Orange: I don't think many people like my story and now that I think about it, it makes sense. People want stories about the Naruto people, not the voices in my head that are given a look. -sigh- I don't think I might continue this story if what I write is not wanted…
Tut: You're thinking again, aren't you?
Orange: What gives you that idea? I'm human and I need some kind of appreciation!
Tut: Right…
Disclaimer: Orange owns nothing that has to do with Naruto.
Forest of What? Sorry, I wasn't listening.
"So," mused Kit in a whiney tone, "what are we doing again?"
She, Hut, and Nat were leaping from branch to branch trying to gain distance between them and the gate that lead to the "Forest of Death", which is where they were skipping through now.
"We're are trying to find a Earth scroll to pair up with our Heaven and enter the castle in the middle of this sunshine," explained Hut, "or, at least that was what that Anko said."
Nat twitched visible at the name.
"What's the matter, Nat?" asked Hut in a teasing voice. "Afraid of a little tongue? Poor baby."
Anko, the second teacher of the Chûnin Exam, had introduced the students to the setting of the second test. There was the blonde that Kit had dubbed during the paper test. He had a kunai thrown at him and it made a cut on his cheek. The teacher, who was the attacker, took him by his chin and began to lick off the blood that was seeping out between the skin.
A grass ninja wearing a huge hat attacked the teacher. Nat was twitching at what she saw.
The grass ninja was holding a kunai that the teacher had thrown, with his tongue! And his tongue wasn't the normal size either. Nooo, it had to be at least two feet long! The grass ninja was holding the kunai at the teacher's neck, which was holding a kunai under his tongue.
Nat didn't hear the conversation that went between them because the next thing she knew she was doing was pulling out one of her own kunai and was holding it threateningly above the grass ninja's tongue. A thin line of blood was trailing down his enormous tongue as Nat glared at him.
"If I were you," said Nat in a dark voice. "I'd keep that tongue where it belongs… In that hole, that you call a mouth! Or the next time I see it, I'll cut it off!"
The grass ninja, in turn, glared at Nat who did not yield her attack, instead adding pressure on the tongue.
"That wasn't 'little,' Hut," Nat shook violently, "that man from the grass village wasn't natural."
"But that was great what you did when he stuck out his tongue!" laughed Kit. "You almost cutted it off, it was beautiful!" She pretended to wipe away a tear.
"Yeah and I would've if Anko wasn't there! Damn her!"
The three ninjas jumped to the ground with a plop. Nat started to stretch as Kit fell back on her butt, the bells ringing noisily, and begun scratching behind her ear with her back leg like a dog. Hut jumped into a tree and scouted for attackers.
"So, are we going to scout for Earth scrolls or wait for them to find us?"
"Wait for them," said both Nat and Kit.
Nat paused for a second and sniffed the air. Her eyes widen with joy.
"Ooooh! It looks like a certain freak didn't heed my warning…" she turned to her two comrades, hands clasped together in pray. "Can I go? Please, please, please!" she whined.
Hut stared at her blinking then to Kit, who was curled into a little ball of fluff.
"Sure?" he said awkwardly, he wasn't used of being asked of anything from Nat. "Just be sure to return in an hour. I'm not sure if Kit would be able to resist killing everyone in her path or not…" Hut wasn't able to finish his statement since Nat had disappeared from sight.
Nat was skipping literally four trees at a time while laughing manically. She jumped into a clearing that was already occupied by a team. Nat paid no mind to them and begun to sniff the ground, she had to track the scent of that tongue freak.
The team already in the clearing stared at her warily. They had already seen how frightening she can be at the gate. They stood perfectly still until Nat jumped up with a yell.
"Damn it!" she cried, kicking the ground angrily. "Where the hell are you!" and she vanished before the team had anything to say. Unknown to them that Nat was just hiding behind a tree.
"That was weird…" said the blonde of the group, the same one that was attacked by Anko. He had blue eyes and was wearing an orange jumpsuit. Kit told Nat that he was the holder of Kyuubi. Now that she had a closer look, she was surprise to admit it, but Kit was right for once. Hmph, who would've thunk it?
The dark hair boy with black eyes continued to stare where Nat was before returning his attention back to his group. "As I was saying, we have to remember this if we ever get separated again…" his eyes shifted to the side as if trying to see something over his shoulder. "We can't trust each other blindly! It could end up the way this did!"
The pink hair girl of the group had green eyes was staring at the dark one intensely. "But what can we do?"
"The safest thing is for us to have a secret password. That way, we'll know. No matter who they look or sound, if one of us gets that wrong…" the dark one paused for a dramatic end, "they're an enemy!
"Listen very carefully. I'll only say it once! It's a poem called "Ninki" "Ninja Opportunity". I'll ask for it and you will answer: 'We thrive in chaos of the enemy tide. Quiet shinobi don't need dens to hide. Our only concern is to watch and wait until the enemy lowers the gate.'"
