We were standing with our teams in front of Mitarashi Anko, jonin of Konohagakure, and a student of Orochimaru, before the Sannin turned crazy and left the village. Some genin were whimpering in fright, after all, the woman was intimidating and frightening - one of them was Sakura and then I heard Naruto challenging Anko. I turned to see Naruto pointing at the woman.

"So, looks like we got ourselves a tough guy." Anko remarked and before I could comprehend what was going on Anko moved. She took out a kunai seemingly out of nowhere and threw it past Naruto, managing to freeze the boy, then in the next moment she disappeared, reappearing behind Naruto. "You tough enough to handle this? You're not afraid, are you?"

Naruto gasped and couldn't manage to choke out a word, I was watching in interest, stepping in front of Hinata, in a way to shield her if some fight broke out.

"Naruto…" I heard Hinata mumble, looking at her I saw that she was paler than normal, afraid for the boy, her eyes widened and when I turned back, a woman was standing behind Anko, her long tongue holding a kunai.

My breath hitched, recognizing her from the anime. Orochimaru.

"Shikanai." Shino called me quietly and I shook myself out of my daze, but even though I looked more calm on the outside, my heart was beating madly in my chest.

"This is gonna be fun." I heard Anko talking, and I bagn talking bigger breaths, in order to slow down my heartbeat.

Anko walked back to her spot, near the fence and I braced myself, trying to control myself and act tough for my team. Anko handed out the consent forms, my mind went nuts for a moment, a part of me shouting that it was my last chance to pull out, to leave everything, to just leave the entire thing... The exams didn't go so well in the anime and I was practically panicking over the fact that Orochimaru would attack. The other part of my brain was logical though, knowing full well that I had given Kakashi information about what was going to happen, and I was hopeful that something would be done. I took a deep breath, then the form was handed to me, I took a sheet out and gave it to Shino. Anko talked about the Forest of Death and then she took out the scrolls, that was when I finally managed to have control over myself and I looked up with determination.

"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 and the other half will be trying to get the Earth Scroll. I'll hand over one kind of scroll to each team and that's what you'll be vying for."

"Okay, so, how do we pass the test?" Sasuke asked.

"Your entire squad must bring both a Heaven and an Earth Scroll to the tower." Anko explained.

"That means at the very best half of us will fail. More if not every team is able to get both the scrolls." Sakura deduced.

"No one ever said it would be easy." Anko shrugged. "Oh, and one more thing, the test has a time limit. You must finish it within five days." Team 10 erupted in whining about the time and food problem, then Kabuto decided to add to that his knowledge about the man-eating beasts and poisonous plants in the forest. The teams began talking aloud, my brother asking Anko if we could quit in the middle of the Exam. Typical. "There are also some ways you can get disqualified." She began listing them, holding out her fingers. "The first is simple: if all three members of a team can't make it to the tower without both scrolls after five days. Number two: if a team loses a member or if a member becomes incapacitated and cannot continue, but most importantly, none of you, absolutely none of you may look at the contents of the scrolls until you've reached the tower."

"What if it just happens to flap open and you read it?" Naruto asked innocently.

"Let me put it to you this way, young man." Anko held her finger firm and smiled. "You. Don't. Want. To. Know." Naruto groaned.

"What about killing? Are we allowed to kill other team members?" I asked, receiving some suspicious looks.

"Well look at that, we not only have a tough guy." She pointed at Naruto. "But a tough girl as well." I smirked and shrugged.

"I just want to know what I'm allowed to do. What about maiming?" I asked letting some of my killing intent leak out and scare the other genin, Anko watched me and chuckled.

"I don't care about your methods, the rules are simple, get the scrolls and get to the tower, other than that, there are no rules." I nodded at that.


I found myself standing in front of the sixteenth gate. A man, dressed in the Torture and Interrogation uniform, was standing in front of us, face grim, his hands behind himself clasped together, my team was around me and ready to begin our journey in the Forest of Death. The entire situation felt surreal to say the least - the man held no emotions on his face nor his gestures, but I could see that he was in fact mournful, like he knew what was going to happen to us. Children stripped of childhood with no return.

