Welcome to the next chapter.
danielsnow; It's at the top of the profile, if you're using mobile version it wont appear, I'm not sure about the app since I've never used that before, but it does appear in desktop version. Yeah, Anko's going through quite a lot it seems. She'll be found. Yeah, we'll get some scenes like that coming soon. Orochimaru's been through quite a bit huh. Yeah, we will be. Thanks!
Skull Flame; He is yeah. He definitely is into taking down Orochimaru. Karin is quite funny with her antics~
ShadowUzumaki55; He has yeah. He definitely has to think about what happened before explaining anything hehe~ He does yeah, it's a power with a price. Anko tried her best, fighting through the Curse Mark, and attempting to come out on top the best way that she possibly could do. With some help, Garaga and Anko managed to wound Orochimaru yeah~
Silver crow; Thanks. We'll see how his eyesight is going forward. Naruko wont have to wait long. Lee will go off with his own team yeah. Anko definitely was yeah. Ino and Sakura have a good friendship here. Haku did yeah. Mikoto was quite concerned for the others. The girls were excited about it yeah. Satsuki definitely doesn't like Orochimaru for what he's tried to do. The woman he mentioned is someone we'll find out about soon. Anko did her best, fighting through the Curse Mark, and fighting as hard as she possibly could do. Sakura is quite adorable in that moment huh. That's Lee for you~ Ino did yeah. He'll remove it when he's able to do so. Mimosa will be yeah. Got plans for her. Noelle is someone I really do like. Maybe he could have spell like that. Takumi will be able to do some cool stuff with his Bankai. He could have a good bit of money. We'll see how his relationship with Aizen progresses. Gin could have a better fate than in canon. Yeah, he could have his own kind of group. That would be a cool Sage Mode. He'll meet up with them quite soon. Yeah, she could be from any of them. If he was half elf, he would have a Grimoire like that yeah. Even if they fight, doesn't make them enemies, there's lots of reasons they could have fights. Yeah, they'd have some relaxing times together. Takumi could do yeah. If that won, Mayuri probably would have yeah, they'd be rivals. That would be cool for a combination between Ryouta and Temari. We'll see what happened to those two. They could be. Thanks for the suggestions.
GuoYaohui; A lot of stuff would happen, it would be quite the trip.
Guest 1; Thanks for the votes! Yeah, I'd certainly try to make them quite unique and fun to explore.
Guest 2; Glad you liked the fight between them. Orochimaru has been through quite a bit, now he's quite injuried from the assaults that he has suffered. The certain woman he was talking about, is someone that is currently alive, but it doesn't mean he might not use reanimation with a few deceased people. Thanks for the harem suggestions. Thanks for the votes. That would be interesting for a Black Clover idea, a different kind of weapon. Haha, they definitely would be surprised if they saw a blade in the shape of a key. He wont become only dependent on his magic, he'll know how to fight without his magic, and add physical combat with his magic. I haven't decided if he is gonna get one or not yet. Thanks very much!
TheRagFromTheCrag; Glad you like him. He might do soon~ They might be able to cooperate with their Ninjutsu at a later date.
TheGreatGodzilla; In canon yes, here no. Yeah, that would be pretty cool for him and Kurotsuchi. Hinata could learn from them yeah. In this, Hanabi is only a year younger than Hinata as stated beforehand. Unless it's stated in canon somewhere, probably Yugao and Anko aren't related. Can't say if they are or not.
Any of one; Thanks for the votes.
Andrew123456; Thanks for the votes.
Great 24; Thanks for the votes.
Hiruka Lucifer; Thanks. It would depend on the story, if I had a good idea for it or not.
Guest25; Thanks for the vote. Either the end of this week or beginning of the next.
John; Thanks for the votes.
A fan of the 686; Thanks for voting.
Hinata fan; This is the last chapter of the forest portion of the story. Yeah, it could do. She'll appear when the time is right.
Mcflearss; Thanks for the votes.
Ultra Magnus; Thanks, and yes they do.
Markus Keller; Thanks, glad you enjoy them. Thanks for the vote.
With those reviews out of the way, it's time to start the chapter.
Head for the tower!
Early in the morning, as the sun was rising, and with the groups just waking up, they hadn't had much time to relax. Only getting about an hour to two each as they took turns watching out for dangerous opponents.
As Ino got up, she saw that Ryouta was already awake and was cooking breakfast for the others, she also saw that Lee was scouting around the area together with Satsuki just in case some people were to come around, allowing Karin some rest.
Ino got up, and walked towards Ryouta.
"Need help?"
Ryouta turned to Ino, smiling.
"Sure, can you cut up some of these up for me?"
Ino giggled, and did just that.
As she did, she looked towards Ryouta, who was busy cooking some of the food that they had gathered.
"Say Ryou-kun, Shikamaru said something to me."
"Hmmm? What did he say?"
"While in the forest, I kept feeling something was wrong. All around me, I felt...like clashes were happening, he said it could be due to some kind of chakra sensing. Shikamaru seemed to think it was and the more I think about it, I think he probably was right."
"Chakra sensing huh. Yeah, that could be what it was. If I was you I'd speak to Karin-chan about it, she's an excellent sensor, she might be able to help you properly control it."
"Yeah, she probably would~ I'll ask her about it~ So Ryou-kun, everyone told me you fought this Orochimaru guy, what's he like anyway?"
"Well...he's a rather strong guy, and had this ability to make a new body or something after receiving so many wounds. Though it cost a good deal of chakra from what I could tell, that Orochimaru could cheat death in a sense."
Ino shuddered.
"Geez, that guy sounds dangerous, hope they catch him. Do you think they will?"
Ryouta didn't know the answer to that, he hoped that he was, but he was also mentally preparing for the worst.
"I'm not sure, hope so. But it is out of our hands for now, we should concentrate on getting to the next round of the Chunin Exams."
Ino slowly nodded as she moved ever so slightly closer.
"Speaking of, you're totally gonna kill it, right?"
"Well, I'm gonna do my best~ I hope you do too Ino-chan~"
Ino thrust her hand to the sky.
"Naturally! I've been practising hard, you know? I've got some cool stuff to show you!"
Ryouta was glad that he could inspire Ino to improve and grow.
"I see, what is it?"
"Yeah, I've gotten faster with my Mind Body Switch Jutsu, so maybe I could even take you over before you realize~"
She laughed while Ryouta offered a strong smile.
"Cool, I can't wait to see it Ino-chan~"
Ino giggled, feeling more relaxed than she was.
Even in the Forest of Death, she felt as if she was able to breathe a little easier than she could do before.
Anko, reeling from the losing Orochimaru, heard sounds coming for her, so she sat with her back against a tree.
She waited for the person to come, and they did within a few moments, revealing it to be Kakashi.
He was with a pack of his Ninja dogs, Anko guessed he used them to track her down.
