Chapter 26
Watching a huge snake make a snack out of a bird behind the fence I smirk before averting my gaze to the ones behind us, who had yet to look away from our squad. My gaze meets one of the grass ninja with long wiry black hair. Taking in a sniff I unknowingly close my eyes. Blood. Fresh Blood. The Genin looks at me with a smirk though I give none in return. What is their problem? Staring at us as if we are lunch. Please tell me I manage to keep myself from giving off that sort of intention when I'm thirsty. Our locked gazes seem to break as a kunai flies past us slicing a bit of the grass ninja's hair as it does. Turning from the ninja I look to see the proctor behind Naruto whispering something to him as she reaches up to the freshly drawn blood on his face.
The grass ninja chakra steps with great speed up behind the proctor, their overly large tongue holding out the kunai that had been thrown. "I was... Just returning your knife." They say with their left hand raising their straw hat slightly.
"Why, thank you, grass ninja." They share gazes with a moment's pause though the proctor's smile never wavers. "You know I only recommend you stand this close behind me if you wish to reach a premature end." She says taking her kunai back.
"My pardon, with the sight of blood and your blade slicing through my hair mmhm, I'm afraid I just became a little excited. I meant you no harm." The ninja chuckles turning around to walk past me.
"Likewise." I hear the proctor say watching momentarily after the grass ninja.
"I see, even though he is a teammate you are excited from the sight of blood as well." The grass ninja whispers to me as they walk past. Was I just staring at the cut on Naruto's cheek? I didn't even realize if I had.
"Heh, what did that lady say to you?" Glancing to Sasuke I give him a smirk showing my growing anticipation.
"This round is going to be rather interesting." I achieve in getting a smirk in return from him as he nods.
"You got that right." Slightly chuckling he passes me the consent forms. Taking one I turn to the nearest ninja which so happened to be the grass ninja. Passing it along I take in the proctor's every word since she had finally left Naruto alone and returned to the front of the group, as I study the map she shows all of us. When finally committed to memory I begin to focus more on her words.
"44 locked entrance gates, there are rivers and a forest inside. In the center is a locked tower located 10 kilometers from each gate. It's in this confined area that you'll undergo the survival test. The test consists of." She closes the map scroll putting it away before speaking again and pulling out two other scrolls. "Anything goes battle to get your hands on these scrolls." she raises the two scrolls so all can see them. "You'll be fighting to get both, a heaven scroll and an earth scroll. Altogether 26 teams will be taking part in this test. So half of those teams will be going after the heaven scroll. The other half will be the earth scroll. I will hand over one kind of scroll to each team."
"Okay so how do we pass the test?" Sasuke asks causing me to glance at him from the corner of my eye. Isn't it obvious Sasuke? She just said it.
"Your entire squad must bring both a heaven and earth scroll to the tower."
"That means at the very best half of us will fail. More if not every team is able to get both the scrolls." Sakura points out. That is obvious Sakura. Geeze.
"No one ever said it would be easy. Oh and one more thing. The test has a time limit. You must finish it within five days."
"5 days out there?!" Ino yells, so even at this distance her voice is utterly annoying.
"What are we supposed to do for food?!" Choji shouts next to her looking completely worried as if he is about to die. Who knows, he probably will.
"Just look around, the forest is full of things to eat. There is plenty to feed all of you."
"Yeah but, that's not all the forest has plenty of." Kabuto states for those of us who have never been within this training ground. "There are man-eating beasts and poisonous plants in there."
"Oh, man!" Choji audibly sighs.
"Quiet down, this is why it's called survival you know." Ino tells him with her left hand on her hip. I swear she puts more into her looks than actual training. Though probably not as much as Sakura obviously does.
"Completely surrounded by enemies there won't be time to rest, we'll have to keep a constant watch." Sasuke states more to himself as he looks to the proctor though his eyes give it away. He's cautious yes, but he can't wait. "Excited?" He asks quietly to me as he glances my way. Further proving his blood is already boiling like mine.
"Yes." I state simply already signing my name to the consent form. "This will be fun."
"Right, this test also measures endurance behind enemy lines. This is designed to be a grueling test. And I'm sure some of you won't be up to the challenge."
"So umm, let's say mid-exam. Can we quit?" Shikamaru pipes up nearly making me sigh and shake my head.
"Of course not, in the middle of a battle you can't say sorry I quit. Well, I guess you could but it'll probably get ya killed."
"Oh just great. This is going to be a drag." Shikamaru may be smart but his lazy streak is going to end up getting him killed someday.
"There are also some ways you can get disqualified. The first is simple. If all members of the team can't make it to the tower with both scrolls after five days. Number two. If a team loses a member or if a member becomes incapacitated and cannot continue. But most important none of you, absolutely none of you, may look at the contents of the scrolls until you've reached the tower."
"W. What if it just happens to flap open and you read it?" Naruto questions.
"Let me put it to you this way young man, you. don't. want. To. Know. There are times when a ninja will be asked to carry secret documents, the scroll rule is to test your integrity. Okay, we're done, each team sign your consent forms and take them over there in exchange for your scrolls." She points to a booth with three ninja sitting there waiting for us. "After that, each team pick a gate and you'll be led inside." She sighs closing her eyes. "Oh, and I have one more word of advice. Just don't die!"
I watch Naruto and Sakura go their own separate directions to read through the consent form. I think about following Sasuke briefly, instead, I move over to the same tree I had been in before. Leaping onto the branch I look down at the consent form. Things can go terribly wrong once we are inside. It will be difficult to protect Sasuke and keep an eye on the others while trying to protect myself from harm. I can remember something involving a powerful ninja encountering squad seven on the second exam. Which in turn leads to the death of the third Hokage by the same ninja. What I need to do is protect Sasuke from this enemy.
