Hey everyone, I'm here for the second installment. Thanks a bunch to all of you who gave me such lovely reviews!
Disclaimer: Naruto, TAR, and this crossover do not belong to me.
Last time:
Iruka put his hand into a bowl of paper slips and began to draw out names.
"The red team will be Tenten and Naruto"
"The crimson team will be Ino and Kankurou."
"The orange team will be Hinata and Zaku."
"The yellow team will be Sasuke and Neji."
"The lime team will be Moegi and Chouji."
"The green team will be Gaara and Sakura."
"The aqua team will be Kin and Konohamaru."
"The blue team will be Shino and Udon."
"The purple team will be Shikamaru and Rock Lee."
"The black team will be Dosu and Kiba."
"And the white team will be Haku (how fitting!) and Temari."
As the teams got together, Baki stood between them and their bags, ready to start them off.
"Good luck guys, travel safe, and go!"
The 22 Nin ran towards their bags as they started "The Amazing Race" Naruto style!
The young ninjas quickly grabbed their bags, got together with their partners, and read the first clue...
"Get yourself.."
"To the Hokage memorial.."
"Which is through the forest.."
"And then you will get your next clue!"
All the teams ran ahead to the Hokage memorial, the white team following aqua since they were the only team without a leaf shinobi. Since none of the Nin could use jutsu or chakra, they all arrived at the memorial at around the same time. All the teams grabbed a clue out of a box provided and ripped it open, but the paper inside was red instead of the normal blue, and it said "ROADBLOCK" in big letters. Iruka popped up for a helpful voiceover for the audience.
"A roadblock is a task only one member can perform, the member must be chosen after reading only a small clue as to what the roadblock will be. In this roadblock the participating member must don a safety harness and climb up the memorial, retrieve a clue, and climb down. The clue is, "Who's not afraid of heights?"
Naruto cheered, "All right, I can handle anything!"
"Not now Naruto-kun, let me take this one." Tenten got into the harness and started the climb, she was afraid the energetic Genin might have lost his head and accidentally used some chakra, disqualifying them.
Haku let out a small shiver at the mention of heights, but Temari put a hand on his shoulder, comforting him. "Don't worry, I love high places! I'll give it a shot."
Shikamaru flopped on the floor, not even reading the clue. "You do it Lee, it's too troublesome." An excited Lee put on a harness and started the climb.
"You do it horsey!" yelled Konohamaru, who was having the time of his life bossing Kin around. The Sound Genin sighed and got her harness on, thinking of the Leaf citizenship she would get as a reward for participation.
Gaara let out a sigh and sat down, "Sorry Sakura-chan, I'm not that good at climbing without my sand.."
"Right, I'll handle it Gaara-kun."
Seeing Hinata tremble at the sight of the climb, Zaku stepped forward, "I'll do this one, but you owe me!"
Shino and Chouji both went ahead and started the climb, both knowing that their wee teammates would have it much harder.
"Go on!" said Ino, playfully pinching Kankurou's cheek. The Sand Nin grumbles as he donned his harness.
Dosu looked at the memorial in an analyzing kind of way, "I think any climbing would be difficult due to my equipment and body type, you go ahead Kiba."
"Feh, I'll do it Neji, you'd probably mess it up.." The Hyuuga branch member sat down a bit dejectedly as Sasuke and his ego started to scale the memorial.
For a while the ninja climbed, each at their own pace, until.
"Yeah!"
"Alright!"
"Got it!"
The happy yells of kunoichi filled the air as Temari, Tenten, and Sakura reached the top at approximately the same time and rappelled down to their teammates, Lee just a few seconds behind. The four lead teams ripped open their clues and found them to be of the normal blue type...
"Get yourself to the hidden Sand village..."
"By one of three caravans..."
"Scheduled to depart five hours apart..."
"There is only room for four teams per caravan..."
"Tickets are first come first serve..."
"Once you get to the Sand village..."
"Go to the Chuunin area..."
"Where you will get your next clue!"
The four lead teams took off towards the Konoha caravan station as Iruka popped up for another useful voiceover. "Teams must now go to Konoha's caravan station and sign up for one of three caravans going to the hidden Sand village, scheduled to depart five hours apart. Each caravan can only hold up to four teams so getting there early is crucial. Once in the Sand village, teams will have to find the clue box in the Chuunin exam stadium, where the Chuunin finals traditionally take place when the exams are hosted in the Sand village."
Soon after the voiceover was complete, Kiba and Zaku dropped back down to Dosu and Hinata where they read the clue and took off, followed by Shino and Udon.
Over by the caravan station, Lee ran up to the counter, carrying Shikamaru (who didn't want to walk since it was too troublesome.) They got tickets to the first caravan and rested on a tuft of grass nearby, since the first caravan wasn't going to depart for three hours. Naruto and Tenten arrived and claimed the next tickets, followed by Temari and Haku and Sakura and Gaara, filling up the first caravan.
Back at the memorial, Kankurou and Sasuke finished at the same time and read the clue back with their team.
Zaku and Hinata arrived at the caravan counter, claiming the first tickets on the second caravan. Kiba and Dosu and Shino and Udon, who left only one pair of tickets for the second caravan, followed them.
The teams waiting for their departures looked over and saw a cloud of dust coming towards them, and they knew what had happened. The teams they had left on the memorial knew how many had already gone, and were in a race to claim the only tickets that weren't on the last caravan.
"Come on Neji!" yelled Sasuke, somewhat unfairly since Neji was right next to him. The two leaf genin were gaining on Kankurou and Ino, who were starting to fall behind...
"Darn! I don't think we can make it Ino, every plan I come up with involves them winning or us getting disqualified!"
Ino looked thoughtful for a moment and then a light bulb could almost be visible above her head. "Got it! Just keep on running Kan-kun!"
"Kan-kun?"
Kankurou didn't have time to further question Ino's choice of nickname for her teammate as the Yamanka reached into her pocket and threw a reddish dust into Sasuke's and Neji's faces. The two prodigies stopped running and started coughing, trying to brush the dust away.
"What was that?"
"Powdered rose petals, they've got an extremely strong smell and they're perfect for stopping anyone in their path, my family's been using 'em for ages."
Kankurou looked like he could kiss his teammate as they ran past a recovering Sasuke and Neji and claimed the last tickets for the second caravan.
The Uchiha and Hyuuga team signed up for the last caravan after washing the rose petal dust off their faces, followed closely by the final two teams, (Kin and Konohamaru and Chouji and Moegi).
That's all for now, next time the caravans take off, the teams have to chose between two tasks, and some one gets eliminated! Plus, why is Gaara so eager to run the race? Find out next time and please review! Remember, your favorite character's fate isn't just in this author's hands, it can be in yours if you send me reviews!
Note: The winning team has already been randomly chosen but romance pairings and the order people go are up for debate.