"If you're here to lecture me then..."
Kakashi shook his head.
"No, I was told to come and get you. Hokage-sama sent me personally with the Anbu Mikoto-san sent out. Mikoto-san should have finished with looking through the others in the village by now. Zosui also has been detained. It seems your Genin stopped him."
Anko thought that was some good news even if they couldn't stop Orochimaru.
Whatever Zosui knew, then they'd know soon enough.
But even then, she didn't think Orochimaru would tell any major plans to a clearly Pawn like Zosui was to Orochimaru.
"Yeah…that's good at least. Zosui is going to finally cough up his guts."
As she said it, Kakashi wondered how the battle went between Anko and Orochimaru.
He could tell that a battle did indeed occur.
"Tell me, about what happened with Orochimaru."
"I couldn't take down Orochimaru, he got away. Orochimaru also told me that he doesn't want us to cancel the exams."
"Did he say why?"
Anko shook her head.
"His tone strongly implied that if we did, something might happen. But, I can't help and think about what he's truly up to. He mentioned about getting the Curse Mark on the Uchiha's, and having their eyes. He definitely knows about the Mangekyou Sharingan of Ryouta's, and he's very interested in getting that."
Kakashi sharpened his expression.
While they heavily suspected that would get Orochimaru's attention, now Anko confirming it only caused Kakashi to feel on edge.
"I see, for now we should head back, and get you checked over."
Anko shook her hand as she stood up.
She winced as she felt a surge of pain coming from her Curse Mark.
Though it had stopped going into overdrive, it did still leave a lingering throbbing pain through her neck.
"I'm alright, he didn't really injure me. Caused my Curse Mark to act up a little bit, but otherwise I'm fine."
"I see. Hokage-sama was worried when you shot off on your own, even Mikoto-san was worried."
Anko lightly laughed.
"I was acting reckless, I know that. But the thought of Orochimaru getting his hands on those Uchiha...the thought of them having to go through what I did with these damn Curse Marks, they might not even survive it if they did get a Curse Mark."
Though she said it calmly, Kakashi could see by how her hands were tightening, how her eyes were deadly focused, that she was angry.
"I know what you mean. All we can do now is leave it to Hokage-sama. He's sent some of his top Anbu to look for Orochimaru while preparing to fight himself. However, with how slippery Orochimaru is..."
"I know. From what I could tell, using his Mangekyou eyes, Ryouta was able to make Orochimaru use a lot of chakra."
Kakashi secretly smiled under his mask.
"I see, so that's how it is. Those eyes are rather strong. Though I am also aware of the price they pay. I recall him telling me in private about how he'd only use them when there wasn't a choice."
"Yeah...he's most likely suffered through a lot of pain because of Orochimaru...damn that bastard. I wish I could have finished him off...but because I couldn't, my Genin are going to be on his radar, so are yours..."
Kakashi could see the anger that was building within Anko.
He also felt his anger growing for Orochimaru.
But he knew at that current point, he'd not be a match for him.
However, he was glad to know that Ryouta was able to repel Orochimaru with the others, though he presumed because of his Mangekyou Sharingan, he was able effectively make sure that Orochimaru didn't do any heavy attacks.
As that was going on, Orochimaru kept running away with Kabuto, as Garaga got in closer and closer.
Looking back, the giant red snake kept charging for him.
"Don't you ever give up?!"
Orochimaru snapped at Garaga, who growled, and ripped a tree out of the ground, and tossed it towards Orochimaru with his tail.
Orochimaru inhaled and exhaled, before releasing a Wind Release Jutsu, smashing his way through a tree.
But Garaga predicted that, and came in from the right, swinging his tail for Orochimaru as Kabuto grabbed his Master and dashed out of the way.
"You're a slippery bastard, aren't you?!"
As he said, Garaga could feel himself getting tired.
Chasing Orochimaru and attacking, along with the brief battle with Team Six.
But he wouldn't give up either and kept going on.
Orochimaru landed on a tree, placing his hand on it and breathing out hard.
Garaga, who kept coming at him, grinned wildly.
"Now's my chance..."
Garaga gained distance, and opened his mouth, going down to bite the snake like human.
Orochimaru looked up, seeing the snakes jaws open and the sharp teeth coming down.
Exhaling and inhaling, Orochimaru yelled as he jumped up towards Garaga.
The snake came down with his sharp teeth faster than Kabuto could see, but Orochimaru could.
Using his arm, he blocked the sharp teeth from going into his body, but it did pierce his arm.
Orochimaru looked at Garaga, and did a hand sign with the other hand that he had free.
As he did, Garaga saw some kind of poison being released from Orochimaru's body, so he pulled back, flinging Orochimaru away but he inhaled some as he did.
The poison took effect, and even caused the snake to be stunned.
"What..."
Orochimaru smashed into a tree, his body then hitting the ground hard.
Kabuto went to his side, and placed a hand to his body and used his Medical Ninjutsu to heal him the best he could, though even he was running low on chakra.
"That...will stop you..."
Orochimaru stood on shaking legs, Kabuto then pulled Orochimaru's arm around his shoulders, and took off running.
Garaga couldn't move for two minutes.
But those minutes were enough for Orochimaru to make a retreat.
However, because of his actions, Orochimaru wasn't in any position to fight anyone else for a while.
Meanwhile, back with Ryouta and the others, as the group had finished eating their breakfast, Karin suddenly felt two chakras coming in. She looked to everyone that was around, and gained their attention.
"Seems like your team has finally come Lee."
Lee tilted his head, as Ryouta exhaled slowly.
He thought about Neji and what he was going to do.
"So Neji-san is coming. That's going to be a fun meeting."
Ino folded her arms.
"No kidding, that guy needs to relax."
"Well, it isn't like he'd try anything with us all here, right?"
Sakura posed her thoughts, Ryouta shrugged.
"I can't ever tell with that guy."
"Me neither...such a pain."
Shikamaru added on while twitching side to side, stretching his body so he could wake himself up some more.
Waiting for about five minutes, Neji finally did come.
Together with Tenten, Neji looked at the groups around.
"I don't understand why you're all together. While in the forest, you're enemies." Neji began, as his eyes shifted to Ino. "So the girlfriend has found her boyfriend."
"Yeah, damn straight!"
Ino yelled out, but then immediately regretted it when the girl saw that the other girls around were all staring at her. Even the usually calm Haku was giving Ino a curious stare that was beginning to sink through her body.
Satsuki's eyes shot for Ino who was sweating bullets, knowing that Satsuki was staring at her strongly.
"What did he just say?"
"Eh? What? No, I didn't hear at all~"
Satsuki wasn't convinced, Ino hoped that she'd move on.
Fortunately, Neji did instead.
"Lee, running off again without telling us, Tenten and I had to waste time searching for you."
