You can do that too, or you can get some tragic, career ending injury!"
She breathed deep. "I really don't care which." The lie burned on her tongue.
Scathed, Shikamaru had long lost any semblance of reasoning, if she wanted to be hurtful, he would too. "Oh yeah? Who's gonna work with you? You're an academy has-been! All of your childhood minions failed, and they're all normal. You aren't." He hissed, stepping closer.
"That's why you're so angry," He concluded suddenly, "Because we're all you have, and you hate us."
Choji couldn't even swallow. They'd never argued like this, none of them. He had.. He had no idea his teammates felt this way.
Ino stared at him. "You're wrong." She said plainly.
You're wrong. It rang in Shikamaru's head like a beaten gong.
"I do have others." She started. He only laughed pathetically, sounding more broken than Choji ever remembered him being.
She clicked her tongue in frustration, "I have friends. Naruto, namely." That struck something in the Nara, causing him to step back suddenly. "Tenten too. I'm not close with Neji or Rock Lee, but we're pleasant. And I'll find more."
"I don't hate you, even when you're trying to hurt me. I hate the team. This is a stupid tradition that hinders all three of us. I hate how you and Asuma look down on me. I hate that you're the least ambitious of all of us, and you're the team lead, just because you're a Nara."
Shikamaru was silent. His eyes stung. "I'm sorry." He whispered.
"I'm sorry." He repeated louder, his head falling as he rubbed his eyes furiously. "Me too." Ino agreed, guilt in her pupil-less eyes.
"I don't look down on you- I just- Ahg!" His shoulders slumped. "I'm jealous. And I only say all that stuff about girls and blondes because when my dad does, people laugh. I.. I don't know how to talk to you. Or anyone."
Ino touched his shoulder, thumb grazing it. He didn't notice. "All anyone wants from us, is to be our fathers! It's so fucking unfair! I don't want to live like this!" He yelled, rubbing his eyes even harder.
Shikamaru never cried, because neither did Shikaku. "But we aren't." Choji added quietly, "We aren't." He repeated softly.
"I know." Ino said to both of them.
Shikamaru sobbed.
The three of them were in somber silence for a while more.
"It doesn't have to be like this." Ino said slowly, eventually. "There's no law we have to be exactly like them. We don't have to be our parents…
"But everyone wants us to be." Shikamaru sniffed, his voice hoarse. "Who cares!" Ino said with a laugh, pulling Shikamaru in for a hug.
He was too surprised to even hug back.
"You don't have to be your dad, Shikamaru. None of us do. If they get mad… Fuck them. Dress how you want, learn what you want, and be who you want."
"If you want to retire, then retire. Right, Choji?" She looked to their chubby teammate, who nodded immediately.
Shikamaru didn't say anything.
"We have to get through this exam, though. We have to pass. And we can work out all this after." Ino cut herself off, because she was about to tell him to be a Nara and take the lead.
That thinking was exactly what had gotten them there. Uncertainly, she continued."If you'd like.. I'll take the lead. Choji could too, if he's up for it. Rest your head, and let us make it through this." She assured him, squeezing him tight. Choji, ever the teddy bear, used his jutsu to trap his two teammates in a giant bear hug.
"Okay." Shikamaru said. "Okay." His two teammates affirmed.
A sudden crash, as one of their traps were triggered.
Rustling in the leaves, the three turned their heads to the source of the noise. A blonde ditz shuffled through the bramble.
"Er, um… Bad timing, 'ttebane? I sensed distress, and um. Came to make sure Ino was okay…" Naruto said, scratching her chin shyly.
Lee dived in behind her, and she quickly stepped aside to avoid collision. He landed on his face.
Unimpressed, Tenten walked up beside them, kunai drawn. She pulled Lee up by his collar. "Hey there." She greeted, giving Naruto a questioning glance.
Naruto shrugged.
Shikamaru wondered if his day could get any more confusing
AUTHOR'S NOTE: In this chapter, you see the negatives of the Ino-Shika-Cho tradition. Held under constant pressure, Shikamaru has cracked, and their dynamic is finally shown. We will see more Shikamaru's breakdown next chapter, along with other new problems for Team 9.
