Chapter 25
The Forest of Death: Team Seven in Danger!
On an empty hill on the outskirts of the Leaf Village, Shikamaru Nara rested in the grass, arms tucked behind his head as he stared up at the slowly darkening sky. Cool air brushed across the grass and over his body, a contrast to the normal warm summer air of Konoha caused by the storm front rolling in. Sooner rather than later he'd be heading home to avoid the storm, as well as avoid the ire of his mother for being late to dinner. Troublesome woman would give him an earful if he didn't arrive home on time.
For now, though, he was content to lay here without a care in the world. He figured the break was well-deserved since the whole first part of the exam had been such a drag. An hour written test with questions not meant for Genin, all in an effort to simulate an information gathering mission in enemy territory. Sheesh, he grunted.
It was so troublesome. He didn't even bother to try to answer the questions himself. Granted, he probably could have if he wanted to exert the energy, but he didn't. To expend all of that energy and put himself under needless stress was too much of a drag. Better to let Ino use her Mind Transfer Jutsu on Sakura to gather good information; it was a simpler solution given Sakura's intelligence and required less energy on his part.
Thing was, although the test was behind them, Shikamaru knew the worst was ahead of them.
According to that screaming lunatic, over half of the teams will be eliminated tomorrow thanks to the second part, he thought. If she's right that means out of the twenty-eight teams that passed only fourteen will make it. And that's if the test only cuts half of us out.
Talk about a drag.
Even if they did cut out half, forty-four ninjas in all would be left over if both Team Seven and Team Guy stayed on. Something about this test just wasn't adding up; there was more to it, far more than any of the proctors or even their teachers were willing to tell them. The whole balance of power thing didn't make a shred of sense to him from a logical standpoint. There'd still be far too many ninja left over after the second test and the odds of the Leaf having the most was the highest.
His conclusion wasn't based on the skills of his fellow Leaf shinobi; he didn't have the time or the energy to learn the skill levels of every shinobi in his home. It'd be more trouble than it was worth. Instead he was basing his thoughts off of probability and numbers. The total number of Konoha shinobi participating outnumbered the other villages, and at the end of the first test he spotted more Leaf headbands than any others.
All the rookie teams passed the first half and so had Team Guy. Alone that was fourteen Leaf ninjas out of forty-four. Then there was that Kabuto guy and his team who passed and another trio of ninjas from their village who looked pretty tough. That makes twenty out of forty-four, nearly half.
Odds were pretty much completely in Konoha's favor that they'd have the most ninjas in the final part compared to the other villages, and that would give them more chances to display the power of their own village.
There didn't seem to be anything balanced about this exam, not from his point of view at least. Sure numbers didn't mean every team had the skill to pass the next part. For all he knew, only one Leaf team could pass the next part with the remaining villages doing far better in performance than them.
And what about the Mist, Stone and Cloud? If the whole balance of power thing was true, why weren't they taking part? They were a part of the Five Great Shinobi Nations. If they were trying to balance out power, they definitely shouldn't be skipping out on this.
Balance of power…Shikamaru frowned. He wasn't buying it. Maybe it was part of the intention, but in practice it didn't work. Only by having all the major powers take part and regulating their shinobi according to the rules would it work as they were told by that Kabuto guy. Otherwise it was just a farce. A sham to ease people into believing everyone was cooperating and at peace.
Even if it did work as intended, having clear winners and loser could end up greatly damaging the reputation or strength of one of the other villages, affecting their economy and leading to the wars this was apparently meant to stop.
So, was it about balancing power or shifting power in your direction?
Shikamaru shrugged it off. Not like he could do anything about it. He was stuck taking the Exam whether he liked it or not. No sense trying to pick apart the faulty system implemented by the people in charge.
Besides, a far more pressing matter concerned him. He had this…bad feeling eating away at his insides every time he thought about the next part of the exam. More than half being eliminated didn't bother him all too much. By the sound of it they'd end up doing a survival exercise of a sort, probably another simulation of worst case scenarios so they could see who prevailed under the pressure. It'd be a huge drag, but Ino wouldn't give him a choice in the matter. She never did anyways.
He wasn't about to lose sleep over a situation he had no control of. Anyway, if he did try to back out he'd have to deal with Ino's constant harping, and nothing was worth that kind of headache.
Try as he might, Shikamaru couldn't shake the bad feeling. Last time I had a feeling like this…His eyes slowly shut as he exhaled a tired breath. In the darkness of his mind he could see the scars on Amari's arm as well as a distant memory of a stormy night two years ago.
Always her. Anytime this stupid feeling appeared, she got hurt and all he could do was be there in the aftermath, always too late to prevent it.
He hated it.
Sighing deeply, Shikamaru did his best to let his thoughts around the Exam go. He came out here to relax, not spend his time worrying himself further about what could happen. Worrying about what could happen was as useful as worrying about an incoming storm; it wasn't in his power to stop weather just as it wasn't within his power to stop something bad from happening.
But that didn't mean he wouldn't try to give Amari fair warning while there was still time.
"Hey Shika." Shikamaru lazily rolled his head to his left to see the girl he was worrying about standing next to him.
Amari actually wore a different top for a change. She still wore her purple bandana over her eye and her silver hoop and purple gemmed earrings, yet her tank top was temporarily discarded for a fuchsia loose V-neck, a shirt that seemed at least one or two sizes too big for her smaller frame. Underneath it was a mesh undershirt long sleeve that had both sleeves instead of one. Black shorts and sandals remained the same. Her wild blue hair flowed in the wind as she smiled warmly down at him with the care in her eye that seemed to always gleam.
Shikamaru gave her a small smirk, nowhere as warm as her smile with the lingering worries he held. "Hey 'Risu." It was a greeting as much as it was telling her that he wouldn't mind any company right now. She was always considerate to silently ask permission to join him in cloud watching, never wanting to intrude on his relaxation if he wanted to be alone.
Besides Chōji, she was the only one in their age group Shikamaru felt truly understood him as he also believed he was one of the few who understood her. Honestly, Amari didn't make herself all that complicated to understand if you actually shut your mouth and listened to her quiet voice. But only the truly perceptive could hear the words she did not say.
Looking back, they never really had a full in-depth conversation about her past; it wasn't necessary for Shikamaru to grasp what happened and how it affected her. He could see her drive to protect the people she considered precious, knew it was caused by whatever incident that happened at the orphanage.
The pain she endured left its mark on her, and to outsiders it rendered her blind. Shikamaru saw beyond the surface, though. Under that bandana she wasn't really blind, he knew that without ever asking or prodding her about it. Of course he had no idea what was under the bandana; could be a nasty scar and a normal eye, could be anything really. But it wasn't his business to ask. Even if they considered each other family, it wasn't his place to poke and prod her to give up a secret she was meant to keep.
At the end of the day it didn't change anything. Eye or no eye, scar or no scar, 'Risu was 'Risu. The truth wouldn't change how he saw her or their bond. He was pretty sure Amari believed he was aware she wasn't blind. The fact he didn't probe her for more information helped their bond grow to their current familial connection when she first came into the village—or returned, technically.
Most days it felt as if the word cousin didn't really describe their bond accurately. Brother and sister felt more accurate to Shikamaru, though he never said anything about it. Once again they were both aware of how much more they cared for one another. Words didn't need to be said when actions proved them beyond any shadow of a doubt.
Back at the Academy he never did much to stop her from being hounded by the fan girls. Seeing her all flustered and begging for his help was great entertainment to end the monotony of class. Evil? Sure, but still funny. But when it came to the real bullies—not the bratty name callers like Sakura and Ino—he tried his best to let her fight her own battles at her behest.
After that stormy night he couldn't sit back any longer.
Emotional conversations were definitely not his strength. They were troublesome and he hated troublesome conversations. Still, a long conversation hadn't been needed between them for him to help. It never had been. Even at the beginning when she was so emotionally fragile and trying her hardest to catch up to everyone, he never needed an hour long conversation to support her.