Lee rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.
"Sorry Neji, my friends needed help so I did my best to support them!"
Neji's eyes went towards Ryouta who stared back up.
"So, you needed saving? Did destiny not decide you'd win?"
Naruko scowled when she heard that.
She didn't like Neji's tone, and she didn't like what he was implying either.
"Hey! We all did our best against that guy, you know?! Even if he is strong, we beat him back, believe it!"
Neji sent an uncaring look towards Naruko, antagonizing the girl even more than before.
Ryouta stepped up, so Naruko and Neji didn't end up fighting.
"Destiny had nothing to do with who attacked us, and that opponent wasn't a joke either."
Ryouta replied the best way that he could do towards someone like Neji.
Neji furrowed his brows.
"Still, it doesn't change anything about us. I still am going to win in the fight against us. Destiny has decided that."
"You can't know that until we fight. Until then, all you can say is that you believe you will win. When we do fight, then we can see what happens. Until then, just wait and see what is going to happen next."
Neji looked on with his eyebrows still furrowed.
He kept thinking why Ryouta denied destiny so much when Neji thought that it was something that had been decided immediately from the moment of his birth.
"I see, then we'll be having our battle soon enough. For now, you best make it past the next round of the Chunin Exams. Lee, come, we need to go."
"Ah, yeah but, with that guy around…maybe we should all go together?"
Neji didn't like the sound of that.
In fact, it seemed almost insulting to Neji to even contemplate doing that.
"Lee, we do not need them. It is our destiny to make it through the forest. We need to leave."
Lee was torn on what to do.
He didn't want to disappoint his teammates.
But he also had to worry about his friends.
However, Ryouta then spoke up.
"It's alright Lee-kun, we'll be fine."
"Y-You sure?"
"Yeah...we'll be alright, I promise. See you at the tower Lee-kun."
Ryouta knew no matter what he told Neji, he wouldn't follow along with them.
"I see...then I expect to see you there my rival! Do not disappoint me!"
"Right...see you at the tower Lee-kun."
Lee thrusted his hand to the sky.
"Yes, then I'll be there! Be sure to make it Ryou-kun, because I also wish to fight you! A climate battle of the Chunin Exams! Make it until the end!"
Ryouta nodded strongly, and thrusted his own fist to the sky.
"Yeah, lets do it."
Lee gave a strong nod, and then joined Neji's side.
Neji's eyes went towards Ryouta once more.
"I'll be waiting."
With those words, the three took off together.
Satsuki rolled her eyes, while Ryouta leaned back.
"What an intense guy huh?"
Ryouta joked with Satsuki who smirked.
"Yeah, quite intense. Needs to take some kind of relaxing pills or something. Though he does seem hell bent on you as Ino, the girl who thinks she is your girlfriend when she's really not, had said." Ino cringed at the sight Satsuki shooting to her a strong look. "Worried about him?"
"I don't know his full capabilities to say yes or no just yet. Guess we'll find out soon enough. But ignoring him, we should probably get going. It would be better than waiting around here, right?"
Ryouta could agree with what Satsuki said.
"Yeah, I feel more rested. Not a hundred percent, but enough to travel, what about everyone else?"
They all began to nod.
It was a relief to them that they could finally begin moving once more.
"Then, since we've got all of our scrolls, lets head for the tower."
[Yeah!]
Most of the Genin announced, Ryouta was glad that they could all go together. He did wonder about Hinata and the others, but Karin didn't sense them close by, and he could only hope that they were alright, and that they'd not come across Orochimaru again.
Meanwhile, Gaara kept going through the forest. Her goal was simple, what she would do to achieve it, but all she could visualize when she saw him, was his eyes.
Not even the Sharingan, but something more.
Something that even she couldn't fully understand.
Kindness was something that had alluded Gaara, and then she also remembered how he didn't look at her in fear. Something that she hadn't seen for in such a long time.
Temari and Kankuro could also see that Gaara was thinking deeply about something.
"Gaara...we've been searching for ages now. We can't find him. Maybe he's already gone to the tower?"
Temari offered.
But Gaara didn't believe that.
"No...the fight back there, he wouldn't have walked away from that without having to rest. He's still in the forest, somewhere."
Kankuro folded his arms.
"But, even if he is, we're wasting time here. We might end up not qualifying for the next stage of the Chunin Exams."
"I don't care."
Gaara's cold reply caused Kankuro to have a half worried face, and a half annoyed face, because they knew for Suna they'd have to do their best, and to go for the highest they could do in the Chunin Exams.
"But Gaara, it is only one boy. What makes him so special?"
Temari asked.
She knew it was dangerous to do this, but she also had to at least try.
Gaara shot her a small look.
The look did ignite worry into her.
However, Gaara suddenly lowered her eyes, and turned away from Temari, speaking more to herself than anyone else.
"...That I don't know, that is precisely why I have to find out for myself."
Temari nor Kankuro had ever seen her act like this before.
It was so strange that even her siblings were confused by Gaara.
She seemed blood thirsty, which Gaara tended to get sometimes.
But it also seemed more than that as well, it seemed as if she was going through something mentally, and she didn't know what she was supposed to do next, she couldn't even fathom why she wanted to fight and go after Ryouta so much.
She hadn't seen him do much, yet at the same time, he made her feel.
Feel things she hadn't felt before, or hadn't felt in so long.
It was conflicting to her, and Gaara thought the only way for her to get what she was truly thinking about was for her to go after him and get the answers straight from Ryouta's mouth himself, and if he couldn't answer it...then she'd try and kill him for the answers, as that's how she had to live her life until that point.
The group consisting of Ryouta, Haku, Karin, Satsuki, Naruko, Sakura, Ino, Shikamaru and Choji went through the forest together.
Using Karin's ability to avoid groups as well, due to the fact that they were still rather tired from the events of the exam.
Even with sometime to relax, Ryouta could feel how the woman had drained his chakra to the point that he didn't even feel half back to normal. He knew if he had a proper day of relaxing then he'd be back to normal, but due to the fact that they had to keep moving they didn't have the luxury of relaxing.
"It seems that we'll make it to the tower by nightfall if we keep at this speed."
Haku began, with Ryouta nodding.
"Good, the sooner we get there the better."
Naruko stretched her arms up above her head as she let out a yawn.
"Aah, I could sleep a little more though..."
Ryouta wondered if her being tired was an effect of the seal Orochimaru placed on her, so he knew that he'd have to go and speak with Hiruzen once he had the chance, or Kakashi or Anko, whoever he could find first to see if they'd be able to help Naruko out with the seal problem.
"What a drag..."
Shikamaru complained, so Ino spoke up.
"Don't say that! We need to keep going! What if others have already made it?!"
Shikamaru cringed, while Choji rubbed his stomach.