I knew that Orochimaru would attack, so before we started our journey I went to Shino.

"Shino? Can you please be the team leader for this mission?" there was a slight skepticism like he wanted to ask why did I ask him to do that, but watching me he nodded slowly, sensing that I was feeling unwell.

I was in a struggle, I knew that if I intervened with Team 7 I'd stop Orochimaru, but what chances did I have after all? I was a genin, so was my team, and by intervening, I could put them in danger, which I would never do. My morals were conflicting and I just couldn't take responsibility for whatever was going to go down in that damned forest.

"Sure." I released a relieved breath and so the gate opened and we took off without a moment of hesitation. We quickly jumped on the trees and began going as fast as we could. "Hinata!" Shino ordered and Hinata nodded using her Byakugan.

"Team, at 7 o'clock, approaching. But there are leaches coming after us. They are attracted to body temperature." Hinata said

"And if they get you, they'll suck out your blood." I took a shuriken out and threw it at an animal. "Let's use them." I smiled ferally and they nodded.

"Shikanai prepare your shadows. Hinata and I will make sure they will be attacked by the animals." Shino said and I nodded. The poor other team didn't know what hit them, after a few minutes, they were dropping to the ground from the tree, covered in blood, then when one tried to move, I locked them all in my shadow jutsu. "Hinata what do they have?" Shino asked and Hinata used her Byakugan.

"Heaven Scroll." She said and so Shino began advancing.

"Perfect, we're all done and it didn't even take a day." I smiled as Shino took the other scroll. "Should I kill them now? Or should I let them die slowly from their blood loss?" I asked and Shino nodded to me.

I advanced with my kunai. I didn't make them suffer, aimed at two of them two shurikens, slashing their head, they both died, then I slashed the third member's throat with my kunai, dropping the guy dead. I turned to my teammates and we all resumed our rush.

Hinata was ordered to watch with her eyes, I was ordered to be ready to attack at any moment and Shino was the one having his beetles around us, directing us to the tower. We were running on the trees, Hinata being the last, me being in the middle, and Shino in the front, when Hinata gasped.

"Shikanai!" she shrieked and I turned, seeing a kunai speeding towards me, I turned my face away, and when it was flying past my face, I brought my right hand up, catching it by its handle. I stopped on the next tree branch, internally blessing my reflexes. We all stopped, looking down at the team from the Village Hidden in the Grass, I realized Orochimaru was watching me. Before I realized it, Hinata took out the Earth Scroll from my back pocket and showed it to the team below us. "We have the same scroll, there's no need for an attack." She said with a determined voice and I sighed crouching down and barely managing to get my fear out of my way. My heart was going to explode one day...

"That does not mean that we wouldn't want you dead." I narrowed my eyes at the man, who said that and released a healthy amount of killing intent.

"Can I kill them now, captain?" I looked at Shino, who watched me questioningly, then shook his head. I really hoped he could see that I was acting and in fact I was scared shitless.

"We won't engage in a fight." Shino declared, turning to the other team and I rolled my eyes, still acting.

"So, I see that my captain doesn't want me to have fun." I sighed. "What a downer, anyway, which team are you after? You surely want a Heaven Scroll, right?" one of them nodded, but Orochimaru kept staring at me. I braced myself, not showing that I was almost trembling from fear.

"If we tell you where that team is, will you let us go?" Shino asked and the other team seemed to consider it.

"It wouldn't be wise for you to trust us so blindly." Orochimaru said with a grin and I found myself smiling - was I still acting?

"As I said to that other guy, what was his name?" I turned to Shino.

"Kabuto." He filled in.

"Right, Kabuto. I like doing what isn't really advised to do." I hoped that might help me in some strange way.