Playing shogi, resting his hand on her shoulder or hand, allowing her to rest her head on his chest as they cloud watched, meeting up with her to watch the sunset on top of her mother's house; all of these little things were enough for his shy cousin. Her heart may have rested behind a guarded fortress around others, but for her family she wore it on her sleeve.
After that stormy night those bullies learned why picking a direct confrontation with his cousin was a bad move. Naruto may have been a joke in the Academy, but he had stood up for Amari more times than Shikamaru could remember. He may have annoying levels of energy, and man did he need to learn about controlling the volume of his voice, but he earned Shikamaru's respect for standing between Amari and her bullies.
Being as socially awkward and shy as Amari was back then didn't help her at all. She made a few mistakes in interactions, accidently insulting a few individuals with fragile egos without realizing it. When she beat them in taijutsu training spars, further bruising their egos, it placed a target right on her. Between the idiot girls fearing the new girl would take their "precious Sasuke" from them and the boys with wounded egos at the hands of the "One-eyed brat," Amari rarely escaped the constant bullying.
While those idiots kept targeting her, Amari continued to work harder in an effort to become strong enough to complete her goal. Nobody worked as hard as Amari to reach the top, except maybe Naruto when he stopped goofing off.
Naruto always did his best to stand up for Amari, taking the unwanted attention head-on so she could slip back into the shadows where she felt safer. To this day she remained grateful to him.
For a while it kept everything at a sort of normal. Amari worked hard, bullies tried to put her down, Naruto stood up for her, she moved back into the shadows. It wasn't exactly healthy, definitely with Naruto taking the brunt of everything, but Amari did her best to make it up to him. She treated him to ramen, bandaged him up if he got in a fight and always thanked him repeatedly.
Shikamaru wanted to do more to help. His heart urged him to act instead of sitting around, but his stubborn 'Risu told him she was fine. She wasn't. Her heart hurt, it had been hurting ever since she came into the Village. She struggled with her internal doubts over if she'd ever be good enough even as Kurenai trained her. He knew that but still he didn't act. Why? Because he wanted to believe it would stop, that the bullies would get tired and move on if she kept ignoring them. He wanted to believe she would eventually see their words meant nothing because she was soaring to the top of their class.
When he found her sobbing alone in the middle of a storm, bruised and bloodied externally with bruises on her heart, he couldn't stand in the background any longer. No matter how troublesome it seemed, Amari was family and nobody hurt his family without punishment.
"I heard about what happened to Amaririsu. Is she going to be okay?" Chōji asked, gentle and worried about the shy Nara.
"'Risu's a strong girl. She'll tough through it," he answered as he stared at a shogi board, carefully planning the best way to end the bullying. He believed wholeheartedly she'd bounce back stronger than ever, but the wounds were still fresh. As for him, well, it was time to show those bullies what he could do when he was motivated to act.
"Whatever you are planning, count me in." Shikamaru glanced up and met his best friend's serious expression. "I've got your back on this."
He nodded. "All right."
He hadn't anticipated Chōji wanting to take part, but then that's what best friends were for. They were always there to back you up even when you didn't ask. When they finally enacted his master plan, they didn't do anything to handicap the poor fools, but they did show them the error of their decision to target his family.
"If any of you touch my 'Risu again, I'll make you regret it. You get me?"
"Ye- yes!" they cried in terror.
"Glad we understand each other. Come on, Chōji. We're done here."
Somehow his dad, Kurenai, Naruto and Amari found out about what he and Chōji did. Each offered their appreciation in different ways, but it was the big hug and teary smile he and Chōji received from Amari that he bothered to acknowledge.
With the real bullies gone, all that remained were the annoying girls still believing Amari had any interest in having a relationship with Sasuke, which he honestly couldn't understand. His cousin never even showed remote interest in the broody Uchiha, romantically or otherwise.
"They're more troublesome to think about than what they say," she once told him.
He agreed and left them be.
Amari sat down next to him and crossed her legs instead of lying down. "Hiding from Ino?" she teased.
Shikamaru couldn't stop the exasperated sigh from leaving him. With the way Ino harped about not showing up late tomorrow, it was a wonder how he and Chōji made it through without receiving alarm clocks that played her screaming voice.
Talk about a headache inducing alarm clock, Shikamaru thought. Not that I'd need it. Mom is going to be damn slave driver in the morning. "Can you blame me?" he asked, half jesting, half exasperated.
His cousin giggled at his expense, the troublesome girl. Shikamaru rolled his eyes and let his lips pull into a smirk. "No, I can't. You ready for tomorrow?"
"It's going to be a drag, but yeah. As ready as I can be. You?" She nodded confidently. The longer he stared at her, though, the more his bad feeling made his gut twist. If this stupid feeling had any merit, he needed to tell her now so she could at least try to prepare for a troublesome situation. "'Risu." He sat up.
His serious tone immediately achieved acquiring all of her attention. She gave him a worried look. "What's wrong, Shika?"
Now that he was here, he wasn't sure how to even bring up this bad feeling he had. What am I going to say? I don't want you to go tomorrow because I've gotten this bad feeling twice before and you were hurt both times? She's not going to give up now no matter what I say, troublesome girl…but I have to warn her. "…I've got this bad feeling about tomorrow," he started.
"You've had this feeling before…haven't you?" Amari asked.
He was thankful for her perceptive abilities. It made this a little bit easier to say without sounding like a worrying idiot. Shikamaru rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah, twice. Both times you were hurt. First time was that…night two years ago." Nothing else needed to be said when it came to that night for her to understand. Amari's features dropped visibly at the reminder. She cast a small glance to her right hand then looked back to him. "Second time was when you were in the Land of Waves and…and now it's happening again."
Worrying like this wasn't usually his style, yet here they were. "I'm not asking you to quit." A genuine smirk tugged at his lips. "You're too damn troublesome to talk down when you set your mind to a goal." His comment earned him a soft laugh from his cousin, but their amusement faded as his seriousness returned. "But I want you to be careful, more than you usually are."
Shikamaru rested his hand on his cousin's right hand. I don't want you getting yourself severely injured over a stupid promotion,he communicated through the gesture.
His cousin flipped her hand over and intertwined her fingers with his. "I will. I promise Shika," Amari promised. That was all he needed to hear. Amari didn't break her promises; it was like a binding contract, in a way. "You be careful, too. Team Seven may be unlucky, but you guys don't have the muscle we have."
Amari was right, of course. His team lacked the power Team Seven had on their side. For their techniques to be the most effective, he and his team needed to use their Clan techniques in tandem to keep anyone from being injured. If tomorrows test really is about survival then we'll have to be smart about it, Shikamaru thought pensively. Team Seven has the manpower and intelligence to field off attacks and get away if need be. We don't, at least not against someone like those Sand Village shinobi, those guys from Team Guy or those Sound ninjas.
Their team lacked physical strength, with the exception of Chōji, and their ninjutsu's were meant as support instead of frontal assaults. A survival exercise against the other ninjas was going to prove to be a lot harder for his team than it would be for Team Seven. "I will, not that we have much choice." Shikamaru rubbed the back of his neck again. "Tomorrow is going to be such a drag."
"Lazy bones," she giggled and poked him in his forehead, making him smile at her. "Mom is making dinner for my team tonight."
"Yeah, my mom is doing the same for mine. Chōji's and Ino's parents are coming too," Shikamaru said. He wouldn't have minded inviting her over or taking the wordless invite she had offered but it seemed they'd both be busy tonight.
To his surprise Amari smiled. "I figured as much, that's why I came to spend time with you now." He nodded and the pair laid down parallel to each other to watch the clouds and relax. Not long after Amari rested her head on his chest and cuddled close to him. Naturally he wrapped his arm around her. "If tomorrow is too troublesome, try to find us. We can work together," Amari stated.
"Same goes for you."
As long as they gave a decent plan to work with, their teammates would fall in line. Sakura and Ino would bicker, but they'd follow their lead and fall in line if the two Nara's deflated their egos at the start. Together they'd be a larger target yet they would also be able to field all assaults regardless of enemy strength. His team would act as support and hers would act as the attack group.
