Let this chapter unfold…

Taya didn't know whether to be excited or nervous. She slowly got dressed like every other day. It was the day of the second exam, which was the survival test. She couldn't fail today, so she took all of her new weapons with her, which included Kado's metal wrist bands (for protection), Rinji's weapon set (new kunai knives, shurikens, and a large spinning shuriken), and Sakura's jutsu scroll. After she equipped the holsters onto both of her legs, secured the large shuriken to her back with a purple sash, she tucked her teacher's scroll into her pocket. She looked around the room for a minute and then departed. "I might not return here…"

As she sat down at the kitchen table, Kakashi set her tea in front of her, "So, tell me about the first exam yesterday," Kakashi said

"This year's exam was all about communication. The teams were spread out and had to figure out the answer without making any sounds or getting up out of their seats. A lot of teams seemed to have a lot of trouble. 18 of them failed," Taya replied.

"Are you ready for the second exam today?" Kakashi asked as she pulled out his book.

"If somehow I don't faint from using up too much chakra, then I'll be fine," Taya mumbled as she sipped her tea.

"Don't use any jutsus when you don't have to, same for your Sharingan. That's all the advice I can give you," suggested Kakashi.

"I know, thanks," Taya gave a small smile and stood up. Before she could poof away, she was shocked when she found that something was clinging onto her. Taya's eyes widened as a single tear rolled down her face. Kakashi had hugged her. His book had fallen on the ground. It was rare that he would, since the last time he did was when she graduated from the Academy, which was years ago.

"The possibility of death is high from here on. My life wouldn't be worth living anymore if you're missing from it too…" Kakashi's body trembled. Taya stood there in his arms silently, waiting for his next words, but he didn't have any.

"Don't say that. There's plenty of things in this world worth living for, trust me," she said as she returned the hug. "I'll be home as soon as I can," Taya softly whispered. He let go of her and wiped the tear away from her face.

"Good luck, Taya," Kakashi said, still with a worried look on his face.

"Please, don't worry anymore. Rinji and Kado will watch over me," Those were her last words before she poofed away. The moment Kakashi couldn't feel Taya's presence anymore; he clasped his hands together and prayed.

"Please… protect her…"

At the 2nd Exam…

Taya, Rinji, and Kado were told to meet at frozen desert. They were both prepared as well. Kado had his trusty bow staff strapped onto his back. Rinji had two pairs of claws tied to his belt. They both had more armor on than usual, not that it was a big surprise. The other teams stood there in fear. Most of them were younger, so they did have something to fear.

The examiner cleared his throat. "This will be where your second exam will take place. The 48th forbidden training area, the Land of Ice. Your goal is to find an iceberg that's hidden somewhere, melt it to get the scroll inside, and to get to it to the tower. After you get the scroll that's inside, open it up. Inside will be a map. Use it to get yourselves to the tower. After you do all that, you can rest and what not. You are allowed to fight other teams for the iceberg or scroll, whatever. If one of your teammates, oh, falls dead, then the rest of your team is disqualified. Remember, you have three days to melt it, and if you don't, you will fail. Line up at your gates. We'll be starting in 15 minutes." Many of the 22 teams were starting to say that the exam was too easy. The examiners chuckled evilly.

"It's going to get pretty chilly huh? Tora, Inu, Ryu, Usagi, Uma, Tori!" As he mumbled the hand seals, a stream of green light flew out of his hands. A phoenix formed as it flew into the sky. Within seconds, it came back with three long overcoats and scarves. The bird dropped the items out of its beak and claws and vanished into thin air. Kado caught them and tossed one to each of his team members. "Here, you might need these," he said as he put on his own clothes. Taya and Rinji did the same.

The examiner undid the lock on the gate, meaning that the exam would start within a minute. It was 2:00. Rinji put one set of his claws on and Kado pulled out his bow staff. The examiner stepped aside and the gate swung open. The team flew right in.

In the Land of Ice…

The wind blew harshly and the ground was slippery from the ice. The team moved slowly and watched their steps. One wrong move could cost them their lives. Kado led the way, followed by Taya, and Rinji at the rear. Before long Kado spotted something shining form under the ice that was the ground.

"Hey Rinji, can you cut through this ice with those claws?" Kado pointed to the spot. "Be careful not to break the circle."

Without a single word, Rinji squatted down and took a closer look. He gave a small sigh and nod before he plunged his fist into the ice. Once the ice broke, Rinji dragged his claws around in a circle and gently lifted it up. Taya stared down into the pit to see that water was not under it, but a chamber.

"Wow, nice work guys!" Taya blinked.

"You won't be getting anything less from your Genjutsu expert," Kado winked as he jumped into the pit. Taya followed. As Rinji jumped in, he set the circle back in its slot.

As they traveled through the ungrounded cavern of ice, they searched for the iceberg. After a little bit of slipping and sliding; they found one the size of a house. The ice was crystal clear and the in the dead center was a yellow scroll.

"Well, let's bust this thing open!" Rinji struck the iceberg with his heavy duty claws and with full force, but it only left a scratch.