"I'm getting hungry..." Ino shot him a look, so he looked away from her. "Ehehee, but I'll be fine~ Don't worry about me!"
Satsuki looked between them, and released a small breath.
"Ryou, is this the quickest way for us to get to the tower?"
"Think so yeah, it's the safest way for us to go and the quickest of the safest ways. There are some dangerous creatures that reside close to the tower, but we've plotted a way around them, so we can reach the tower safely."
"Aah, that's good!" Sakura cheered. "Ryou-kun, Haku-chan and Karin-san, it's good that we've got your knowledge on here. We could've been caught in some weird situations if we didn't have you guys."
"Thank our Sensei for that. Throwing us in here for a first test, and then coming in here, and fighting off dangerous enemies. Then she attacked us, and it was...aaah, Sensei really did prepare us for this huh..."
Karin sweat dropped as she said it, recalling Anko and what she could be doing at that moment in time.
Ryouta then saw Karin looking serious, so he spoke up to her.
"What's wrong Karin-san?"
"It's nothing, just sensing some chakras around that could be dangerous. Like I can feel that girl from Suna up ahead, getting close to the tower."
"Oh her."
Satsuki frowned as she spoke up.
She thought about what Gaara said, how she wished to kill Ryouta, and she wasn't pleased in the slightest.
"She was scary huh? She seemed to want to kill you Ryou!"
Naruko announced loudly, while Choji chuckled awkwardly.
"Wow Ryou-kun, it seems that you've got two people after you."
Referring to Neji and Gaara, Ryouta wished that wasn't the case at all.
"Yeah...lucky me."
"Well, that Neji is going to be shocked when you get him Ryou-kun!"
Ino announced as she thrust her fists out several times.
"You mean as his girlfriend, you're supporting him?"
Satsuki dead panned, Ino grimaced as she saw Satsuki giving her a small stare.
But shaking their heads, they continued on together.
Meanwhile, Hinata, Shino and Kiba kept going towards the tower. Since they couldn't find Ryouta and the others, they thought that if they went there, they'd be able to meet up and speak about what was going on.
"Aaah! This forest, one thing after another!"
Kiba yelled out, running his hands harshly up and down his skull.
Shino gave him a deadpan look.
"Getting angry isn't going to help the situation at hand."
Kiba gave a hard stare towards the young man.
But Shino remained his stoic self, and looked forward.
Hinata, using her Byakugan, stayed silent, until she saw something coming.
Something that she recognized.
"T-The snake is back..."
Shino and Kiba came on high alert.
"Not the snake again!"
Kiba yelled as the red snake shot closer and closer.
Kiba saw the forest moving, so he jumped back.
He then paused when he got to them all.
Because of the speed the snake moved, they couldn't escape from it, even if they had tried.
The red snake looked down towards the three of them.
"You again!"
The snake roared out, Kiba cringed, Shino remained casual while Hinata winced.
"H-Hello..."
Hinata bravely spoke up, the red snakes eyes stared down at them.
"Hyuga girl, dog boy, bug guy. Not seen a creepy guy with long hair, have you? He usually looks like a snake, makes you want to kill him when you see him, and he's generally just a terrible person who I immensely believe should have been killed years ago."
The three looked between each other, wondering what they were supposed to say as a result of that.
They weren't exactly sure what kind of person they were supposed to be looking for with a description like that.
"N-Nah, we haven't seen anything like that~"
Kiba chuckled out, nervously looking at the giant snake.
The snake looked down, before sighing.
"Damn it! Bastard! Got away from me! Aaaagh!"
The three Genin winced while the snake growled.
Hinata fiddled with her fingers.
"I-I'm sorry you...lost who you were looking for..."
"We'll meet again, it's fine. Next time, it's going to be an ending like no other, I'll turn him to stone and shatter the bastard!" The snake replied as his eyes shot back to the three humans. "So humans, what are you doing?"
"The Chunin Exams."
Shino replied dully, the snake released a sigh.
"I know that human! I meant what are you doing now?!"
"We-We're going to...the tower...to pass the exams..."
Hinata replied shyly, the snake Garaga chuckled.
"Ninja Ranks, becoming Chunin, heh. My Master destroyed her foes regardless of the rank she was."
"T-That sounds nice..."
Hinata replied, Garaga nodded.
"Damn straight. I'm going." Garaga turned to leave, but then looked back at the trio. "By the way, not that I care, but if you keep going straight ahead, you'll come across a group of annoyingly large creatures, you might want to take a detour after you see some large branches like nests. Go right from there, and then head straight after seeing a tree that has an X shape. It's not hard to miss."
Hinata and the others were surprised the snake was even giving them this information.
"T-Thank you very much!"
Hinata spoke up as much as she could.
Garaga huffed, and slithered away.
He looked back towards the humans as they began leaving.
Though he said that, Garaga knew that he could feel Orochimaru in that direction and he didn't want anything getting in his way, which was what he kept telling himself.
Deep down, he didn't want others to be brought into his conflict and become hurt because of it.
Stopping for a small while, Teams Six, Seven and Ten set up base together, and could see the tower being rather close. The night was slowly seeping in, with the clouds forming above them, and the moon beginning to rise in the sky. Though because of the day they had, they weren't all ready to travel to the tower for a small time, so they stopped off so they could have something to eat before they continue on.
Haku cooked the food while the others secured the area for them.
Thanks to having been in the forest several times with Anko, Ryouta and Karin were able to pick the best area for them to be naturally protected,
"Wow Haku-chan, this is amazing~!"
Ryouta cheered, Haku placed a hand to her flushing face.
"Is that so? I'm glad you're enjoying it Ryou-kun."
"After a short break, we should head for the tower. It doesn't look much further from us."
Satsuki brought up, looking at the tower close by.
"Yeah...finally. I'm ready to get out of this forest~"
Ino stretched her arms above her head, and tilted her body side to side.
Ryouta nodded.
"Yeah, though we have the next exam to worry about. Wonder what they're going to be?"
Shikamaru shrugs.
"Who knows, I hope that it isn't a drag. I want to at least relax a little bit."
"You think everything is a drag!"
Ino snapped, while Ryouta lightly chuckled.
"Well, if all things go well, we should be there within a few short hours."
Ino nodded, while Naruko looked at the tower.
"Aah...I wish we could have opened the scroll...but Satsuki wont let me."
"Because we're not supposed to idiot."
Naruko shot her eyes for Satsuki.
"Hey!"
"What? It's the truth."
Naruko scowled at Satsuki who turned her head away.
Ryouta could see that their rivalry was still as strong as ever, but he also saw that it wasn't something negative either. The jabs weren't mean or hurtful, it felt more playful to Ryouta, since he's known Satsuki for so long, he could tell when she was being serious or when she was being more light hearted.
Just then however, Karin's face took a huge drop.
Ryouta looked on, seeing that Karin was being usually quiet.