They wouldn't be unstoppable but they would be a force to be reckoned with, increasing their chances of passing by working together instead of alone.
Amari suddenly giggling made Shikamaru raise his head to look at his cousin in confusion. Where did that come from?
"Shikamari or Shikarisu?" she asked humorously at her combination of their names.
Shikamaru just smirked and shook his head at the strange thought pattern she came upon. "Do I seriously have to pick, 'Risu?"
She mocked a serious look. "Yes."
"Fine," he groaned. If I don't she'll just start acting troublesome until I do it anyways. "Shikamari."
"I liked that one best, too."
The duo fell back into comfortable silence as they watched the clouds float by slowly on the breeze. In the distance, larger storm clouds built, reminding Shikamaru once again of that night two years ago.
Two Years Ago
Distant flashes of light in the night sky preceded thunder rumbling overhead. Shikamaru exhaled a sigh through his nose as he watched the storm inch closer and closer through a window of the Yūhi household. Rain is going to hit any minute now, and then we're going to have to walk back in it, he groaned inwardly.
Getting soaked would be such a drag.
Unfortunately there didn't seem to be any way out of it. His dad and Amari's mom were talking about…whatever they were talking about; some grown-up conversation regarding the Academy or something. He hadn't tried to listen in on the conversation. Granted he was curious what could be wrong to get his dad involved, but it wasn't his business.
Must be something important going on, he conceded. His dad wouldn't have gotten involved if it wasn't. Shikamaru shrugged it off. There was something else bothering him more than the secret conversation.
'Risu, where are you?
Amari wasn't home. According to Kurenai she went out to train on her own, though that didn't surprise Shikamaru in the slightest. Honestly it would have been stranger if Amari didn't go out and train on her own; troublesome girl didn't know anything about the word moderation. Every day she trained to get better, to reach the top of their class so she could become a shinobi. She seriously needed to learn how to kick back and relax now and then. At this rate she'd work herself to death.
Had his worries only revolved around her usual quirk of being a damn workaholic, Shikamaru wouldn't have been too concerned. But he had this…strange twisting feeling in his gut. It'd be nice to dismiss it as the result of bad food, yet Shikamaru knew it wasn't. Although Amari was ridiculously stubborn, she wasn't stubborn enough to train through a huge thunderstorm. She should have been back by now, he thought. Glancing to the kitchen, he hummed in discontent. If 'Risu's mom and my dad weren't so focused on their talk, they'd have noticed it too.
Something wasn't right.
Shikamaru moved from the window and walked to the kitchen where the adults were. The conversation halted as soon as he entered the room, signaling again he had no business listening to the conversation.
Not like he was trying to eavesdrop anyways, sheesh.
"Shikamaru?" his father questioned at his sudden entrance.
"I'm going to go find 'Risu. Storm is about to hit and she's troublesome enough to knock herself unconscious while training," he stated.
Realization of the missing child flickered in both adults eyes. "Hmm, she should have been back already," his dad said, his features becoming troubled.
"She's probably trying use every minute left to train," Kurenai said. Definitely sounded like the troublesome girl. "I'll go—"
"You guys can keep talking, it's obviously really important," Shikamaru said. Whatever they were talking about needed their attention. Besides, not like he was doing anything. He could go grab her and be back before they finished their talk. "She's at the usual training field, right?" he asked. Kurenai nodded. "All right, we'll be back in a few minutes, so don't worry. I'll get her."
With the decision made, Shikamaru excused himself from the room and started his trek to find his cousin, ninja jumping across the village rooftops as quickly as he could to reach the usual practice field Kurenai and Amari used. Normally to exert this much energy would be way too bothersome, but he didn't like the look of the storm or this weird feeling in his gut. Shikamaru felt a sense of urgency he never experienced before, like a quiet whisper in his ear telling him to hurry for some unknown reason.
When he finally reached the training field the rain started to sprinkle down large sized raindrops. And there she is resting under a tree, too tired to move I'd wager.
They seriously needed to talk about taking it easier. She could end up with a career ending injury if she kept training this hard.
"Hey, 'Ris—" Shikamaru's words died in his throat when he neared her, his greeting replaced by a startled gasp as aches attacked his heart and his intestines knotted themselves together. Even in the darkness he could see the large bruise formed around Amari's right eye, almost already fully swelled shut and the crimson streams coming out of her nose. Further inspection revealed bloodied knuckles, a sign of she fought back, though she held her right wrist tightly for some reason. On her cheek was an open wound from either a punch or a nail scratching her. Hard to say in the dark.
Beyond the wounds were the tears, far worse in Shikamaru's humble opinion.
Those bullies, he cursed. They must have been planning this for a while now. With Kurenai always around, though, they couldn't make their move…until today. Without any adults to guard her, they undoubtedly waited until Amari tired herself out so she couldn't defend herself properly. In a fair fight she could have escaped or forced them to retreat without sustaining as many wounds, but those punks weren't looking for a fair fight.
I didn't think they'd really do anything.
Shikamaru shoved his thoughts to the side and sat down next to his crying cousin, wrapping an arm behind her neck and pulling her closer. "Wh- what did I do wrong?" she sobbed.
"You didn't do anything wrong."
Nothing to deserve an ambush attack like this. Nothing to deserve the swollen eye, the bloody nose or the bullying. Nothing to deserve the broken bones in her right hand he would later learn of.
The rain started coming down harder, beginning the overwhelming crescendo of the downpour. The canopy of the tree provided some cover, but nothing significant to keep them from getting soaked.
Shikamaru didn't care. He sat silently with his crying cousin, holding her close as the rain came down all around them. Lightning flashed within the cumulonimbus clouds at random intervals, followed by earth shaking roars of thunder that startled them both.
He hadn't believed anyone would really hurt his cousin, but they had and in doing so took things too far. Up until now he allowed someone else to stand up for Amari.
That ended now.
No longer would he sit quietly and let Naruto be the only one to stand up for her. As soon as he came up with a good plan to put a permanent end to this, those punks were going to see what happened when he stopped being lazy, and they weren't going to like it.
"Shi- Shika…Can you help me get home?"
"Of course."
He picked her up bridal style and carried her back to her house, eyes now and then roaming over her injuries and the hand she cradled. Even their smallest molecules were soaked by the torrential downpour they sat in, but he didn't complain. He was just happy to be there for her as a silent pillar of support.
They were greeted by worried parents on their arrival, which only grew when they noticed the no longer bleeding wounds on the blue-haired girl. Shikamaru and his father stayed at the house a little longer due to the storm, during which his father and her mother gently probed every last detail of the encounter out of Amari.
What they didn't know was their actions played right into his hands. He now possessed the names of her assailants and each of their crimes against his cousin. All that was left to do was put together a plan to permanently end their bullying.
But that was later. He sat under a towel holding Amari's unbroken hand the entire time, never once leaving her side unless he had to. Once he could take her hand again without being in the way he would and he remained there until eventually the storm let up enough so he and his dad could go home and Kurenai could take Amari to the hospital.
It was that moment when he realized how attached he was to his fellow Nara. He could feel how protective his heart had become over her; he could feel the growth in their bond in the tight hug she gave him. When she started referring to him as her cousin, he hadn't minded it. The word felt right for how close they had become. But now the word felt as if it put a lot more distance between them than there really was.
Sister felt right.
The Day of the Second Exam
Amari stared intensely at the gated forest known as the Forest of Death. The dark aura the area gave off did little to settle any of her nerves regarding the test. So far she spotted not only giant centipedes as long and wide as tree trunks, but a giant snake decided to eat a small bird in front of all of them.
Talk about a welcoming committee.
We have a forest in our village full of giant snakes and centipedes…and the only thing stopping them from coming out is a worn down fence, Amari thought, frowning.
