Chapter 10

I looked into the forest. The trees were huge, hundreds of years old. I looked back at the examiner, Anko. I she was a strange one. I could feel Hinata hiding a little behind me.
"It's going to be ok. Don't worry. Kiba and I are here to protect you if you need it, alright?" Kiba nodded, agreeing with me.
"O...k, Janus-kun, Kiba-kun." I looked up at Naruto who was doing an interpretation of Anko. What was he doing? Three was a flash of black crossing his and Anko appeared behind him.
"Kids like you are the first to be killed..." she said. "Spraying that red blood I love..." What was her deal? I reached into my pouch but before I could do anything, there was a guy behind Anko.
"Here's your kunai." How did he move so fast? I really need to watch out for these people. I looked over at Kiba, his eyes flashed in agreement.
"Naruto-kun..." I heard Hinata say behind me. This was starting to get out of hand.
"It looks like we have a lot of bloodthirsty ones at this test. Now then, let's get to explaining the second test." She held up a packet of forms. "I need you to sign these release forms because in this, the second exam there will be deaths." Chuunin assistants started walking through the crowd handing out the forms to everyone. "This form just explains that when you die during this test, I can't be held responsible. Anyways, this exam will be a survival exam, but unlike any survival exam you've ever had before. Area 44 has 44 locked gates around the perimeter. In the middle of the area is a tower. It is ten kilometers from the gates to the tower. But, is exam has a little twist. It will be a no-holds-bared scroll battle."
"Scroll battle?" I look over at the speaker, but not recognizing him I returned my gaze to Anko.
"Correct, before you enter the area, you will be given one of these two scrolls," She took out two scrolls, one white, one brown. "The goal is to get a Heaven and an Earth Scroll while inside the area and make it to the tower. This test will last only last 120 hours. So, out of the twenty six teams, there will only be a maximum of thirteen teams who will collect the both scrolls needed, although the chances of that happening are slim to nil. This test will last only last 120 hours. Exactly five days."
"Five days?" I heard Ino say.
"What about dinner?" Heh, good old Chouji. "You'll just have to deal. There is plenty of food in the forest so if you look, you won't starve. So, some teams will fail by losing their scrolls and others will fail by simply dying in the course." "Is it possible to quit during the test?" I glanced at Shikamaru. He would say something like that. "No, you can't give up in the middle of the test. You will be in the forest for five days, no questions asked. If you don't have both scrolls and have reported to the tower by that time, or lose any of your teammates you will fail. And you may not look inside your scrolls until you are inside the tower." Ah, trapped scrolls, interesting.
"What happens if you do?" Naruto asked.
"Well, if you that's a surprise to whoever does open them, isn't it? This is supposed to test your trustworthiness with top secret documents. Anyways, you can exchange your teams signed forms for a scroll over there." Anko pointed to a covered booth with a curtain. "Then you will chose your gate and everyone will start at the same time. Well, that's it for explanations. I'd wish you luck, but luck will have nothing to do with it. Just don't die." With that, groups started forming up and talking amongst themselves.
"So, guys," Kiba said quietly. "You up for this?"
"I am, Hinata, how about you?"
"I think I can do it."
"No, don't say you think, because then you're doubting yourself. I'm a little worried to as I'm sure Kiba is. We don't want to die in there but the important thing is not that you think you can, but that you actually can do it."
"Umm, ok, Janus-kun. I...can do it." Hinata said, giving me a fake smile. I smiled warmly back.
"Don't worry; were a team and we will watch each other's backs, alright?" We all nodded as we proceeded to sign our forms. I looked up, nearly every team except for a couple were together discussing the forms like we had. A few were obviously worried. However, what caught my attention was that Team 7 wasn't together. Not that I wouldn't expect it, Sasuke and Naruto are both really independent, but shouldn't they be worried about Sakura?
I looked over and saw Hinata up against a tree, looking at her form. I guess she just wanted some time to her self to think about it. Well that was good. I then noticed Naruto walking over to her. Was the blockhead actually starting to notice her? Go Hinata! I looked away to give them some privacy as I tried to find Temari. I watched as she walked out of the exchange booth with her brothers. She then noticed me. She smiled and nodded. Then she turned to her brothers and said something while pointing at me. I could feel their glares. Uh oh, please don't tell me that she made my team a target. When she finished, she turned and gave a little victory sigh before going off after her brothers. I walked over and collected Kiba and Hinata, who looked kinda sad.
"Let me guess, my brother..." She just blushed. "That idiot..." We started walking to the now developing line for the scroll exchange. Kiba picked up our Heaven Scroll. He put it in a hidden pocket under his hood. Our instructor took us to Gate 16 where we would start.