"Well, let's give the elements a try. Uma, Ousu-buta, Nezumi!" Taya's right hand glowed in red, but she didn't stop there. "Ryu, Usagi, Tori!" Now her left hand glowed in a golden color. She pulled out one kunai knife from each holster and swung it at the block of ice. Her aim was off because the cold had made her arms shake. When the team took a look at the damage, they could only find that the two fire and lightning daggers had only made a small hole. Taya gasped.

Kado quickly summoned his bird, which flew directly at the iceberg. It made a small dent and disappeared. "Fuck… this isn't normal ice…" pondered Kado.

"Tell me something I don't know," Rinji had tried to starch out a little bit more of the ice.

"How about that at this rate it's going to take us days to crave the ice around the scroll and that we need to find food soon?" Kado did what Rinji had suggested.

"Fine, I'll go and see if I can catch some fish," Rinji began to run back to the opening.

"Well, we should try to break as much ice as we can. Taya, don't use any jutsus. If you faint then we're a goner," Kado commanded.

"Alright, let's get to work!" Taya smirked and pulled out the spinning shuriken on her back and hurled it at the ice. It made a few scratches and bounced back. Kado pulled out a kunai knife and rammed it into the iceberg at full force. A long crake formed within it, but otherwise did no other damage. They tried different tactics, but none of them ever made a big difference.

Meanwhile, Rinji had found a spot where the ice was thin and craved circle through it. Fish were swimming by slowly enough for him to puncture ten. "It's getting dark, I better head back," There was no time for him to change his mind. He heard another team slowly coming closer. He grabbed a nearby branch along with some small rocks. As he ran as fast as he could, he covered his tracks. The fish got in the way of doing that, but he did the best he could.

Rinji met up with his team members in the underground chamber, panting. When he returned, Taya and Kado had taken off about four centimeters out of the 30 that they needed. Seeing that they were working hard, he broke half of the branch into smaller pieces and laid them within the circle of rocks. He took a lighter out of his pocket and lit the branch on fire. Rinji took the other half of the long branch and broke it into three pieces and stuck them straight through three fish. He set them on top of the fire and left them alone.

"You should've made the fire near the ice. That way it could at least melt a drop of this ice," Taya said.

"Sorry, I'm not thinking to well today," Rinji apologized.

'Just help us! We're getting no where like this!" Kado exclaimed as he started to crave the ice. With that command, Rinji started attacking the iceberg. After the fish was done cooking, the three team members ate without a word. They used up so much energy that they could barely chew their food.

Rinji stood up and pulled out his pocket watch. "We have to work harder. Six hours have passed already, and we're not even a third way done."

"I've noticed, but we've wasted a lot of energy already," Taya reminded him.

"Don't worry, I've got a plan, just melt the ice!" Kado stood up and got back to work. Taya sighed and joined her two friends in defeating the iceberg. The three of them fought for another two hours, then collapsed. They were only half way done.

At home….

Kakashi was in bed trying to sleep, but he failed at that. He was worried, too worried. He thought back at Taya's words often, trying to figure out what she was talking about.

(Flashback: There's plenty of things in this world worth living for, trust me.)

Just when he was about to drift off, a chill spiked down his spine that made him jolt up. He panted, holding his head in his hand. He looked out the window to see that the full moon was shining on him.

The next day in the Land of Ice…

Taya was the first one to wake up the next morning. She left to find breakfast since she knew they had to have their energy today. First Taya moved the fireplace over closer to the iceberg so hopefully it would do some type of damage and warm up Rinji and Kado at the same time. She pulled out three of the fish that were lying on the floor (remember, everything was made of ice so it was impossible for the fish to rot) and lit the fire with the lighter that Rinji had set there. Taya didn't want to fight the ice alone since it would make too much noise, so she just sat there and meditated.

The smell of the fish woke Kado up. "What an early bird you are," Kado got up slowly. At this point the fish were done, so he picked up two of them, walking over to Taya to give her one of them. She took it as he sat down in front of her.

"So, what's your plan for today?" Taya asked when Kado was chewing on the fish.

"I guess we'll have to use jutsus every now and then. We need some time to get to the tower too, and since it's always windy up there, it's going to take a while," Kado replied when he swallowed his bite of fish. Taya had stated eating when Rinji woke up.

"Morning…" Rinji mumbled as he staggered to the fire, picked up his fish, and dragged himself over to Taya and Kado. Kado explained the plan to Rinji, who nodded in agreement. After that they ate quietly.

"Alright, let's do this!" This time, Kado summoned two birds that attacked the iceberg constantly. Taya's elements didn't wear off for a while, and Rinji busted his martial art skills out. They kept that pace for about twenty minutes and then went back to normal attacks. There was only one forth of the ice block left by the afternoon. They all skipped lunch, so they grew tired rapidly, but they pushed themselves to finish before the end of the second day.

By the evening, the time finally came when only a layer of ice separated the genins and the yellow scroll.

"Kado, why don't you do us the honors?" Rinji asked. Taya gave and a small nod. Kado pulled the bow staff of his back, twirled it over his head, and trusted it into the ice. It shattered and the scroll rolled out. Taya picked it up with a smile and showed it to Rinji and Kado, who gave each other a high-five.

"Open it!" Kado poked at Taya.

"Ok ok!" she brushed him off and did what he said.

This chapter… it ends here…