She was no fan of insects—exception of pretty ones like butterflies—and snakes…Amari shuddered. They were about the only animal to make her freeze up in fear before taking any long detour she could to avoid them. And that was for the average small, normal snake. Now they were huge! This was like one of her worst nightmares come to life!
And we have to go in there. This was all so troublesome. Couldn't they have decided to do a survival test elsewhere? Somewhere preferably without snakes straight out of horror movies. What about a minefield? I'll take a minefield over this. At least minefields didn't have predatory senses and a need to feed on anything. And they didn't slither around. That was important.
Doubt I'll be able to convince them to change the location. They'd probably laugh at her fear of snakes, the jerks. But snakes were so creepy! The way they slithered around, how their bodies were shaped, the way they ate their prey. Ewwwwww! she whined.
Anyway, her irrational fears about snakes aside, the shinobi in her understood and appreciated the choice of terrain for the next exam. We're being put into one of the most hostile zones they can give us without throwing us onto the frontlines of a war. The test likely meant to simulate being stuck behind enemy lines. What they planned to have them do during said simulation was still unknown to the gathered shinobi.
Regardless, Amari didn't look forward to going in there.
Snakes…Why did it have to be snakes? I despise snakes.
At the moment Sakura and Sasuke stood on her sides, Sasuke on her right and Sakura on the left. Naruto stood a bit further away looking up at the forest but still within arms distance of Amari. Sasuke carried himself with his usual cool attitude, and for that Amari was thankful. As long as he kept his cool around these giant serpents she would be able to as well.
Sakura, on the other hand, was staring at the forest with a fearful look in her eyes and her hands clamped together in front of her chest. "Man, this place gives me the creeps," she said. The Shadow user fought against the nod of agreement she wanted to give. It wouldn't do her fellow kunoichi any good to know she too was feeling nervous about the forest.
Their proctor, Anko Mitarashi, found amusement at the frightened groups of shinobi in front of her. She chuckled softly. "It should," Anko said, the smile on her face equally sweet as it was sadistic. "They call it the Forest of Death, and soon you're going to find out why."
That's certainly encouraging, Amari deadpanned. First Ibiki and his enjoyment at mentally torturing them, now this one with the Forest of Death? Sheesh, maybe Temari was right. Maybe there were a bunch of insane people in the Leaf.
Barely a second after Anko taunted them, Naruto cocked his hip back and put his hands on his hips. Ah crap.
"They call it the Forest of Death," he mocked, "and soon you're going to find out why." He grinned daringly at the woman. "Do your worst! You aren't going to scare me away! I can handle anything!" he declared.
Anko stared in confusion at his sudden outburst, but then the corners of her lips tugged up into an innocent smile. She closed her eyes and laughed lightly at the knucklehead; the action sent a chill shooting down Amari's spine instantaneously and set her on guard. "Naruto," Amari warned, leaning closer to whisper to him. "Please stop mocking her."
"Looks like we got ourselves a tough guy," Anko said.
Amari did not see the kunai slide in the proctor's hand, but she sure felt it as it whizzed right between her and Naruto, cutting his left cheek and her right. Damn it to hell!
Flinching away from her friend, she felt the presence of the proctor appear right behind Naruto. "Are you tough enough to handle this?" she asked sadistically, her smile still in place. "You're not afraid are you?"
Oh, he was definitely afraid now.
Anko caressed his cheek with her finger, playing with the blood from his wound and letting it trail over her finger. Amari wiped the blood off of her own cheek and spared the pair a peeved look. The proctor continued to grin. "Tough guys like you usually leave your blood all over the forest."
Anko's eyes snapped open and another kunai flew into her hand from her sleeve as she half spun at the presence of a Grass ninja appearing behind her. The tall kunoichi from the Grass wore a straw hat on her head; her long black hair cascaded down the back of her grey garb, reaching almost to the large purple rope belt tied in quite big knot behind her.
What was truly strange about her appearance had nothing to do with her clothes and had everything to do with the long tongue wrapped around the kunai. It stretched out further than any tongue should go, reaching from her mouth over Anko's shoulder and next to Naruto's face.
That has to be a jutsu of some kind. Amari kept the Grass shinobi in view of her peripheral vision. She even managed to sneak up on the proctor…and the feeling I get from being in such close proximity to her…A shiver worked its way down her spine. I hope we can avoid her completely.
Vile. Dangerous. Death. This woman's very presence could be defined by those three words.
After Anko took the kunai knife the Grass ninja…returned, the kunoichi sucked her tongue right back in as if it had always fit in her mouth to start with. Without another word the Grass shinobi departed back to her team. "Hehehe, seems everyone here is quick tempered. Must be something in the air," their proctor said, her grin refusing to budge.
"Pot meet kettle," Amari muttered.
Anko's brown eyes flicked over to her with her mischievousness glinting in them. Damn her for having such good hearing. Dread for what could happen filled Amari, but through some stroke of luck she escaped unscathed. "This is going to be fun," Anko said before returning to where she stood before.
Phew. That was close.
"Now before we begin, I have something for you all." She reached into her coat and pulled out a set of papers. "You all will need to read over these standard consent forms and sign them."
Consent forms? Amari crossed her arms over her belly in discomfort. "I get the feeling the name of this forest is more literal than figurative."
"Got that right, shortcake," Anko grinned at her. Her eye twitched but she kept her mouth slammed shut. Really? Shortcake? Their proctor had to go there? Anko seemed to be fully aware of the blood boiling in her veins. "Something you'd like to say?" she purred.
"No," she replied, voice flat and devoid of emotion.
One day I'll hit a growth spurt, you'll see.
Anko's amused look refused to budge even as she continued to address the group. "Some of you may not make it out of the forest and I need your consent for that risk. Otherwise that would be my responsibility," she added, laughing lightly.
What a drag.
Anko handed the papers to Naruto and told him to pass them out. One by one they took their consent forms until everyone who passed the first exam had one. Anko went on to explain what they would be doing for this test, other than the obvious point of surviving inside a forest full of predatory animals and other ninja. She showed them a map layout of the Forest of Death. Rivers wound their way through the large forest. In the center of it all, ten kilometers from the starting gates, was a locked tower they were meant to reach.
Amari memorized every inch of the map. It wasn't very descriptive by any stretch of imagination, but knowing where the rivers were and the other few points of interest would help them in the long run. The rivers would give them fresh water and fish depending on how long they were inside the forest, and the largest river ran straight to the tower.
Good information was key, Ibiki made certain that lesson was scarred into their minds.
Their rules and mission were an anything goes battle to get their hands on one of two scrolls; the scroll they needed to acquire depended on which one they started with. One scroll was marked as a Heaven scroll while the other was marked as an Earth scroll. If you started with an Earth scroll, you had to seek out a Heaven scroll and vice versa.
Altogether there were twenty-eight teams. Half of those teams—fourteen teams—were going after the Heaven scroll while the other fourteen were going after the Earth scroll. This meant only half of the twenty-eight could pass, and even less if teams failed to get their hands on the right scroll. For instance, if one team destroyed a scroll or opened theirs, that was one less scroll up for grabs. And if you opened it, you and your team were disqualified.
What exactly would happen if they opened it besides being disqualified? Anko had put it simply when Naruto asked if it opened accidently. "You. Don't. Want. To. Know," she answered, glee in her eyes at the idea of an idiot opening the scrolls.
As for the remaining rules, they had a time limit to complete their mission; five days in total to capture a scroll and reach the tower in the center. Five days in a dangerous forest without any backup other than your own teammates with animals and plants that may or may not kill you.
Joy.
With the circumstances present there was no way even half of the teams would make it. This test would weed out those who passed Ibiki's test on luck alone and leave only the strong standing.
Other than that, there wasn't much else to the test. The whole rule about not looking at the scroll was really the main point, besides the endurance test of surviving a behind enemy lines scenario. Their integrity was being tested on a hypothetical mission where important documents were being transferred.
"Oh and I have one more word of advice. Just don't die!" Anko shouted at them.
Amari sweatdropped. She needs work on her motivational speeches.