"Heh, this test should be cake, survival is our specialty, right Akamaru?" He barked in agreement. "Don't go soft now, Hinata."
"So, what's the plan guys? We have two options open to us. One is to go set up traps around the tower and wait or we get a jump start on everyone and get a team fresh."
"With our power, let's get a fresh team and get out of this dumb forest."
"Ok, so here is the plan. We get inside and Hinata you use your Byakugan to located a nearby team. We make our presence known to them while I have my shadow clones set them up with my movement seals. Then we can simply take their scroll, no harm no foul."
"Wouldn't they try to kill us, Janus-kun?"
"That's exactly the point. If you were watching before the first exam, you remember the seal I put on that Sound guy? It took a couple seconds to set up so I have my clones silently attached them to their limbs and when leave to attack, I can activate them and they will be stuck. Nobody has to die and if one of them gets out, Kiba can take care of them, right?" Kiba and Akamaru nodded. The instructor walked over and unlocked the gate.
"Ready...get set...Go!" With that, we took off. Quickly after we were inside, we found an open enough area to scout.
"Ok, Hinata," Kiba said. "Do your stuff."
"Byakugan!" She looked around. "Most groups are heading for the tower to set up traps, but there is one group heading for us." She pointed slightly south east."
"Good job, Hinata, my turn. Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Six clones appeared. I handed them each a couple of seal notes. They took off to go hide. We then started talking about the test and where all the teams were headed. Just then we felt our targets approach. They were just standing, watching us. I felt my clones disappear one by one. Mission accomplished. They jumped to attack. I quickly made a ram seal.
"Activate!" I watched as their eyes went wide. They quickly clattered to the ground.
"So it's you!" We walked over to them and Akamaru started sniffing around till he came back with their Earth scroll. I looked at them and laughed.
"Don't worry, the seals should wear off in a hour or two, you will be up on your feet in no time. Later." With that we left.
"Aren't we lucky! The first guys we fought had the Earth scroll. We'll be the first to the tower."
"I'm not sure that's suck a good idea, Kiba. There could already be an ambush waiting for us there. Let's make sure we scout the area fully before we attempt to enter."
"I know, I know. Why do you always have to think so much ahead?"
"Hey, I don't pride myself being Shikamaru's rival for nothing."
"Who would want to be rivals with that slacker? How hard could it be to defeat him?"
"Umm, Kiba-kun, I think Janus-kun has a good point. It might be better to, umm, draw attention to ourselves."
"Geez, alright, alright. We won't rush in." Suddenly Kiba stopped.
"Hey, stop! You said we should be careful, right? Hinata, could you look about a kilometer I that direction?" Kiba pointed in the direction we were going.
"Yes, I'll look." With that, she activated her Byakugan "There...is someone there..."
"How many?" "Umm, it looks like six."
"Alright! Lets go check it out, guys." Hinata gasped.
"What! Are you crazy! What part of not attracting attention to ourselves did you not understand?"
"The examiner said to bring both Heaven and Earth scrolls to the tower, but she never said how many. If we get extras, more teams will fail, correct?"
"But...." Hinata started to say.
"Let's just check it out. If it looks to difficult, we won't fight, alright? Alright, let's go!" Kiba headed off. Kiba, Kiba, Kiba. Your overconfidence will be the end of you. I followed him and Hinata followed me. We found a decent hiding space nearby where we settled in. When we arrived, Kiba was consoling a frightened Akamaru.
"Akamaru, what's wrong?"
"What's going on, Kiba-kun? Why did you stop so suddenly?" Akamaru climbed into Kiba's sweatshirt.
"I don't know, Akamaru just started shaking for some reason. Akamaru can smell our enemies' chakra and judge their strength. But for him to shake this much...these fighters ahead of us are far above average." We looked forward to see the teams fighting. On our right were the Rain Nins. I looked to the left and gasped.
"Temari..." Kiba and Hinata looked at me curiously.
"You know one of them?" Kiba asked, looking back to the field.
"Yeah, I met her during our mission to sand. We can't fight these guys. We are going to witness a massacre." Hinata gasped.
"Rain Nins are that good?" I shook my head.
"No, the Sand Nin with the gourd, Gaara."
"He doesn't look that bad." Kiba looked down at Akamaru.
"That big Rain Nin is bad news." I turned back and looked at the fight. Gaara was facing down the leader of the Rain Nins.
"Lets do this, old man." Gaara dared.
"Gaara..." Kankuro interrupted. "We should find out which scroll they have. Pointless fighting is...."
"It doesn't matter." Gaara interrupted. "All who challenge me will die." I widened my eyes. This guy was trouble.