"What's wrong Karin-san?"
Karin placed a hand on her chest, and took in a deep breath.
"It's Gaara...the girl from Suna, she's getting closer. I've sensed her for a good while now...but, she's coming here."
All of them winced.
They knew she was strong, they didn't know how strong she truly was.
However, she did know that it would be difficult for them to fight her right now.
"So what are we going to do?"
Sakura asked the group, Shikamaru exhaled slowly.
"It's a drag, but it's clear that she's after Ryou. So, we have to drive her away as much as we can."
"But how can we do that without fighting her?"
Ino wondered, Shikamaru looked between them all.
"Ryou, you're the fastest out of all of us here, you could potentially out speed her, right?"
Ryouta thought about it, and began nodding.
"If I did my best then yes it is possible. But I'm not fully restored of my chakra just yet."
Ryouta recalled what the woman had done to him, draining so much of his chakra. While he believed he could fight for a little while, he knew that a prolonged battle wouldn't do him any good at that moment and barring using his Mangekyou Sharingan, which he didn't want to do against Gaara at this moment, he thought about how they'd be able to fight.
Shikamaru tightened his eyebrows.
"It's too bad. If you could, then I did have an idea where she could have focused on you and then we could have tricked her...but, it seems that might be out of the question now..."
Karin looked between them all, before she placed her hand up.
"Ryou-kun, bite me!"
Ryouta heard Karin sound so enthusiastic that he was rather surprised that she wished for that when she usually didn't want to do such things.
"Why do you keep pushing for that?"
Ino sweat dropped, Karin glanced towards her curiously.
"It isn't like that, it's because I can use my chakra to restore Ryou-kun's own. I do have enough to give Ryou-kun more than enough for him to fight added onto the chakra reserves that he has on his own."
Ryouta looked at Karin, seeing that she was deadly serious.
"Karin-chan...you sure?"
Karin definitely wished for him to do it.
It was a secret of hers that she had wished for him to do it for a good while at that point.
But she acted aloof, and as if she was so-so on it.
"Yeah well, we don't have much choice. So, if you can get strong by sucking on my chakra, then that's alright too."
Ryouta looked around and could see both Sakura and Ino were seething. Naruko didn't really get it, but she went along with it anyway.
"Do it Ryou! Bite her!"
Sakura and Ino turned their eyes for the young blonde, who remained oblivious as to what was truly going on.
Satsuki released a small breath.
"Go on Ryou, bite her. It's fine."
Karin internally was cheering while Sakura and Ino kept their stare up on the red head.
"Right..."
Ryouta walked over to Karin, and then bent down.
She presented her arm, and he looked to see that she had a slight smirk on her face.
She seemed quite happy despite the situation they were in.
Ryouta then placed his lips against her arm, Karin's face turns immensely red.
"Ryou-kun, so forward~"
"Forward?"
Ryouta murmured.
He didn't quite understand what was going on in her mind.
"It doesn't matter. Go for it, bite me. Trust me, it will be a life changing experience."
Ryouta wondered even more what was going on through her mind.
He didn't get why it would be life changing.
Shaking his head, he took the plunge and bit her.
Though she didn't make a noise as she was keeping her lips tightly shut, her face was flushing, as she smiled brightly and felt her chakra leave her, and enter Ryouta.
Her eyes went down and she grinned while Ryouta looked on with a semi awkward look, seeing how Karin was rather enjoying this.
When he took his lips off of her skin, Karin pouted.
"You could have kept going, I wouldn't have minded that."
Ryouta looked towards the young girl, who was smiling, she looked blissful.
"But if I did, that chakra of yours would have been drained more, right?"
Karin blushed, as she looked upon Ryouta's form.
"Well, yeah but...f-for the good of our survival, I wouldn't have minded! You are more useful on the battlefield than I am!"
"It's alright Karin-chan, you still have a role to play so you need your chakra as well. Thank you for giving me this much."
Karin acted bashful, tuning her neck left to right.
"I...It's fine, I wouldn't worry about it. Doing it for the team and all. Lets just keep going."
Shikamaru believed that she most likely did enjoy it by how she had acted beforehand, and continued on.
"Okay, now with some chakra, it would be best if you confronted her head on."
Haku looked on curiously.
"But, that can't happen right now. Karin-san didn't have the most chakra, and what chakra Ryou-kun got wouldn't be enough."
"I know, but we also have some thing's on our side to help us. I'm not saying fight her, I'm saying we lead her away from us. She's fixated on Ryouta, so it makes sense that she would chase him no matter where he'd go."
Satsuki furrowed her brows.
"We have to make sure that she doesn't follow him for too long."
"Right, but from what I can see, Naruko has a good deal of chakra, and I know she can transform into him..."
At that, Naruko grinned, and stood up.
"Transform into Ryou?! Okay! Here we go!"
Ryouta, seeing the mischievousness on her face, knowing what she was going to do, and he couldn't...he just couldn't have her do it.
"No!"
Naruko paused, looking towards Ryouta curiously.
"What? Why?"
"He doesn't want you to do the naked version of me!"
Naruko tilted her head.
"But if I did, maybe Gaara would be happy enough for her to leave us alone~"
Ryouta shook his head.
"Naruko-chan, please don't use that here. I am not sure Gaara-san would want to see such a thing."
Naruko tilted her head as Shikamaru shook his own.
"Okay, with the fact that we all still aren't at our best, we should pull our resources together, and cause her to be lead away from us. I've got some ideas on how to do this so listen carefully..."
Ryouta and the others listened as Shikamaru spoke his thoughts, with each of the members present adding their own thoughts into the situation.
A small time later, Gaara was still continuing her mission. A self made mission, despite having the scroll that she had decided upon. Temari and Kankuro, her sister and brother respectfully trailed behind her, feeling tired.
"Gaara...can we have a break?"
Kankuro asked.
But immensely and immediately regretted it because he saw Gaara's cold eyes landing on his form.
"No."
Kankuro tightened his eyes, hoping that Gaara would move on rather than do anything.
Temari also felt as if they should take a break, even if Gaara didn't want to do that.
Gaara continued on, using her sand to break through anything that got in her way.
Trees, and other things couldn't stand to her might.
However, just then, Gaara saw him, Ryouta stood there. Her face turned from passive to a more sadistic and excited grin on her face.
"So you've come to finally fight me."
"No, I've come to ask you not to fight me."
Ryouta thought it was futile.
But even if he could just reach her.
Even a single chance…
But Gaara shut him down, as she held her hand out. Summoning sand, more and more of it came around the young woman, and shot towards Ryouta at such high speeds.
Activating the Body Flicker, he dodged out of the way, appearing on a tree branch up above.
Gaara's eyes turned upwards, and saw him looking down towards her.
"You escaped my attack. But I feel like something is different."