The gathered shinobi dispersed to sign their consent forms and turn them in as a team once they were ready. Amari looked for a spot to sit down in the shade to read over the document. As she moved, she caught Shikamaru's eyes and shared a nod with him.
If things get troublesome, we'll find each other and work together.
As she found a seat in the shade of a tree, Amari watched the booth where they would get their scrolls carefully. When they finished setting everything up, they pulled a curtain around it so no one could see in or not. Hmm, so they're hiding who has what scroll. Now stealing information is exactly as Ibiki said it would be—a life or death situation.
Amari considered using her Byakugan to see straight through it to gain good Intel, but chose against it. If there was a shinobi here who could somehow sense her using a sensory organ she could end up getting her entire team disqualified before the test began. Too risky. Zabuza apparently sensed it in their first battle; any single shinobi here could possibly do it as well and see it as reason for disqualification.
"Sasuke," Amari greeted without looking up as her teammate approached.
Sasuke sat down on her right side. "Looks like that proctor got you good," he commented.
"Just a flesh wound," she deflected, earning an amused snort. "Not going to scare me off so easily."
"Didn't think it would. We all know you're too damn stubborn to back down when challenged," Sasuke said good-naturedly.
"Mmhm," she agreed, smiling at the truthful joke as she signed her name on the consent form. None of this could be worse than what the Lightning Blade did to her. "You ready for this?" she asked.
"Yeah. You?"
"Of course. Can't leave you guys to go into that forest all alone when none of you have a good sense of direction," she teased.
Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Ha-ha," he drawled.
Sakura and Naruto joined them soon after to wait for scroll holders to start handing them out to the teams. Amari could feel the nerves residing in her heart grow as time inched ever closer to the start of the exam. This survival test, it was going to be tough. She couldn't lie to herself and pretend they would have a cake walk through it. If they only had to survive against the environment it wouldn't be that bad, but they were dealing with shinobi on the hunt for a mission objective as well. No matter how they sliced it, they'd have to fight at least one team to gain the scroll they needed, possibly more to defend their own scroll along the way.
"All right everybody, we're going to start handing out scrolls!" one of the proctor's assistants called.
Time to go.
Team Seven stood up together. "Whatever awaits us in there is going to be tough, but together we'll pull through just like we always do," Amari muttered quietly to keep the fire in her heart burning. Much to her dismay, Sasuke, Naruto and Sakura all heard her words and smiled at her. She blushed and averted her eye. I didn't want anyone to hear my pep talk.
"Together," Sasuke said, nodding once.
"Right," Sakura agreed.
"Believe it guys, there's no way we'll lose this," Naruto grinned.
Well, at least they were a cohesive unit. I guess the team dinner helped last night. While it had been the overall goal to grow their team bond, she hadn't been sure how well it worked until now. Even Kakashi showed up for the dinner last night, though he was as late as always.
"Sorry I'm late, Amari. You might not believe it, but I stumbled across this beautiful woman, and naturally she wanted to go dancing with me. It would have been ungentlemanly of me to refuse."
"Uh-huh, sure you did, Kakashi-sensei," Amari replied, rolling her eye as she smiled at him and motioned him to enter.
The dinner didn't soothe everything. Naruto and Sasuke weren't best buddies in the whole world; they were rivals of a sort, one night together in a relaxed environment wouldn't change that. Sakura didn't fawn over Sasuke like she used to either, so that was progress at least. As for Sasuke's general attitude, Amari took it upon herself to attack it head-on when the time was right.
After dinner Amari tried to teach her team shogi. Her endeavor ended unsuccessfully, but her mother did sucker Kakashi into playing against her. "I know better than to play Amari," her mother had told the group. "Kakashi, why don't you give it a try. I'm sure someone of your intelligence will have no issue playing her."
Goading his ego worked, but Amari noticed her Sensei drop his head in defeat before they even started playing. He actually wasn't all that bad for someone who never played the game. In fact, he caught on quicker than she thought he would and put on a valiant fight, but she still pulled off a win when he made a novice mistake. Given time, he'd probably be as good at the game as Shikamaru and Shikaku and join them on their winning streak.
But she'd beat them one day! She just had to keep trying and eventually she'd put an end to her two year losing streak, and when that day came she would bronze the shogi piece that won her the game. It would be an heirloom passed on from generation to generation as proof of her win against one of them.
At least I have Asuma-sensei on a similar losing streak. Even if Kakashi started playing the game more frequently and started beating her, at least she could play Asuma and win.
Resigned to being the only Team Seven shogi player, the team switched games to a simpler card game of twenty-one. This time everyone played, including her mother, and she thoroughly thrashed them all. Needless to say, all of Team Seven agreed to never gamble against her mother for real.
We'll end up broke.
Her moment to address Sasuke's attitude came during one of the last hands. She considered for a long time how to approach the subject without seeming like she was talking down to him or treating him like a child. Doing either wouldn't mend the rift currently between him and the team. If anything, it'd make it worse. Their talk didn't need to be long and drawn out either or with raised voices.
His beating at the hands of Lee and subsequent declaration of training more together as soon as the Exams were over gave her hope she could reach through to him. Still, much like the card game, it was a gamble if she could actually pull off a win. One wrong phrasing of words could come across as an insult and ruin everything on the night before the second Exam.
But she couldn't wait until after the Exams were over to address it. The tests ahead were going to test them as a team. They needed to be a cohesive unit to get through it all, and if his ego or Naruto's got in the way, failure would be inevitable.
"Sasuke, you know you can rely on us for anything, right? We're a team, that means we've always got your back when you need us most. And if your strength ever fails you, you can always look to us to give you ours in its stead to overcome whatever obstacle is in your way."
The honesty in her voice and the care behind them seemed to startle him. With added support from Naruto, Sakura and Kakashi backing up her words in their different ways, her little intervention to get him back on the right path worked. Mostly. Words couldn't change a person overnight. He wasn't about to start hugging them or being open with his emotions because of one talk.
In time, if they kept showing him it was okay to rely on others and that the team was there to provide their strength to him when he needed it, then maybe he too would see Team Seven could fill in the holes of friendship and family they lost in the massacre.
Together they walked to the scroll givers where they turned in their consent forms and received their scroll. They were given a Heaven scroll, and by a quiet unanimous decision it fell into Amari's hands to protect it. With her Byakugan she could see an enemy before they reached them, and her speed would keep her or it from falling into enemy hands.
And I'll cook up a surprise for a mock surrender if we ever have to, the Nara thought, already preparing a contingency plan for worst case scenario.
Team Seven made their way to gate twelve and waited for the gate guard to receive the order to open it.
Now was as good as any to address one of her limitations for the test.
"Guys, one thing before we start." Her teammates turned to her with neutral expressions on their faces. Amari briefly glanced to the gate guard in suspicion before looking back to her teammates. Even if he was a Leaf shinobi, she couldn't bring herself to talk about her left eye in front of him. "My abilities to see through deception aren't as limited as my Shadow techniques, but they do have limits," she explained.
Confusion preceded realization to the true nature of her words. "How limited?" Sasuke asked seriously.
"If I moderate it right and we move quickly I'll be able to keep it up for as long as we need it. But if we're stuck in battle after battle for five days straight and I have no chance to moderate it, it'll only be good for a short time. Eventually it'll become painful before ultimately becoming useless."
The Byakugan's draw on her chakra wouldn't be a big deal as long as they didn't end up in serious battles one after another, but if she kept it active for hours straight she'd eventually become temporarily blind in her left eye, not to mention having a terrible migraine on top of that. In combat the blindness wouldn't affect her, she was used to moving with only half her vision. It was her ability to scout the area around them she didn't want to lose when deep in enemy territory.
"We'll just have to move fast then," Sasuke conceded. He turned to Naruto and Sakura. "Once that gate opens, we need to stick together no matter what. But on the chance we're separated, we need to have some way to reveal we're the real versions of ourselves. Passwords only we will know."