Orochimaru's grin widened even more and he looked insane. For a moment though, I felt myself relaxing, it was weird nonetheless. I was talking to a Sannin, being intrigued by the fact that he was insane, for that brief moment my mind asked me: is he thinking like us? How does his mind differ? Does he have morals? But then again, who was I to ask about morals.

"Team 7 of Konohagakure." Orochimaru said and Hinata used her Byakugan, telling them where to head. "Alright then, good luck on your hunt." With a grin they departed. After a few minutes, all three of us slumped down, breathing heavily.

"I've never seen you so frightened, Shikanai." Shino said with concern in his tone and I shrugged.

"I'm not as crazy as everyone thinks, some things still get to me. I just had a bad hunch about those three." I said honestly. "Did you tell them bad coordinates?" I asked Hinata and she nodded. "How the hell did they buy it though?" I mumbled to myself. After taking off once again I turned to Hinata. "Hinata, what coordinates did you tell the other guys?"

"I sent them to the team, we encountered before them." She said.

"Shikanai, they didn't want to engage." Shino turned to me. "I think… It was a test of sorts…" I furrowed my brows. "My insects told me they really went to the team we killed, but they didn't act raged, they were smiling, like it was what they expected to see." Weird. "Maybe they wanted to see if you were up to your name." he joked, I could hear it in his tone, but then again… .The whole situation was just too weird.


I heard all kinds of explosions every night and I tried to push my guilt away. I felt guilty because I didn't help Team 7. I pushed that all away and I looked at my sleeping teammates, then at the ground, seeing only darkness. I leaned down and touched the ground, reaching out with shadow jutsu, only to realize I could feel every team for a moment. I quickly pulled back. What did I do?

Good, now try it again.

I crouched and made the hand seals for my clan jutsu and touched the ground. I closed my eyes and I felt every teams' position, I knew who was sleeping, who was awake, who was dead, who was unconscious. Weird. Father never spoke about that ability. I pulled back looking at my hands. Interesting. Trying it again, I didn't focus on the other teams, I reached further, only to find myself sensing my father, still awake.

He was looking stressed, his is face being lit up by a lone candle. He was reading something, but I couldn't see what.

"Father?" I breathed out and he furrowed his brows, looking around as the candle flickered.

I began feeling fatigued and pulled out, still confused about what I felt I began theorizing in my mind.


Before we realized we were standing inside the tower.

"Nobody is here." Hinata walked around, followed by the rest of us.

"No, I'm sure that I sensed someone here a little while ago." I told her and began doing my clan jutsu's seals, then crouched and touched the ground, immediately sensing everyone's shadow around us. "Oh no." I muttered, sensing a boy and a girl, recognizing them as Kankuro and Temari. "I sense three figures… The team from Suna." I said to the others, I didn't tell them I didn't want to sense Gaara, I really didn't want to feel his chakra.

"Since when can you do that?" Shino inquired tilting his head a little, he looked cute like that.

"We're in a tracking team, aren't we? Of course, I'd have tracking abilities." If only that was the case… I still had no idea how I could do that, I really wanted to ask father, but I had to wait. It looked like Shino wanted to ask me something else, but a voice interrupted him.

"Just like I thought." They were here. I braced myself, turning to the sound. "There's no other place to go." Kankuro commented.

"We've already waited half a day, how much longer are they gonna make us wait?" Temari asked as they came into view. They walked past us, the older ones looking at us, but Gaara kept staring ahead. It was the first time in my life when I couldn't utter a word at all. Gaara, he was looking creepy, and I knew what was inside him, I felt sick. I was frozen and barely registered when Shino and Hinata opened the scrolls.

Then a chuunin I have never met appeared in front of us, speaking about the importance of our mission and congratulating us, the first rookie team from our village, that made it to the tower.


I'm really sorry for taking this long to upload this chapter. The uni and my health got in the way, but hey, I'm back, and with a new chapter.

I still don't own Naruto.

And so, Shikanai has new abilities, strange isn't it?