Nat stared at the dark one crazily. Her pity reached for the blonde for he looked confused as hell. The girl, on the other hand, was on top. As the blonde started to complain, Nat noticed a piece of bamboo sticking out of the ground. Not a normal place for a tree. With her acute hearing, she made out a low whistle being made. She smirked to herself.
'Come on, you freak. Pop out of the ground like a good mole.'
The wind begun to pickup, a brief wind storm came and went, separating the three shinobi. Another three appeared when the sand settled, the freaky grass ninja appeared along with his buds.
Nat climbed silently to another branch and found the dark one hiding behind a bush. A snap of a twig alerted him of another. Pinky was there.
"Sakura…"
"Sasuke!"
Before Sakura, pinky, could take a step closer to Sasuke, the dark one, he demanded the password. She repeated it. The blonde appeared only he seemed different.
Nat sniffed the air again, just to make sure. Yup, his scent changed.
Sasuke stared at the blonde, who he had called Naruto, with a smirk. He threw a kunai at the blonde fake. After a confrontation, the fake turned back into the freaky tongue dude.
'Purrrrfect!' she laughed. The freak had mentioned that he had the Earth Scroll.
The man stuck out his foot long tongue and was about to shove it down his throat. A kunai, though, was thrown at him and struck his tongue. He yelled in pain and threw the scroll in the air. Nat zoomed from her hiding place to the cylinder and caught it neatly. The freak was nursing his tongue gently, glaring at the dark hair girl.
"Hey, you asked for it," she said simply. "I warned you that I was going to cut off that tongue if I ever seen it again." Nat stared at the paper with satisfaction. "But who would've thunk it I would be hitting two birds with one stone by attacking you. Thanks."
The man growled darkly before sticking his finger in his eye. The two amateur ninjas freaked at the illusion of their death cast upon them. Nat blinked as a 'kunai' struck her forehead, if it was real it would've killed her. Nat heard Sasuke vomiting behind her.
"You call that death?" she asked incredibly, she then gasped dramatically. "You just insulted my cousin Jay-Jay!" Nat then reached into the pocket where she kept her kunai. "Now this is an illusion, boyo!" she slit her wrists the long way each and slid her fingers under the skin smoothly, ripping the flesh, blood spattered everywhere in front of her, including in the man's eyes.
The man hastily wiped the blood from his eyes and opened them. He saw Nat's blood dripping down her arms slowly, but that wasn't what caught his attention, though. No it was the pile of skin that was tossed in front of him. He glanced at his arms and saw his own muscles rippling. It was his own skin lying in front of him! A red pile of muscle was next to the mass of skin. He noticed that he couldn't blink and could feel the wind blowing on his teeth. He began to freak.
"Wha' 'i' you 'o 'ho 'e!" he demanded. He did an intake. That pile of muscle was his tongue.
Nat whistled innocently. "Nuntin' much," she stared at a knife that was in her hand admiringly. The handle was a stone that had a cat carved into the handle. The blade was usually silver, but in this case, a red metallic liquid covered it. "Just the usual skinning," The man gagged and began to shiver, every tendon of muscle moved on its own. "Now that, my freaky friend, is hell. Being in extreme pain and knowing that it'll never go away." The illusion on the man disappeared and he was wearing his skin again.
"What are you!" he demanded. Nat offered an innocent smile before disappearing, leaving a pile of blood behind.
At the moment Nat disappeared from the "victim's" sight, Kit woke up from her cat nap. She stretched from the ball she was curled into and yawned sleepily. She sat up and found Hut sleeping against a tree with a twisted grin plastered of his face.
Kit blinked before crawling over to him. She stared at Hut wide eye as she lifted a hand before slowly moving it toward his cheek. Slowly, ever so slowly, she poked his cheek, Hut twitched making Kit panic and pull back.
Hut snorted before drool started to seep out the side of his mouth.
"Now, now ladies," he snored. "There's no need to touch, there is enough of desire to go around…"
A wicked smirk grew across Kit's face. Coughing softly, she raised her voice to a higher pitch. "But Huuuuut," she whined in a truly annoying tone, "What can I do if I can't touch you?"
A perverted smile replaced the twisted grin. He shifted in his sleep and sat up. "You just stay put and I'll work my magic…" Hut fell forward to hug Kit, but being the sneaky vixen she was, she jumped into the tree above her.
Hut landed on his face when she moved. Whatever the fell did, it woke him up. "Cherie?" he questioned. Laughter came to his ears as he looked up to find Kit in a laughing fit. He glared at the redhead. "Kit! What did I tell you about talking to me in my sleep?"
"I dunno," she giggled while falling backwards, her knees hooked onto the branch she was sitting on and began to swing back and forth. "I think I missed that lecture!"
Hut grumbled to himself as Nat appeared in front of him.
"Hiya, Hut!" she yelled, catching him off guard, Hut fell again.
"Gods! Is it 'Make Hut Fall over Day'?" he exclaimed. Both Kit's and Nat's eyes grew.