"Good plan," Amari agreed, nodding once as she brought her hand to her chin in thought. The nature wouldn't be hard to counter, even if the snakes were huge. But shinobi who could infiltrate teams by using the Transformation Technique was a danger they needed to prepare for just in case they ended up separated. "Naruto, yours will be A Thousand Years of Death," Amari told him.
Naruto frowned. "Hey," he whined.
"Don't argue, Naruto," Sakura said. "We're the only ones who actually know that. It's the perfect password."
He reluctantly nodded as he crossed his arms, pouting but not arguing against the logic. Amari turned to Sasuke next. "We should keep a similar pattern of passwords only known to us. We can't pick something someone who knows how we speak or what we like would be able to guess. For instance, I shouldn't use troublesome or such a drag in any of my code."
Her teammates hummed in thought as they mulled over possible passwords. Sakura was the first to find hers, snapping her fingers as she hit upon an idea. "I know, my password will be real strength comes from here," Sakura said, placing a hand over her heart.
Warmth spread from Amari's heart to hear those particular words come from her teammate. "It includes a hand gesture so don't forget that," Sasuke said. Sakura nodded. "To fight for ambition is to fight for nothing, to fight for the people you consider precious is to fight for everything, that will be my code."
Amari's eyes widened at her fellow Uchiha's chosen password before a smile pulled onto her face. He listened last night.
"Well well, look who got all wise all of the sudden," Naruto said, wearing a grin as he rested his hands behind his head.
Naruto's comment didn't even cause him to frown; he just let a small smirk form before turning to look at her. "Well Amari?"
"A red eye hidden by shadows, a white eye covered in light. Separate they are powerful but together they are unstoppable, for without light there are no shadows."
Naruto pumped his fist into the air. "Alllllright! We're going to pass this no sweat at all!"
Sakura, Sasuke and Amari settled into confident determination bloomed from his declaration. We can do this. We will pass and we won't let Kakashi-sensei down.
The gate keeper finally unlocked the gate but left it closed. He turned his attention to the watch on his wrist and waited silently. Team Seven traded one last look with each, nodding in silent confidence to one another before Anko ordered the test to begin. The gate keeper opened their door and all four dashed into the dense and dark forest.
"Amari, don't use your left eye yet," Sasuke ordered.
"Huh?" Didn't it make more sense to seek out someone with a scroll immediately to get what they needed as quickly as possible?
"Your vision blurs and then goes blind by prolonging it, right?" he asked. She nodded in confirmation. "Then we should save it for when we need it. Besides the other rookies and Team Guy, we have no idea what kind of skills the other shinobi here have. We may need it in a fight," he explained his plan as they jumped from branch to branch.
"I see your point, but we could seek out a target, ambush them and then make our way to the tower if I use it now. Are you sure you don't want me to use it?" she asked.
"Save it for now." Sasuke turned his onyx eyes forward and smirked. "Every other team is going to be looking to get their hands on a scroll as quickly as possible. They'll probably go rushing through this forest in search of a team to ambush, and with so many teams left over we're bound to run into one sooner rather than later." They all hit another branch and jumped again. "And if that's the case then we should be the ones doing the ambushing, not the other way around."
"Ha ha! That's right!" Naruto agreed cheerily.
Amari nodded as she caught onto exactly what Sasuke was planning. "I get it. By holding a position and setting up an ambush we're less likely to stumble into enemy territory and right into their trap. If we go running around we'll either stumble into a trap or accidently run into a team looking for an ambush, thus forcing us to fight without a chance to set up a trap in the first place."
"Exactly."
"Okay, but what kind of trap should we set up?" Sakura asked. "Smarter teams won't be fooled by a conventional trap. We'll need to draw them in close enough for it have the most effect and subtract the amount of time we all have to fight, that way we conserve as much chakra and energy as possible for the trek to the tower."
"Well, we're a bunch of overly arrogant dumb rookies, right?" Sasuke asked.
Ingenious, she thought, a smile curling onto her lips as she swung on the branch of a tree to the next branch. She felt light as air without the weighted seals on, as if she could Body Flicker from here to the Land of Waves and back without breaking a sweat.
Naruto frowned. "Speak for yourself."
Ah, he missed the point. "Naruto, he was insinuating that other teams will only see us as arrogant fools, therefore making it easier to trap them by using their overconfidence against them," Amari explained.
"Oh…" He smiled. "In that case I'm all for it!"
"I'll go over the plan once, so listen carefully."
Sasuke explained his plan and their roles in it. Once done they traveled deeper into the forest before choosing their location to ambush an enemy.
And there they laid in wait for someone to spring the trap.
Minutes Later
A horrid scream cut through the forest as a shinobi fell prey to a trap somewhere deep within the canopies of the trees. Team Seven twitched at the sound and looked in the general direction of the scream. "Well…that's spooky," Amari commented lowly.
Seemed the Forest of Death claimed at least one new victim, maybe an entire team. Of course they could still be alive but Amari wasn't betting on it.
"Oh, come on! No need to be scared, Amari, this is going to be a piece of cake!" Naruto soothed in a brash manor. Amari gave a determined nod before flicking her right eye about the landscape around them. Darkness and shadows lurked around them as the trees blocked out most of the sunlight. With the screaming gone they returned to eerie silence.
Somewhere out there were shinobi hunting them. This behind enemy lines scenario felt almost as nerve-racking as the real thing. Every movement she sensed, every snapped twig or flutter of wings made her heart race. Any single sound could be an enemy's presence; any movement she thought she saw could be the shadow of an enemy dashing back into hiding.
"Excuse me, I gotta…well, you know." The knucklehead turned around to a bush and began reaching for the zipper on his pants.
Amari furrowed her brow in irritation only to have Sakura beat her to the punch, literally. Sakura jumped into the air with her fist cocked back and nailed Naruto square on the top of his head hard enough to stop his idiocy. "Not in front of us you don't! Find a bush or something!"
And so the trio waited for Naruto to go relieve himself. His return was met by Amari's narrowed eye. "Oh man that was a lot. I wrote my whole nam—"
Sasuke moved quickly behind the knucklehead and swung his arm, hitting him square in the face and knocking him away from Sakura into a nearby tree. Amari dashed in to kick the knucklehead's head off, but Naruto rolled under her to dodge, only for his dodge to lead him right into Sasuke.
Thinking quickly, Naruto jumped up into the tree but he wasn't fast enough to escape her speed. Amari appeared right above him and axe kicked him right back to the ground. "What kind of idiots do you take us for? You aren't fooling anyone with that Transformation," Amari said from the tree.
Naruto narrowed his eyes at the two Uchiha. "You better watch out, Sakura. I think they've gone craz—Whoa!" The boy barely managed to pull a kunai out in time to block Sakura's strike with dual kunai knives. He pushed the blades back and kicked her in the abdomen to keep her away then dodged back into a one handed handstand then flipped to dodge Sasuke's assault, landing him close to a nearby bush.
"You idiot, your transformation doesn't even match the real Naruto at all," Sasuke chided. "You're missing the mirror cut he and Amari gained by the proctor and you have your shuriken holster on your left leg, not your right. The real Naruto is right handed."
Finally seeing sense, the fake Naruto dispelled his transformation to reveal a Hidden Rain shinobi. He had spiky black hair and wore a yellow jumpsuit and white sash around his face with eye holes cut into. In his mouth was some sort of breathing mechanism, a rebreather from the look of it. "All right you got me, so what? I'm still going to take your scroll. So hand it over, or else."
"Heh," Amari chuckled at the threat. He truly had no idea who he was messing with if he thought that threat would get them to hand over their scroll. Her chuckle was joined by Sasuke and Sakura. "Do you hear that guys? He's going to take the scroll from us," she taunted from the tree.
"But how does he expect to do that," Sakura said as an evil smile formed on her lips.
"When he can't move his body," Sasuke finished.
The Rain ninja let out a startled sound when Amari's Shadow paralyzed him in place. "Wha– what is this?" he asked.