Ryouta was surprised Gaara noticed considering they hadn't had a fight beforehand.
But it was clear on Gaara's face she knew something was amiss, so Ryouta tried his best to divert that line of thought away.
"What do you mean? I came here, to ask you what's going on and why you're attacking me. What you feel..."
Gaara's sand around her shot for Ryouta once more. Coming up like a giant hand, it tried to grab the young man, only for Ryouta to jump into it. Gaara's smile turned sadistically gleeful, while Temari and Kankuro looked on, believing that he was reckless to do that.
However, as she squeezed her hand, causing the giant hand to close, Ryouta exhaled slowly, before running chakra through his blade, and quickly swung it out several times.
The speed he went, Kankuro and Temari couldn't see his blades movements, by the time the sand had been cut up, it dropped down to the ground that looked like sand rain.
Gaara's brows furrowed, she didn't look pleased he reacted so fast.
"Why do you have those eyes?"
"Eh...because I was born with them?"
Ryouta replied and sort of asked at the same time indirectly wishing to know what was going on through the red haired girls mind at that moment in time.
Gaara however tightened her hand, causing the sand she shot out to shoot back towards Ryouta from behind, however he took out his sword, and swung it for the sand, cutting through it cleanly, and diverted it away from his body.
"Tell me why you feel...when you look at me...why aren't you scared of me?"
Ryouta furrowed his brows, as Gaara's sand turned towards him.
"Why should I be afraid of you Gaara-san?"
"Because you should be."
Coming out of the item on her back, the sand turned into what seemed like bullets, and then shot for him at high speeds. The bullets of sand travelled pretty fast, Ryouta however didn't back down and exhaled, breathing out some fire onto his sword, before leaping forward.
"I'm not going to fear you, no matter what you're attempting to do to make me fear you."
Gaara didn't understand.
Everyone was afraid of her.
Whether it was a small amount or a huge amount.
And those usually not afraid of her either didn't understand what she was, or they were pure evil that wished to cause her harm.
But Ryouta…
Didn't even seem to be either.
He wasn't evil, nor was he someone that was clueless about her.
She just didn't understand what it was she was feeling.
Gaara watched as he sailed through the air, cutting through the sand bullets that she released, before Ryouta got in before her. Her eyes widened as hands of sand shot out from the gourd on her back.
In the few moments that Ryouta and Gaara were close together, he could see within her eyes…
Something.
Something that he was all too familiar with.
And that was pain.
"Her eyes...she looks to be in true pain. But I also feel as if she is trying to suppress it as well. She keeps wanting me to fear her, to fight her...but, at the same time, all I can see is that she is confused when she looks at me. There's something more to this girl that meets the eye. She is indeed powerful...but, there's something about her that I wish I could understand..."
As he thought about it, he saw that Kankuro was going to keep moving, so Ryouta used the Body Flicker. Appearing before him so fast that even Kankuro was stunned, Ryouta saw him try to punch him, but Ryouta dodged out of the way, and slammed his foot into the man's body before he could do anything else.
"Kankuro!"
Temari yelled, attempting to pull out her fan.
Only for Ryouta to throw several shurikens towards her.
Temari jumped back, dodging the attacks, only for Ryouta to get before her, having used the shurikens as a distraction and also pushing his speed to the highest he could with what little chakra he actually had.
"No!"
Temari thrusted her fist out for him, which he dodged, before jumping up high, and sailed above her body, his hand touching her shoulder, grabbing her shirt, before he landed on the ground, dragging the young woman with him, before throwing her a good distance away.
Temari sailed through the air, before she revealed her fan, and steadied herself by using her Wind Release.
Ryouta didn't have time to stop as Gaara's sand hands came from below, attempting to grab him, only for Ryouta to stab into the sand with his flames, and caused the flames to spread across the sand, burning it out of existence, but also losing all the flames around his sword as well.
"You can't escape me."
Gaara spoke with a scary voice.
Ryouta however looked at her directly in her eyes.
He didn't have the stamina to fully use the Sharingan at that time, so he had to rely on using his natural eyes.
"Gaara-san, why are you trying to hurt me?"
"So I can understand."
"Understand me?"
Gaara tilted her head.
"Yes."
She went to move, when Ryouta placed his hand out.
"You don't have to attack me to understand, we can talk about whatever it is you're thinking about. Whatever it was about me that you didn't understand, I'd try my best to explain it to you. So you don't have to fight me."
Gaara thought about it.
"No...I will fight you now."
Ryouta blinked.
"Gaara-san…"
As he spoke, Gaara saw it again.
The kindness that she first saw when they met, again when she tried to attack him, and once more before her eyes.
Each time she saw the eyes he had, how he looked at her...she couldn't understand.
Her life until that point wouldn't allow her to make sense of what was going on before her.
"Every time...I look at you, every time I think about you...all I see is you looking at me with those eyes...those eyes that I can't understand..."
Ryouta didn't understand, and Gaara also didn't truly understand what kindness looked like so she couldn't express it that well either.
"Listen to me, we don't have to fight..."
"Hah!"
Ryouta jumped back as sand shot all around Gaara, then came for him. It looked like a wave of sand, higher than most of the trees, Ryouta winced at the sight, and knew that he'd not be able to take that at the current limited chakra that he had at that moment in time.
So he turned, and began running away from the giant wave of sand.
Ryouta then saw that Temari would be caught up in it, so he shot down towards her, and took her hand.
"Hey!"
"I'm helping you, so don't get crushed by that sand!"
Ryouta yelled, and used his strength to propel Temari away from the sand wave, before he continued moving away.
He looked back to see that hands made out of sand came towards him, so Ryouta flipped forward, as one sand hand came from the left, he took out his sword, and sliced through it, only for another two hands to come in from the right.
Ryouta grit his teeth, only to see that two wires came down from the tree, Ryouta smiled in relief, as he saw Ino and Sakura hiding, managing to pull the wires so they'd come down and slice right through the attack before it reached him.
"We did it."
Ino murmured to Sakura, who nodded, and proceeded to hide once more.
Flipping back, Ryouta landed on a tree as Gaara's sand came up from above him, so he dodged left, the sand smashed through the branch, and then came for his body, Ryouta panted as he saw the sand coming for him.
He went to weave through some hand signs, when he saw Satsuki come out of hiding, and use her Fire Release, making it look like as if he was the one that released it, and clashed together with the girls sand, pushing it back.
"...It seems you aren't out of chakra as I thought."
Gaara murmured, Ryouta nodded, as Satsuki went back into hiding.
"Yeah, that's right."
Ryouta panted as Gaara's sand formed all around her. Ryouta could see that she was causing the ground to also be turned into sand, adding more and more sand to her arsenal, it was clear that Gaara wasn't messing around and even if she was acting irrationally, she also was showing that she was being tactical at the same time which he had to mentally praise, even if it wasn't good for him personally.