"That's a national holiday!" the both asked.
"Shut up," he grumbled.
Nat and Kit both shrugged. Nat reached into one of her pants pocket and produced the Earth scroll that she had stolen from the freak.
"Hey, looky what the freak gave me when I hunted him down!" she said cheerfully. Kit started to cheer about not having to do anything and Hut pouted.
"Yay, yay! No work for Kit, no work for Kit!" she sung.
"But I still want his name, though…" said Nat.
"No work! No work!"
"Can I go back there?" she asked. Hut finally stopped pouting and saw the blood still dripping from her self-made wounds.
"Nat!" he yelled. Said girl turned to Hut curiously. "What happened to your arms?"
Nat stared at her wrists. "Um… me?" Hut glared and pulled out some bandages from thin air and a squirt bottle full of painful alcohol. Nat clung to her wounds and began to back away slowly.
"Come here, Nat," whispered Hut while holding the bottle threatening in front of him.
"Never!" cried Nat and turned to run.
"Kit, get Nat! She has some cookies on her!"
Kit perked at the sound of the sugary-baked goodness. She jumped from the branch onto Nat's back and demanded for the cookies.
"I don't got none!"
"Yes you do! Hut said so!" she yelled back. Her hands clamped onto the cut of her arms and Nat yelped. "Sorry!" Kit said hurriedly and pulled one her hands back. She looked at it and saw it covered in blood.
"Hold her Kit! We have to dress those wounds!"
After struggling with bandaging Nat's flesh wounds, Kit was glaring at her as Hut stashed the bandages.
"So?" Kit said expectedly.
"Um… It was the weasels, I swear," said Nat while holding up to two fingers in a boy's scout promise. It didn't help that she began to look around nervously.
"Uh huh,"
"Scouts honor,"
"Nat, you were never in any scout cult," said Hut.
"So?"
Before Nat gave them a chance to answer, a wave of demented charka, like Nat's cat when he's on catnip, swept through the team. Without a word between them, they started in the direction of the energy.
They appeared in the middle of a battlefield. Nat recognized Sakura staring at her and her team members; Naruto was unconscious next to Sakura. Another boy was sprawled out to the side. He had a mushroom cut style dark hair with to thick eyebrows. Three ninjas took cover behind a bush, and two were in a tree. Nat turned to the fighters and saw Sasuke breaking a sound ninja's arms.
"Hey!" she yelled after the arms snapped. Sasuke turned to Nat and glared, he was covered in a funky tattoo that reminded her of ink blots. His eyes had changed to a blood red that had two dots in each.
"Don't make him angry!" warned Sakura behind her. She was grateful when Nat scared the man that had hurt Sasuke.
Nat ignored the warning and strolled over to Sasuke.
"Look at you," she stared at him distastefully. "Here I came to the conclusion that you wanted to be a strong ninja, but using someone else's strength? How pitiful. If I wanted to I could kill you on the spot, barely lifting a finger." Sasuke glared at her, who glared back. "I'm not afraid of you. If power is what you desire, then work for it, if you don't…" she was standing in front of him, "then the power that you had been granted will go away eventually."
Sasuke snarled and jumped for Nat as one of the sound ninjas caught Nat's attention.
"Hey, Fuzzy!" she called as she side stepped Sasuke's attack. The ninja with half his face covered with tape stared. "Give him your scroll or he might eat you." 'Wouldn't put it past him of being a cannibal,' "He dun look too happy."
The said ninja carefully lowered their scroll to the ground and rolled it to Sasuke. Before anyone could react, Sakura attacked Sasuke from the back with a hug. Nat turned around with a finger in her ear before walking over to the mushroom cut boy. She noticed Kit already fluttering over Naruto and Hut flirting shamelessly with the blonde female that was behind the bush.
Nat kneeled next to the boy and gently shook his shoulder.
"Hey, person with the fluffy eyebrows, are you still with the land of the living?" she asked. No response. Nat combed her hair back with a sigh. One of the ninjas in the tree landed to her right. Without glancing at the person, Nat held her hands over the battered boy. Her hands began to glow. The cuts that he had gotten began to heal. When he moaned, she pulled away and stood up. Dusting off her hands, she turned to the ninja to her right and saw a boy with pupilless lavender eyes. She stared warily before shrugging and walked over to Sakura and Kit with a conscious Naruto.
"Do they live?" she asked Kit who was bouncing happily. She glomped Naruto before she, Nat, and Hut all disappeared, yet again.
"Why does she do that?" asked a now healed Sakura.
Orange: I am not sure if anyone even likes this thing that I want to call a story.
Tut: All that matters is that you like it.
Orange: What good is that? Oh! But I do want to thank the only kind person to review! At least someone is nice!
Tut: …
Orange: Why you so quiet?
Tut: I don't know.
Orange: Alone. So alone. Need reviews to even continue to write… -stares at wall-
Tut: Orange?
Orange: Shhhh! The wall is talking…
Tut: Please review…