"A trap and you sprang it gloriously!" the real Naruto jeered from the darkness of the canopy.
"What the? I knocked him out!"
"Hmph, you fool." Sakura and Sasuke poofed into smoke to reveal two Amari's. The third jumped down to join them and smirked arrogantly at him. "You think you actually caught us off guard? You captured a clone of me because I let you capture her. We're all just clones. You didn't even get to fight the real deal."
The real Sasuke, Sakura and Naruto jumped down from their hiding places. "We know you're alone and you have the Heaven scroll. You should hand it over," the trio of Amari's said in unison. His hand began reaching into his ninja pouch until he pulled out the scroll. "Oh, he's so obedient. But then, none can resist my control when you're so close to me."
He grunted as he tried to fight against her control but he lacked the strength to cause her any strain. His attempt to dodge away from "Sasuke" played him right into her hands. Against his own will he tossed the scroll over to the real Sasuke. "Face it, loser, you never stood a chance against us," Sasuke said. Sakura stuck her tongue out at the man as Naruto grinned at his misfortune.
Again against his will he started reaching towards his right leg where no ninja tool box was attached. Two senbon pierced the back of his legs right behind the knee just as Amari relinquished control of him. In an instant she appeared in front of him in the air, knee aimed right for his face. The impact of the blow sent him sprawling back into the bush, his rebreather flying out of his mouth as he was left unconscious.
Amari retrieved her senbon and dispelled her three clones before regrouping with her team. "Too bad he had the same scroll as us," she said as she approached her team.
"Yeah but that's just another team out of the competition and a spare if we need one," Sasuke said.
"Mm." He tossed the second scroll back to Amari for her to store it with the other. Maybe if Shika has an Earth scroll we can give them this one so he can pass too. "We should go," Amari said as she stuffed the scroll into her back pouch. "I don't know how long he'll be out cold and this area is now compromised as our trap."
"Right. Which way towards the tower?" Naruto asked.
Amari pointed to the North. "That way. We're bound to find someone with an Earth scroll at some point."
"All right. Let's move," Sasuke stated.
Team Seven maneuvered back into the trees on their way towards the tower. By closing even more distance between them and their inevitable objective, they would increase the chances of running into a team with an Earth scroll. The extra Heaven scroll could also be given to a friendly team or possibly even kept on their person to eliminate an entire team.
The further they traveled into the forest, the denser the foliage grew. Moisture on the greenery remained from the rainstorm the night before as the creatures of the forest went about their daily lives uninterrupted by the traveling shinobi. Team Seven stopped here and there to set up another trap, yet no one ever sprang them. In the meantime Amari created another preparation plan for a possible mock surrender on the chance the tables turned against them.
Can't be too careful, she thought as she placed the two Heaven marked scrolls back in her pouch.
When it became clear no enemies were coming, Team Seven moved again towards their objective. The lack of shinobi was troubling. By no means were they close to being out of time yet to find an Earth scroll, but every minute they came up short was another minute for another team to gain the scroll they needed.
Hours without any further encounters passed before Team Seven decided to regroup and take a breather as they prepared a new plan. They found a relatively safe place to sit on the grassy floor while Amari went up to the top of a tree to check the position of the sun.
"Five hours until the sun sets," she informed as she rejoined her team.
"Hmm. Most of the teams will start looking to rest after spending the day searching," Sasuke said.
"Agreed, which makes it the perfect opportunity to strike," Amari said, crouching down onto one knee to join their small circle. Using a patch of soft dirt, she drew bits of the map she recalled from memory. "According to the proctors map, we're probably about here compared to the tower." She drew an X to mark their location and then a circle for the tower. "And there should be a river around here." She drew squiggly line to mark the river.
"At a guess, we're probably an hour away from the river, but the tower is still pretty far away," Sakura noted.
A rough estimate but still pretty accurate. "The river will draw people to it," Amari said. "Food and fresh water in one source, but any intelligent shinobi knows that. There will be traps near it."
"What do you think we should do, Amari?" Naruto asked.
"For now, we relax." She shook her head. "I don't see the sense in rushing into battle just yet. Let's rest our bodies a bit longer, and then when we're ready we'll head towards the river. With my eye we should be able to find any shinobi waiting to ambush a team, or if we're lucky we'll find some shinobi who have already made camp for the night."
"If that's the case, we'll take down whoever is keeping watch first," Sasuke said. "And then we'll take the other two members by surprise and take whatever there scroll is." He shrugged. "Can't go wrong collecting more Heaven scrolls. It'll give us an advantage to barter for safe passage if need be or pass them out to comrades."
"I wonder how the other teams are doing," Sakura pondered.
A sudden surge of powerful chakra beyond anything Amari ever sensed pierced her senses like a katana. It was then a gust of wind passed between them, sharp wind which cut Naruto on his other cheek and her right arm at the elbow.
It was the only warning they had.
"Take cover!" Amari ordered.
An explosive surge of wind carved a path right through the forest towards them, leaving a giant cratery path in its wake as it grinded the ground and cut the bark of trees.
Damn it, damn it, damn it!
Amari grabbed Sakura since she was the closest to her and dove out of the path of the jutsu into cover behind a tree. Byakugan! The Nara fought to control her breathing as she sought out Sasuke and Naruto's chakra signatures. Sasuke had managed to jump out of the path into a cover as well but she couldn't find Naruto anywhere.
Oh man this is going to be such a drag! When the wind finally died down she quietly motioned Sakura to follow her low and as quiet as they could be. We need to get Sasuke and go get Naruto then run the hell away.
She spotted the source of the technique, the Grass woman who appeared behind Anko before the exam began. Yet the chakra coming off her was insane. How the hell had she hidden it so well? Not even Zabuza or Kakashi had this kind of chakra, and the evil within it…
There's no way she's a Genin, no way in hell, Amari concluded. This kind of chakra, this kind of evil could not belong to a Genin of the age she portrayed. No way. Whoever she was, she was leagues ahead of them in strength.
We have to run.
It was their only hope at survival.
The kunoichi's reached Sasuke without revealing their presence to their enemy, but the boy turned to them with a kunai in his hand. "We have to get the hell out of here," she whispered.
"Wait. What's your password?" Sasuke asked.
Normally she would applaud his caution, but now wasn't the time. "A red eye hidden by shadows, a white eye covered in light. Separate they are powerful but together they are unstoppable, for without light there are no shadows." Sasuke lowered his kunai knife but glanced over at Sakura. "She's the real one. We need to go. Now."
The urgency in her tone garnered his attention only to be interrupted by the shout of Naruto. "Hey! What was that? Are you guys okay?"
"Stop. What's your—"
"It's not him," Amari interrupted, pulling out two kunai from her ninja tool box. Her chakra, it's incredible.
Sasuke threw his kunai at the fake. Their enemy dove to the ground to dodge it. As he moved into a sitting position, the fake Naruto's face contorted into an evil smile as his tongue came out to lick his lips as if he was looking at a tasty meal. "My my, aren't we the clever ones," a feminine voice came out. The transformation dispelled in a larger explosion than any other transformation she had ever seen.
All three Team Seven members put their arms up to block the wind that came from it. Out of the smoke came the Grass ninja woman with the huge purple knotted rope belt around her waist. She removed her hat and moved it in front of half of her face. "You certainly haven't dropped your guard, have you? This promises to be very entertaining!" Her tongue slipped out again, trailing along the side of her hat as if it were a treat. Amari was thoroughly grossed out. "Such an intriguing plan you have, but what happens when a predator finds you first? Hm?"
Naruto. We need to get Naruto and get the hell out of here. This is one fight we cannot win.
A bead of sweat ran down the side of the Nara's face, her heart beat erratically against her chest. Fear. All from her presence. She hadn't reached the intensity of Zabuza's Demon chakra, yet. But it's there.
The Grass shinobi dropped her hat and pulled out her Earth scroll. Sakura gasped at the sight of it, answering the question their enemy silently sought to find. "Ahhh," she smiled. "You would love to get your hands on our Earth scroll, wouldn't you? It would go so nicely with your Heaven scroll."