A sudden whiff of a heavy scent of blood catches my attention before I ever felt someone land on the branch next to me. Looking up I see the same grass ninja from earlier standing near me. Sighing I look back to the consent form. "What do you want?" I ask without looking up a second time.
"I am curious about you." They say as I lean my head back against the tree and close my eyes.
"You smell of fresh blood. I would have to say no longer than two days ago you spilled a lot of it." The grass ninja just seems to stare down at me. "It's enough I would have to say more than one person was killed. The blood is covering your entire body so not even your original scent can seep through." Opening my eyes allowing my bangs to cover my crimson red irises I smirk. "So, who did you kill?" I ask when they hadn't responded and lick my lips. They just laugh in response to my question.
"You are truly an intriguing child!"
"Well, if you aren't going to answer my question then I'll be going. Sasuke is looking for me." I mention motioning with a slight jerk of my head in Sasuke's direction who was now standing and looking around. "By the way... If I meet you in there. I will get my answer from you." I mutter to the ninja before I leap out of the tree and chakra stepping up to Sasuke.
"There you are, Kira." He says turning to look at me.
"Yes, you ready?" He nods then turns his back towards me. Walking in the direction of where we were to turn in our consent forms. Finally allowing me to realize Naruto and Sakura were already waiting for us.
Once the curtain closes behind us we each hand in our consent forms. Sasuke takes the scroll from the examiner then turns around to face me. "Take this." He whispers causing me to nod and take the heaven scroll from him. Securing it with my other scrolls in my bag before leaving the booth.
Standing at gate twelve we all are looking at Naruto as he raises his fists in excitement, we all knew he was going to yell that much was obvious. It was practically already seeping out of him. "Believe it! I dare you to bring it on ninja! I'll send it right back twice as hard!" He yells as he is punching the air in front of him. At least he is pumped. He's right though to an extent. I want to find the other ninja before they find us. At exactly 2:30 the chunin in front of the gate unlocks the chain causing it to thump against the ground and pushes it open to let us through. Instead of running, we walk in most of us calm. "Well alright! Let's go, guys!" Naruto shouts as he pauses just inside the gates. Nodding to him we all walk further into the forest.
"Guys, there isn't a need to push ourselves right out of the gate. Conserve our energy and strength for when we need it." I let them know as I walk behind them. My eyes ever drifting around the trees as we walk. I don't know why I never thought of this before... Isn't it kind of like I've become their unofficial squad leader whenever Kakashi Sensei isn't around? I can see why though, I'm usually the one that comes up with the plans and I also keep them in the know even if a lot of times it's just because they overlooked something simple. Plus ever since we were placed on the same squad I've been the one trying to wrangle them together to function as a team.
"I agree, we have five days to get the scroll we need. There is plenty of time." Sasuke says glancing back at me. Hearing screams echo through the trees we pause looking behind us.
"That... Sounds like somebody screaming." Sakura whispers as if whatever got that group was on our tail. "I do not like this place." Closing my eyes momentarily I take in a good breath through my nose. It seems, even though we could hear the screams we aren't actually close enough for the scent of their blood to reach us. So either blood wasn't spilled or they are at enough of a distance we don't have to worry about it.
"Oh come on! It's nothing to be scared of, it's gonna be a piece of cake." Naruto says putting his arms behind his head causing the rest of us to look at him. I could tell with the look on Sasuke's face, he was having a difficult time trying to discern Naruto's simplistic thought process. This kid can even throw me through a loop sometimes with the way he views things.
"Not necessarily Naruto. With so many other teams, all looking for a scroll that they don't know who has what. They will be ready and willing to attack anyone just for the 50/50 chance." Naruto seems to just stand there listening to me before he drops his arms.
"Excuse me a second I really gotta... You know." He says as he turns and goes to a tree behind him reaching in front of him as if he was going to undo his pants right there.
"Yeah right!" Sakura yells as she punches him on the back of the head. "Get out of here! What is this a kennel?! Not in front of girls you don't! Go find a bush or something!" As she points away from here the lump on Naruto's head grows dramatically. Yet, I couldn't say anything against it. To be truthful I probably would have killed him rather than just punch him. As Naruto regroups himself from the hit he walks away and out of sight leaving Sakura to fume. We could hear his voice of pleasurable sounds coming back at us causing me to cross my arms and look towards my left. With Sasuke standing on my right.
"Aw man, that was a lot! I wrote my whole name!" Naruto says as he walks around the tree causing my eyes to narrow upon him.
"You are such a pig. You are really disgusting sometimes you know that!" Sakura says just as Sasuke chakra steps behind Naruto slamming his fist into Naruto's face sending him flying against a tree. I chakra step up to Naruto as he works on standing. Sending a kick into his chest I could hear a slight crack causing a smirk to form on my face. "Sasuke... Kira... It wasn't that bad don't you think you are going overboard?"
"Yeah what was that all about." Naruto coughs holding his ribs where I had kicked him. Just as he pushes himself to stand again Sasuke leaps in to kick him, but Naruto dodges causing Sasuke's foot to touch the tree. Giving him support to shove off of the bark to land behind Naruto. The boy then jumps to a tree branch. Running up there I let myself pick up speed before leaping up onto that exact branch just as Naruto reaches it. Sending a kick into the unsuspecting Naruto I break through his pathetic block sending him off the branch and spiraling into the ground below where Sasuke awaits.
Once the dust cloud dissipates from his landing Naruto releases a couple of painfilled grunts. "Better watch out Sakura, I think they've gone crazy." He says as he fights to get to his knees. Seriously Sasuke why'd you pause and let him regain his footing?
"Yeah, you wish, we just struck before you could!" Sasuke responds pulling a kunai and running at him. As the boy pulls his own I crouch on the tree branch I am standing on watching the two beneath me closely.