Gaara then sent her hands out, causing large waves of sand to come towards Ryouta.
Ryouta pushed chakra into his legs, and began dodging out of the way of the sand. Moving fast and strong, Ryouta moved faster and faster, he was surprised by how speedy Gaara's sand truly was, added onto the limited chakra that he had, Ryouta wished he could have truly had all of his chakra, as he would have liked to see how he fared against the sand user, and what he'd do to get one up on her, how fast her sand truly was.
"If I could perhaps obscure her vision for a few moments..."
Taking out some shuriken, Ryouta, in mid air, threw them at high speeds for Gaara. Using the shurikens and bouncing them off one another, Gaara saw that they were coming from two different locations, but both seemed to be heading right for her.
But without even thinking about it, a shield of sand came up before Gaara's eyes, blocking the shurikens from getting in close to her.
By doing that, it blinded her field of vision for a few moments, allowing Ryouta to turn tail and rush away from the area as quickly as he could do.
"Get back here...!"
Gaara gave chase, disregarding the larger wave, pushing sand below her feet, and used it like a small wave to ride on.
Ryouta knew what was going to happen next, so he pulled out a smoke bomb, and tossed it towards Gaara.
Gaara thrusted her hand at it, causing some sand to erupt and clash with it, but it still exploded into smoke, and covered a wide range before Gaara's eyes, Ryouta's form became clouded to Gaara, who couldn't see what was going on for several seconds.
In those seconds, Ryouta was met by Naruko who used the Shadow Clone Jutsu and the Transformation Jutsu, creating many Ryouta's that began shooting off in different directions as Ryouta and Naruko slid down out of the smoke, and quietly hid.
"You wont escape me."
Gaara then used her sand to clear the smoke away with very rapid movements.
But, as she did that, she saw a strange sight.
She saw many Ryouta's running in different directions.
Confusion came over the young girl, and she searched out the real one with her eyes.
However, she couldn't tell, so she used her sand, and shot it in all directions.
Hands came out of the sands, grabbing all of the clones, and squeezed them until they disappeared into puffs of smoke, however one managed to allude her, though in reality it was thanks to Haku using her speed to cut the sand down and protect the clone so it could escape.
"That should buy the clone enough time...come on, lets make this work."
Gaara didn't see that however and believed that was the real one, so she increased her speed.
Temari and Kankuro who recovered, chased after Gaara, wanting to understand more about what was going on inside of her head.
"What's happening with Gaara? She hasn't been like this before."
Kankuro voiced his thoughts, Temari hummed.
"I don't know, Gaara is wild...but something about the Uchiha boy has set her off. And I don't know what it is. He didn't do anything to my knowledge."
For two minutes, Gaara launched more and more attacks against the clone, but the clone managed to dodge out of the way each and every time, only igniting more anger to boil within Gaara's form.
While chasing the clone, Gaara allowed her sand to form a wall before the clone, then as the clone tried to jump left, Gaara flicked her hand that way, causing the sand to slam against the clones body, and a bunch of sand pinned the clone down.
Gaara jumped down towards the clone, and hovered above it.
"You can't run away now..."
Gaara's voice paused when she saw that the clone puffed away in a cloud of smoke.
Confusion came over Gaara as Temari and Kankuro appeared behind her.
"It was a clone…!"
Gaara tightened her hand angrily, as the sand began to swirl around her.
Temari could see that she was being drawn more and more into her anger, and if she was, then a certain something could be released, and right now, they couldn't have that creature be released so she tried her best to speak up.
"Gaara, it's clear that he was leading us in this direction for a reason. He...He probably went in a different direction. And could be escaping as we speak. Perhaps we should go in the opposite direction that the Uchiha's clone went, he might appear there."
Temari hoped that Gaara would agree.
Gaara pondered it for a few moments, before turning around and moved towards the area that was opposite of them.
Kankuro and Temari were relieved, and followed after her, hoping that Gaara didn't lose control.
Seeing Gaara go, the others slowly came out of their hiding places after about two minutes, in case the girls and lone boy came back to see if they were hiding around them.
Ryouta, Haku, Satsuki, Sakura, Ino, Naruko, and Shikamaru all came together, with Karin and Choji having been doing their own duties for the moment.
Shikamaru looked relieved as Ryouta patted his back.
"It seems the plan worked Shikamaru-kun."
"It's only natural to think that if you're leading someone one way, you'd want to move them away from your real location. It's such a drag to think this hard."
"Still, thanks to everyone's efforts we managed to get away from the Suna group."
Haku replied, as Ryouta looked to Naruko.
"Thanks Naruko-chan, we couldn't have done it without you."
Naruko rubbed under her chin.
"Hehehe! Don't worry about that Ryou!"
Ryouta gave a light smile, as Sakura cracked her neck side to side.
"Can we relax now?"
Satsuki showed a slight smirk.
"Not until we're out of the forest."
"Aha..."
Ino pushed forward, showing a grin on her face.
"Don't worry Ryou-kun, I'll take care of you!"
Satsuki scowled and went to deny her, when Sakura pushed forward as well.
"No Ryou-kun, leave it to me! I'll take care of you!"
Ino and Sakura sent one another looks, sparks going between their eyes, while Ryouta smiled lightly.
"Thank you."
Sakura and Ino looked back at Ryouta, and looked on with slight blushes on their faces.
As they spoke, Choji came up towards them with Karin.
"No one else is coming here, thankfully."
Choji began, Karin nodded.
"It seems that Gaara has taken the bait with the other two. They keep moving in the opposite direction. Though maybe it would be best if we also leave here, and head to the tower."
"You're right, lets get out of this forest once and for all."
Satsuki spoke up, Sakura stretched her arms.
"Yeah, lets get going."
As the others nodded, Satsuki saw however that Ryouta was looking in the direction of Gaara.
It seemed that there was something he was thinking about it.
"What's on your mind?"
Ryouta turned to Satsuki, and hummed.
"Something about Gaara-san."
"It is strange that she seems to be obsessed with attacking you."
"Yeah...but, there's something about her Satsuki-chan. Her eyes...for a few moments, I looked at her, and I sensed an immense sadness. Something that maybe even she isn't fully aware of."
Satsuki furrowed her brows.
"What does she have to be sad about?"
"I don't know...but, I wish I did know. She said that she...didn't understand the look I gave her...and she seemed shocked when I said I wouldn't be afraid of her..."
Ryouta pondered it more and more.
He definitely was intrigued by what she was thinking about.
What it was she saw in him that resonated with her, and what she almost seemed afraid of wanting to know more about. He didn't think Gaara was afraid of him per-say, but she was more afraid of finding out what it was about him that made her feel what she did.