Her long tongue came out and wrapped around the scroll. Then she started to shove it down her own throat. What the hell is she? It was a question Amari didn't want the answer to. Her inner warrior jumped into the driver seat at the sight of the scroll they needed disappearing. Tossing her right kunai into her left hand, she sent her chakra throughout her body and disappeared via the Body Flicker, reappearing with her legs braced on the woman's knees and her hand gripping the scroll.
"Huh?" the woman questioned, eyes wide in surprise.
"Didn't anyone tell you it's rude to talk with your mouth full!" She channeled chakra to her foot. "Sasuke, Sakura! Find Naruto and don't stop moving!" She slammed her chakra filled foot into the Grass shinobi's stomach; the hit caused their enemy's tongue to loosen just enough for her to pull the Earth scroll free before sending them both flying away from each other.
The Grass shinobi wiped the saliva off her face and smiled at the trio. "Interesting move, child," she said. "But don't think it will be that easy." She pulled her eyelid down, a strange move by all means. But then it happened. A tsunami wave of killing intent, the likes of which surpassed Zabuza's Demon Chakra, crashed against her body. She uttered a startled gasp, though she did not hear it, as her body stiffened into paralysis.
In that moment Amari saw her own death flash before her eyes. Everything around her disappeared, a veil of darkness pulled over her eyes as she witnessed again and again a kunai blade impaling itself into her skull. She could feel it there despite it not actually being real, she could feel the spike of pain it would have caused, feel the life ebbing from her body even though she was still very much alive.
Her heart slammed against her chest as she tried desperately to inhale air, but no matter how much she inhaled, the air lacked appropriate oxygen. Nausea hit her next, head spinning and stomach churning as it shot up for release.
Finally her legs gave way.
Collapsing to her knees, Amari emptied the contents of her stomach onto the grassy floor. Bile decorated her taste buds with its vile taste. Trembles took over every inch of her body, quivering like a leaf in the wind as a bead of sweat cascaded down her cheek. Or was it a tear? Amari couldn't tell. She couldn't even feel if she still had her kunai's or the Earth scroll in her hand, all she could see was her death replaying over and over before her eyes.
She'll kill us.
This was the only thing she could comprehend. This was no masterful genjutsu. It was just pure killing intent, more potent than Zabuza's Demon chakra by astronomical leagues. The thirst this woman had for death…How could evil like this exist? How could bloodlust like this be real?
Amari shakily tried to look behind her, hoping at the least Sasuke and Sakura escaped this. They hadn't. Damn it, they got hit by this too. Puke coated the grass in front of Sasuke and tears streamed from Sakura's eyes as she stared blankly at the canopy of trees. I need…I need to calm down. Amari tried to ease her breathing but failed miserably. I can't- I can't control my body. Bu- but I- I have to do something!
"You're paralyzed with fear," the woman stated.
Co- come on Amari! Yo- you have to move! If you don't she will kill you! You can't leave your friends to die or all of the people you care about!
Slowly her hands and legs started to cooperate. She pushed her quivering body up onto shaky legs. That's it, you know what it is like to lose the people you care about. Can you really leave others behind to feel those same dreadful feelings?
"Very good. Very interesting. But tell me, what happens now?" the Grass ninja asked, seemingly intrigued by her ability to stand. Fear once again paralyzed Amari but this time she was fighting her hardest against it. The woman pulled out three kunai just as the vision of her own death showed, fueling the fire inside Amari's heart. "Don't worry, child. I'll make it quick, but I don't have to tell you that, do I? You've seen it with your own eyes."
Can you really leave them behind?! Mom, Uncle Shikaku, Kakashi-sensei, Iruka-sensei, and Shika! You promised him to be careful! You promised yourself you wouldn't die until you killed Kasai! Will you let the fear of death stop you and allow it to end in the deaths of you and your friends? You know what that pain is like and you're just standing here like some frightened deer!
Wake! Up!
"I expected more," the ninja said as she brought her hand up to throw the kunai.
A strength Amari hadn't felt since the Land of Waves exploded within her as all functionality of her body came swooping back. No! It bellowed. I refuse to die now! And I will not let my friends die! She will be the one to die before I ever let that happen willingly!
Before the kunai left the woman's hands, the weight of her own kunai's registered in Amari's mind. Now fight, damn it! She threw her kunai's and disappeared in sheer speed even the Grass ninja couldn't see. She created a clone upon exiting her Body Flicker and grabbed Sasuke and Sakura before Body Flickering again into the trees to escape. She needed to find some place to hide them, find Naruto and then get to the opposite end of this forest before the Grass shinobi could find them.
The duo of Amari's set Sasuke and Sakura down on a large tree branch when she felt they escaped. Her Byakugan eye searched in every direction for any sign of her teammate and the chakra of their enemy. She found neither.
"Amari." Sakura's voice was full of awe.
Glancing down at her arms she found the green chakra shroud flickering with its black tips around her entire body; her clone had the same cloak as well as their Sharingan's active. "Sasuke, Sakura, can you two move?" she asked, disengaging the cloak to conserve chakra.
Fear lingered in their eyes, fear she understood all too well. "We've got to find Naruto and get the hell out of here," Sasuke said.
Amari chuckled despite the situation. "I tried to tell you." The ridiculously enormous chakra of their enemy surged again directly next to them. How the hell did she get so close without me seeing her?! Her eyes widened at the sight of a giant snake and her heart stopped. Frozen in place for brief second, Amari's body remained paralyzed by her fear of snakes as the serpent prepared to strike.
"Sn- snake!" she shrieked. In any other circumstance she might have been embarrassed, but the chakra of their enemy from within the snake kept it at bay. "Move!" she ordered.
Her clone grabbed Sakura again as the giant snake lunged forward to strike them. Sasuke activated his Sharingan and the two Uchiha jumped away in the same direction.
A Summoning Snake? Further proof this person wasn't a Genin. An animal of this size required chakra no regular Genin could hope to have. The snake chased after them, coiling around the tree quickly with its thick and scaly body.
Once again it went to strike at the duo only this time another wave of killing intent crashed from it. Instead of the face of the snake, Amari saw the face of the Grass shinobi as her body tried to lock up. The fires of her inner warrior refused to let her body seize up, however. It burned away the fear and urged her into action. "Sasuke, let's take this serpent down!" She pulled out six shurikens, three in each hand. "Take this, you scaly demon!"
Sasuke snapped out of his fear and pulled out his own shuriken. Together they released their weapons and pierced the beast in its mouth and neck, killing it. As it died the two Uchiha landed on a tree next to one another, the boy of the pair was breathing heavily in fear as his female counterpart's heart raced. "Sasuke, be ready. We're not done yet," she told him.
The snake's skin began to crack at the base of the neck and push outwards. As it opened the Grass ninja climbed out. "I can sense your fear and desperation. It's only natural. The prey can never let down its guard, not even for a moment." She lifted her head up to stare at the two young ninja's, the bloodlust flooding her eyes and her tongue flopping about in front of her similar to a snake. "In the presence of its predator!"
Her torso launched forward, stretching in ways that weren't human as she coiled around the tree like the snake had as she charged them. What kind of jutsu is this?! Amari sped through her Fire Ball Jutsu handseals and inhaled. Take this! Fire Style—
A swarm of kunai and shuriken landed right in front of the Grass ninja, halting the battle momentarily.
All of the ninjas looked up in the direction for the source. "Looks like I came just in time!" Naruto shouted.
"You're picking up on Sensei's lateness, Naruto!" Amari fired back. But I'm glad you're okay.
The boy stood on a higher tree branch with his arms crossed over his chest and a smile on his face. "Naruto!" Sakura's voice was full of relief.
They truly needed to run but right now basking in the relief of having Naruto around was all Amari wanted to do.
"Oh by the way, A Thousand Years of Death is the lame password I got."
Definitely Naruto.