"Well then," the Rain Nin said. "Let's get this started." He reached behind his shoulders pulling out numerous umbrellas.
"Guys, we should leave." I quietly suggested to Kiba and Hinata. "Whoever wins will come after us next." Hinata nodded. I turned to look at Kiba. "Don't be foolish now, these guys are far above us.
"I want to judge their..." Kiba jaw dropped. I looked at the field. Gaara had a shell of sand around him covered in needles.
"What is that?" Hinata whispered, frightened.
"It looks like a perfect defense. Incredible..."
"His chakra is enormous. And the sand smells strongly like blood." I watched as the Rain Nin charged Gaara. He made to hand seals that I didn't know. Suddenly, sand wrapped around the Rain Nin, covering him nearly completely. This can't be good. Then the trapped nin started rising into the air covered in the sand. This isn't good.
"Hey be prepared to run, ok?" Kiba and Hinata made acknowledgement that they heard me. This isn't good!
"Desert Graveyard!" Gaara closed his hand and the sand around the nin exploded. Blood started spraying everywhere. I was frozen in fear. I have to leave now, but why won't my legs move! I then watched in horror as Gaara mercilessly killed the other two.
"Guys, lets get out of here! If they find us, we'll be dead!" I looked at Kiba. Hadn't I been saying that? But I was glad he did. It got me moving again.
"I haven't had enough yet!" I heard Gaara say from behind us. Uh, he knew we were watching. I heard Kankaro and Temari try to talk Gaara out of it. I started moving away again, knowing that that was the only way I'd live. I heard their cries for him to stop. Then, I just heard him start to walk away. We sat back to let our hearts slow down.
"I...never want to fight that guy. So that's what Akamaru meant." I stood up, still panting. Kankaro and Temari turned as they were walking away. Temari opened her eyes in shock. I hung my head.
"Come on guys, lets get out of here." I helped Kiba and Hinata up and we headed off to the tower. The other side of the tower, that is.

The halls of the tower were empty. We were starting to wonder why when Gaara, Kankuro, and Temari walked around the corner. Gaara gave us a deathly glance when he passed. Kankuro just looked at us with disgust. I looked in Temari's eyes. I saw a mixture of fear, pain, and relief. I hung my head again. This exam wasn't being good to our relationship, whatever it happened to be.
"Listen, guys. Let's go and find a room for the next few days as we wait for the exam to finish. After that, I'll go get us some food, alright? So after we wandered around for a bit, we found a room with a single window to the outside with one, good solid door. The room also had a few futons in it, so we could get a comfortable night's sleep, even though we agreed on keeping a watch with Gaara around. I then went to the kitchen to get Kiba, Hinata, Akamaru, and myself some food. When I turned the corner into the kitchen, I saw that Temari had the same job as me.
"Hey, Temari." I said as I approached. She looked up from the sandwiches she was preparing.
"Hey, Janus." I recoiled slightly, not used to the tone in her voice. "I warned you about Gaara." She resumed making her sandwiches.
"I know, I remember. I just..."
"You..." She interrupted. "You should have told me you were going to be participating...Then...maybe...I could have warned you off!"
"Temari, it wouldn't have worked. I've been excited about the possibility of participating."
"I bet you don't want to see me any more now..." She said as she started to walk away.
"No, why would you think that." She stopped.
"Why not?" She said, not turning around. "Everyone else has left, why should you be any different?"
"I don't understand why you think I would?" She turned, tears flowing from her eyes.
"Because of my brother! He'll kill you! That's why he threatened to kill you earlier, to prove to me that he would."
"Temari-chan..." I walked over to her, took the plate from her and set it on the table. I then walked back and wrapped my arms around her. "It's ok, it's ok." She sobbed softly into my shoulder.
"But...Gaara..." She asked, slightly muffled by my vest.
"I don't care. No one from Sand could stop me from seeing you, not even the Kazekage." I heard a soft chuckle between Temari's sobs.
"I think I could arrange that challenge, if you wanted." She turned her head so that she could look at me. I was pulling off my confused Naruto impression.
"Umm, Temari-chan?" She giggled, her sobs having ceased.
"He's my father." My eyes opened in shock.
"Well that's a shock." She reluctantly left my arms.
"I need to go, Kankuro and Gaara get kinda grumpy without their dinner. Tomorrow, Janus-kun." I watched as she walked down the hall. I may have tried to ignore it, but after she turned another corner, I sat down and grabbed my knees.
"I think I just signed my death certificate. Gaara's going to kill me. Of if he doesn't, I'll have a kage after my head. I'm so screwed..." Then I remembered Temari's smile. "But it's worth it."