As that was going on, Orochimaru having finished being healed by Kabuto the best that he could currently do thought about the next move they were going to make. What they could do against Konoha, and what he should do regarding the teams he's placed in the Chunin Exams.
"Orochimaru-sama, shall I make my way to the tower?"
Orochimaru shook his head.
"No, don't go there now. That girl, Karin would have sensed your chakra, the Uchiha's would have seen your chakra colour in the fights with that boy with a green get up, and Satsuki herself. Any of them could out you, and take you down, if they ganged up together. So no, going back now wouldn't do any good. But I've still got some uses for you."
Orochimaru revealed as they continued on.
"What about the Oto Genin?"
"They've out lived their usefulness, I don't care what happens to them. They don't know anything truly important, not that Konoha already doesn't know now thanks to the events of this forest."
Such a cold reply was something Kabuto expected.
"I see, so our next move is going to be..."
Orochimaru showed a devilish smile.
"It's time for us to put the next plan in order. I didn't think I'd need her this early, but that woman is going to be immensely useful now. With her rare power, she's going to be a deciding factor in our fight against Konoha. Sarutobi-sensei is soon going to be deceased."
Orochimaru began to laugh in a wicked way.
Kabuto could see that Orochimaru wasn't going to bothered by the set backs.
"That boy, and his eyes, what are you going to do about that?"
Orochimaru sharpened his gaze.
"I've got some ideas on how I'm going to deal with that boys eyes. They might be a deadly weapon and in his hands very capable of even fighting me off. But there are more than one way to skin a cat, and more than one way to make sure that boy comes to our side Kabuto."
"Shall I do something about him?"
"Not yet, wait for my signal. Until then, lets get out of this forest and regroup, we'll need all of the assistance we can get to crush Konoha. Hahaha...then the Uchiha's will be mine..."
Orochimaru gave an evil look to his eyes.
His face displayed how cruel and callous he was capable of being.
Now was the time for him to begin making moves.
Next time, he knew that it wouldn't do to think of the Uchiha as fledglings, Orochimaru knew now that they weren't a joke, exactly how he remembered Itachi being but he was still determined to get the power, no matter what he had to do, or who he had to hurt.
A few short hours later, Teams Six, Seven and Ten all came towards the tower together. Each of them looked tired, but they also looked rather determined at the same time.
"We finally made it."
Naruko cheered out, Sakura ran a hand through her hair.
"Yeah...we did it everyone."
Satsuki showed a very small smile.
"We have, now we can go with the next stage."
Karin stretched her arms right.
"I don't want to fight right away, but if I have to then..."
Haku placed a hand on her back, and lightly pushed her forward.
"Don't worry, we've survived the forest. Whatever happens next, lets do our best."
Haku expressed it with a kindness she naturally had within her, something that touched the others easily and felt more at ease.
"Now lets go."
Satsuki began, so the three teams came together.
Walking forward quickly, they entered the large tower.
Moving through the corridor, they followed it all the way until it came to a hall of sorts where there were separate ways for them to go.
It seems that they were expected, based on how it said Team Six by one door, Team Seven by another, and finally Team Ten by the last door on the left hand side.
"Guess we've gotta split up, catch ya later~"
Ino waved as her team left together through their door.
Satsuki looks towards Ryouta, who smiles towards her, before she bows and leaves together with her team.
With only Ryouta, Haku and Karin, the three of them continued through the door.
As they did, they saw on the wall before them that there were two people holding scrolls. One being a Heaven and one being an Earth scroll.
"I guess we can open the scrolls here."
Karin began so Ryouta took the Earth scroll, and Haku took the Heaven scroll, opening it together.
Placing them on the ground and placing them together, nothing happened for a few moments…
But then suddenly a poof of smoke came from the scrolls, and what appeared was Anko.
[Sensei!]
Anko smiled at each of her Genin.
She was glad to see that they had made it, and couldn't see them being immensely injured.
"I knew that all the time we came to the forest wouldn't be for nothing. It seems that you've been through a lot huh? But, you also passed the test. Iruka was going to come here, but I said that I'd take care of this one because you are my Genin after all~"
Anko's words brought relief.
Yet at the same time, they still had a few questions.
"Anko-sensei, did Hokage-sama get our message?"
Karin wondered, Anko nodded.
"Yes, we're currently investigating it right now. But ignoring that for the time being, it seems that you've passed the test. Endurance, strength, team work. All hallmarks of what makes a good Chunin. Having a good mind, and a good body, being able to perform tasks while also thinking about what would happen next, what you have to do in situations such as these, and you also didn't open the scroll, showing your wisdom at following orders, which is essential when you're on a mission. So all I can say right now is... You've passed the second part of the exam!"
Ryouta and Haku looked relieved, while Karin lightly smiles.
"Sensei, now that we've passed, what happens next?"
Haku wondered, Anko hummed as she thought about the response.
"Well, it depends. Because usually, there aren't so many people that do pass. We might have to try and weed it out and lower the number of people who have showed up. Including you three teams, there's also that Team Eight, and I've heard that the Suna Team are also nearing the building. Usually, it isn't nearly that big of people that are able to make it. But you've made it so far, what's another little trial that you've got to do huh?"
Anko seemed cheerful.
But each of the Genin could tell something was off.
Anko was being her usual self, but her eyes, and her body language suggested that it wasn't like that at all.
"You're right Sensei, but what do we do now?"
"You've got sometime to take it a little easy. Though I'm sure when the time comes, Hokage-sama will explain what's going to happen next. Whatever he's intending to do, you've got to be ready. Just because you're out of the forest, it doesn't mean that you can relax fully."
Her words made sense to the Genin's.
Ryouta kept thinking however about how they came together, and managed to pass the tests.
He also thought about Lee, hoping that he and his team would come. Partly because Ryouta wished to see how strong Neji was, and if they were to fight, what he'd be up against, and he also wished for his friend to pass the exams.
Finally, he knew Gaara was going to be appearing sooner or later.
Whatever she was going to do next, Ryouta was sure that he'd rise to the challenge, and would be ready.
But first, he knew he'd have to help take care of the seal that Naruko had on her from Orochimaru...
End chapter!
So this chapter concludes the forest arc of the exam! With Gaara being their final obstacle before they came to the tower, with low on chakra, they pulled together, and managed to evade her for the moment, who seems to be getting more and more unsure of how to feel as she replays how Ryouta looked, and what he did over and over again.
Anko meanwhile is thinking about how she wasn't able to finish off Orochimaru, while he himself while injured had to take leave for the time being. Garaga also managed to wound Orochimaru enough so he couldn't do anything else for the time being, and met up with Hinata and her group again for a brief conversation.
Well, until next time, thanks for reading.
Ryouta; Satsuki, Sakura, Naruko, Hinata, Gaara (fem), Ino, Haku (fem), Kurotsuchi, Karin, Konan, Mei, Anko, Samui, Hanabi,